South Pole Telescope achieves first light

PhysOrg ^ | February 26, 2007 | Photo by Jeff McMahon

[SunkenCiv]

The cold, dry atmosphere above the South Pole will allow the SPT to more easily detect the CMB (cosmic microwave background) radiation, the afterglow of the big bang, with minimal interference from water vapor. On the electromagnetic spectrum, the CMB falls somewhere between heat radiation and radio waves. The CMB is largely uniform, but it contains tiny ripples of varying density and temperature. These ripples reflect the seeds that, through gravitational attraction, grew into the galaxies and galaxy clusters visible to astronomers in the sky today. The SPT's first key science project will be to study small variations in the CMB to determine if dark energy began to affect the formation of galaxy clusters by fighting against gravity over the last few billion years.

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

...a sort of sidebar topic for the list...

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[JerseyJohn61]

ping

[SunkenCiv]

Dark energy rather than String Theory, probably still of interest and worth a ping.

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[SunkenCiv]

China eyes 3rd Antarctic facility
China Daily
March 2, 2007

The IPY 2007/2008, which started yesterday and will run until March 1, 2009, marks the first time that China has participated in IPY activities, said Sun Zhihui, head of the SOA. The IPY 2007-2008, which was launched by the International Council for Science in conjunction with the World Meteorological Organization, is the fourth of its kind since the 1882/1883 seasons, when the first joint polar expedition was organized... PANDA is a multi-goal research plan that includes deep-ice coring at Dome A, the highest point on the Antarctic ice sheet, and a study of the interactions between ocean-ice and the shelf-ice sheet system from Pridz Bay to Dome A via the Amery Ice Shelf.