![]() ![]() Some neutrinos come from the sun, while others come from cosmic rays interacting with the Earth's atmosphere and dramatic astronomical sources such as exploding stars in the Milky Way and other distant galaxies. If the South Pole telescope is examining the universe on the galactic scale, another relatively new and equally impressive observatory is searching for evidence of the existence of particles at the subatomic level.īuilt into the ice sheet, the one-cubic-kilometer IceCube Neutrino Observatory records the rare collisions of neutrinos-elusive sub-atomic particles-with the atomic nuclei of the water molecules of the ice. For more information about the South Pole Telescope, its science mission and its findings to date, see. It was assembled in Kilgore, Texas, then taken apart, shipped across the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand, and flown from there to the South Pole. The telescope stands 75 feet (22.8 meters) tall, measures 33 feet (10 meters) across and weighs 280 tons (254 metric tons). The $19.2 million telescope was funded primarily by the National Science Foundation (NSF), with additional support from the Kavli Foundation of Oxnard, Calif., and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation of San Francisco. In 2007, the massive South Pole Telescope-the largest radio telescope ever built in Antarctica-collected its first observations and has since been gathering data about the accelerating expansion of the Universe. This led them to the idea that Dark Energy pushes the universe apart, overwhelming gravity, the attractive force exerted by all matter in the universe. In the late 1990s, astronomers using exploding stars as cosmic tape measures discovered that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Astrophysicists know that the universe has been expanding since the Big Bang occurred 13.8 billion years ago. ![]() The pattern of these ancient photons reveals the contents and structure of the infant cosmos. The extremely dry, cold air is also perfectly suited for observing the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation-the faint light signature left by the Big Bang that brought the universe into being nearly 14 billion years ago. ![]() For many years, the equipment there was used to make long, continuous solar observations-some lasting more than 100 hours. Sitting at a fixed point while the Earth rotates, telescopes at the pole can track celestial objects for long periods of time from the same elevation in the sky. And, in keeping with the cooperative spirit of the Antarctic Treaty, scientists come to the pole from nations around the globe to pursue a host of interests. ![]() Geological Survey (USGS) also fund researchers at the pole. government agencies including NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. In some cases, records from the South Pole are among the longest continuous observational data sets available, including, for example, the record of carbon dioxide and other atmospheric gases in the air at the Pole. Science has been integral to the mission of South Pole Station since the first station was erected over the Southern Hemisphere summer of 1956-57. Antarctic Program (USAP), supports a wide variety of projects there, from cosmic observations to seismic and atmospheric studies. The National Science Foundation (NSF), as manager of the U.S. >Larger printable image (PDF), caption and credit Forbidding and remote, the South Pole is also a uniquely and enormously valuable research site. ![]()
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