Viper telescope

The Viper telescope is used to view mainly cosmic background radiation. Currently the telescope is helping scientists prove or disprove the Big Crunch theory. The telescope is also one of the most powerful of its kind. Previous cosmic background telescopes were smaller and did not have the ability to focus on the detailed measurement of distant clouds that Viper does.

Location

The Viper telescope is located at the Center for Astrophysical Research, also known as (CARA) in the Amundsen-Scott station in Antarctica. The Viper project is run by many scientists; team leader Dr. Jeffrey Peterson is a Carnegie Mellon astrophysicist who currently works to view distant clouds in the universe.

Current uses

The Viper telescope is being used to image the anisotropy seen in the universe. Inflation theory states the glowing clouds of gas in the sky would be in the form of an arc about $1/2$ degree in the sky. The Viper telescope was able to confirm inflation theory, clearly showing the length of the arc was $1/2$ a degree. Recently the telescope was able to detect tiny fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation. This can give astronomers vast information about the distribution of matter in the proto-Universe, such as how galaxies, stars, planets, and quasars formed from the free-floating protons and electrons that made up the so called primordial soup.

External links

* [http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=102956 National Science Foundation]
* [http://www.nsf.gov/od/opp/antarct/treaty/projsum01/html/cara.html Antarctic Treaty]
* [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1998AAS...192.5803G Harvard]