The E and B Experiment
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The E and B Experiment (EBEX) will measure the cosmic microwave background radiation of a part of the sky during two sub-orbital (high altitude) balloon flights. It is an experiment to make large, high fidelity images of the CMB temperature anisotropies. By using a telescope which flew at over 42,000 metres high, it is possible to reduce the atmospheric absorption of microwaves to a minimum. This allowed massive cost reduction compared to a satellite probe, though only a small part of the sky could be scanned.
The first flight will be a test flight over North America in 2008. In the subsequent flight in 2009, the balloon will be launched at the McMurdo Station in the Antarctic. It will use the Polar vortex winds to circle around the South Pole, returning after two weeks.
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[edit] Instrumentation
EBEX consists of a 1.5 m Dragone-type telescope that provides a resolution of less than 8 arcminute over four focal planes each of 4 degree diffraction limited field of view at frequencies up to 450 GHz. Polarimetry is achieved with a magnetically levitated rotating achromatic half-wave plate.
[edit] Results
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[edit] External links
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