A series of satellite projects to secure more and better images of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) since 1980. Age of universe estimated to be 13.73 billion years.

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MAPPING THE CMB
Cosmic Adventure: 10.02

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More Details Required
It was unanimous that CMB is the
strongest and central player in
modern cosmology.
It not only provides a more
acceptable basis for the popular Big
Bang Model but also gives an
observable basis to the formation of
structures that we see in the present
Universe. So every effort must be
made to ensure its clarity in details
– something more than the Penzias
and Wilson picture in 1964 could
offer.

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Direct measurement by Satellites
So starting in the 1980s, a
series of satellites were
launched in an effort to
obtain more detailed
information about the CMB.
A series of high precision
measurements marked newer
and better milestone in
cosmology. Among the most
notable satellite projects are:
COBE, WMAP, and
Planck.

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COBE Mission 1989-1993
The history of a more detailed CMB
mapping started with the launch of
a satellite named COBE (Cosmic
Background Explorer) mission by
NASA in 1989.
The satellite carried three major
instruments:
❶ DMR (Differential Microwave
Radiometer) to measure
anisotropies in the CMB;
❷ FIRAS (Far Infrared Absolute
Spectrophotometer) to measure
the spectrum of CMB and;
❸ DIRBE (Diffuse Infrared
Background Experiment) that
would map dust emission.

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COBE maps
The work was supplemented by
many other experiments and
finally delivered the relatively
blurred blotch-map. The FIRAS
proved that the spectrum of the
CMB matches that of a perfect
black body of temperature 2.726 K;
the DMR instrument found
anisotropies in the cosmic
microwave background at a level
of 1 part in 105.
Manzoor A. Malik. International Journal of
Astronomy 2013, 2(2): 17-22
Figure credit: NASA science team

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WMAP Mission 2001 to 2011
Then came the more detailed all-sky
image by the WMAP (Wilkinson
Microwave Anisotropy Probe) mission
between 2001 to 2011 to augment the
observations made by COBE.
Some of the information carried back
by WMP included the age of the
Universe (13.73 billion years),
curvature of space (flat), the average
density of baryonic matter, dark
matter and dark energy have been
determined to around 1% accuracy.
N. Jarosik et al, ApJS, 192, 14, 2011.

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The Planck Satellite 2009 The latest probe is the Planck,
named after Max Planck
(1858–1947) satellite
launched in 2009 by ESA
(European Space Agency) to
take the clearest picture so
far. . .
The Ariane 5 ECA launcher, lifts-off from the
Ariane launch pad at the European spaceport
in Kourou on 14 May 2009.

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Best Map of CMB from Planck
From the Planck, scientists now have the best map ever of the cosmic
microwave background. The colour variations in the map represent
minute differences in temperature and density.

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The Progress
in Resolution
PLANCK
WMAP
COBE
1989-1993
2001-2011
2009-2013
Ongoing

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Progress in Resolution
HORN
1965 1992 2003 2009

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Better Details
The observation has been done over 15 months. The details are tremendous as
compared with those collected by COBE and WMAP. Starting with the relatively
blurred blotch-map brought by the COBE mission, to a more detailed all-sky
image by the WMAP mission, and now the clearest picture yet by Planck.

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Mollweide Projection
In order to show all the facets of a
globe in one piece, the Mollweide
projection technique is employed.
The method was first published by
mathematician and astronomer Karl
Brandan Mollweide (1774 – 1825) of
Leipzig in 1805. It enables the
making of projections for global
maps of the world or night sky.

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CMB Map Projection
Scientists use the same
method to project the
spherical CMB map
onto one elliptical map.
Shown here are the
Planck maps being
coalesced into an
elliptical one.

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The Mask
However there are a few
strong extragalactic
microwave and radio sources
around as well. They tend to
interfere with the picture. So
the scientists made a “mask”
to remove the offending
parts of the picture.

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The Latest Maps
Finally we have a more or
less complete set of CMB
maps which show the
relevant fluctuations and
details.
Scientists expected that
they are able to extract
valuable information
about the Universe and
indeed they do.

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CMB ANALYSIS
To be continued on: Cosmic Adventure 10.03