752 research outputs found
A Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope
A new generation of sub-orbital platforms will be operational in the next few
years. These new telescopes will operate from airborne and balloon-borne
platforms where the atmosphere is transparent enough to allow sensitive
measurements to be made in the submillimeter bands. The telescopes will take
advantage of state-of-the-art instrumentation including large format bolometer
arrays and spectrometers. Other papers in this volume will deal specifically
with the potential of these bands. In this paper will review the capabilities
the BLAST balloon-borne telescope.Comment: 7 pages, 7 Postscript figure
BLAST Autonomous Daytime Star Cameras
We have developed two redundant daytime star cameras to provide the fine
pointing solution for the balloon-borne submillimeter telescope, BLAST. The
cameras are capable of providing a reconstructed pointing solution with an
absolute accuracy < 5 arcseconds. They are sensitive to stars down to
magnitudes ~ 9 in daytime float conditions. Each camera combines a 1 megapixel
CCD with a 200 mm f/2 lens to image a 2 degree x 2.5 degree field of the sky.
The instruments are autonomous. An internal computer controls the temperature,
adjusts the focus, and determines a real-time pointing solution at 1 Hz. The
mechanical details and flight performance of these instruments are presented.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. To be published in conference
proceedings for the "Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy"
part of the SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation Symposium that
will be held 24-31 May 2006 in Orlando, F
POLOCALC: a Novel Method to Measure the Absolute Polarization Orientation of the Cosmic Microwave Background
We describe a novel method to measure the absolute orientation of the
polarization plane of the CMB with arcsecond accuracy, enabling unprecedented
measurements for cosmology and fundamental physics. Existing and planned CMB
polarization instruments looking for primordial B-mode signals need an
independent, experimental method for systematics control on the absolute
polarization orientation. The lack of such a method limits the accuracy of the
detection of inflationary gravitational waves, the constraining power on the
neutrino sector through measurements of gravitational lensing of the CMB, the
possibility of detecting Cosmic Birefringence, and the ability to measure
primordial magnetic fields. Sky signals used for calibration and direct
measurements of the detector orientation cannot provide an accuracy better than
1 deg. Self-calibration methods provide better accuracy, but may be affected by
foreground signals and rely heavily on model assumptions. The POLarization
Orientation CALibrator for Cosmology, POLOCALC, will dramatically improve
instrumental accuracy by means of an artificial calibration source flying on
balloons and aerial drones. A balloon-borne calibrator will provide far-field
source for larger telescopes, while a drone will be used for tests and smaller
polarimeters. POLOCALC will also allow a unique method to measure the
telescopes' polarized beam. It will use microwave emitters between 40 and 150
GHz coupled to precise polarizing filters. The orientation of the source
polarization plane will be registered to sky coordinates by star cameras and
gyroscopes with arcsecond accuracy. This project can become a rung in the
calibration ladder for the field: any existing or future CMB polarization
experiment observing our polarization calibrator will enable measurements of
the polarization angle for each detector with respect to absolute sky
coordinates.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, Accepted by Journal of Astronomical
Instrumentatio
Mapping the CMB II: the second flight of the QMAP experiment
We report the results from the second flight of QMAP, an experiment to map
the cosmic microwave background near the North Celestial Pole. We present maps
of the sky at 31 and 42 GHz as well as a measurement of the angular power
spectrum covering the l-range 40-200. Anisotropy is detected at about 20 sigma
and is in agreement with previous results at these angular scales. We also
report details of the data reduction and analysis techniques which were used
for both flights of QMAP.Comment: 4 pages, with 5 figures included. Submitted to ApJL. Window functions
and color figures are available at
http://pupgg.princeton.edu/~cmb/welcome.htm
Mapping the CMB I: the first flight of the QMAP experiment
We report on the first flight of the balloon-borne QMAP experiment. The
experiment is designed to make a map of the cosmic microwave background
anisotropy on angular scales from 0.7 to several degrees. Using the map we
determine the angular power spectrum of the anisotropy in multipole bands from
l~40 to l~140. The results are consistent with the Saskatoon (SK) measurements.
The frequency spectral index (measured at low l) is consistent with that of CMB
and inconsistent with either Galactic synchrotron or free-free emission. The
instrument, measurement, analysis of the angular power spectrum, and possible
systematic errors are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, with 5 figures included. Submitted to ApJL. Window functions
and color figures are available at
http://pupgg.princeton.edu/~cmb/welcome.htm
Galactic microwave emission at degree angular scales
We cross-correlate the Saskatoon Ka and Q-Band Cosmic Microwave Background
(CMB) data with different maps to quantify possible foreground contamination.
We detect a marginal correlation (2 sigma) with the Diffuse Infrared Background
Experiment (DIRBE) 240, 140 and 100 microm maps, but we find no significant
correlation with point sources, with the Haslam 408 MHz map or with the Reich
and Reich 1420 MHz map. The rms amplitude of the component correlated with
DIRBE is about 20% of the CMB signal. Interpreting this component as free-free
emission, this normalization agrees with that of Kogut et al. (1996a; 1996b)
and supports the hypothesis that the spatial correlation between dust and warm
ionized gas observed on large angular scales persists to smaller angular
scales. Subtracting this contribution from the CMB data reduces the
normalization of the Saskatoon power spectrum by only a few percent.Comment: Minor revisions to match published version. 14 pages, with 2 figures
included. Color figure and links at
http://www.sns.ias.edu/~angelica/foreground.htm
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