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South Pole Telescope
Telescope Details
Location
Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica
Purpose
With a 10-meter primary mirror, the South Pole Telescope (SPT) is the largest millimeter-wave telescope dedicated to observing the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and can produce large-scale CMB maps at unparalleled resolution.
NIST’s role
NIST has played a significant role in three generations of cameras, including the current one, providing sensors and electronics to collect sensor data.
Significant discoveries and current status
The SPT helped make the first detection of the so-called B-mode lensing signal, which results when the gravity of massive objects distorts polarized light from the CMB before it reaches Earth. B-mode lensing provides information on the growth rate of large structures in the cosmos. It can also constrain the sum of the masses of the different types of neutrinos. This quantity is currently unknown.
Other interesting facts
With its unique location, the SPT also plays a critical role in the Event Horizon Telescope network, which for the first time imaged the event horizon around the black hole at the center of our galaxy. (NIST is not involved in the Event Horizon Telescope.)
Supported by
National Science Foundation, DOE Office of Science High Energy Physics, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, U.S. Antarctic Program and Antarctic Support Contract
Media
Contacts
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(303) 497-6164