Multimedia Gallery
Searching for the Cosmic Microwave Background at the South Pole Telescope
Deep in Antarctica, at the southernmost point on our planet, sits a 33-foot telescope designed for a single purpose: to make images of the oldest light in the universe. This light, known as the cosmic microwave background, or CMB, has journeyed across the cosmos for 14 billion years—from the moments immediately after the Big Bang until now. Because it is brightest in the microwave part of the spectrum, the CMB is impossible to see with our eyes and requires specialized telescopes. The South Pole Telescope, specially designed to measure the CMB, has recently opened its third-generation camera for a multi-year survey to observe the earliest instants of the universe. Located at the National Science Foundation’s Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, the South Pole Telescope is funded and maintained by the National Science Foundation in its role as manager of the U.S. Antarctic Program, the national program of research on the southernmost continent.
Credit: Argonne National Laboratory
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