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Recent Results from Cobe

  • Chapter
The Environment and Evolution of Galaxies

Part of the book series: Astrophysics and Space Science Library ((ASSL,volume 188))

Abstract

The Cosmic Background Explorer or COBE 1, NASA’s first space mission devoted primarily to cosmology, carries three scientific instruments to make precise measurements of the spectrum and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation on angular scales greater than 7°and to conduct a search for a diffuse cosmic infrared background (CIB) radiation with 0.7° angular resolution. The observing strategy is designed to minimize and allow determination of systematic errors that could result from spacecraft operations, the local environment of the spacecraft, and emissions from foreground astrophysical sources such as the Galaxy and the solar system. Data from the Far-InfraRed Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS) show that the spectrum of the CMB is that of a blackbody of temperature T= 2.73 ± 0.06 K, with no deviation from a blackbody spectrum greater than 0.25% of the peak brightness. Data from the first year of the Differential Microwave Radiometers (DMR) show statistically significant CMB anisotropy. The anisotropy is consistent with a scale invariant primordial density fluctuation spectrum and with the gravitational potential variations required to cause the observed present day structure. Infrared sky brightness measurements from the Diffuse InfraRed Background Experiment (DIRBE) provide new conservative upper limits to the CIB. Extensive modeling of solar system and galactic infrared foregrounds is required for further improvement in the CIB limits.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Astronomy & Solar Physics, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA

    C. L. Bennett, N. W. Boggess, M. G. Hauser & J. C. Mather

  2. Lawrence Berkeley Labs, Bldg 50-351, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    G. F. Smoot

  3. Astronomy Department, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA

    E. L. Wright

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  1. C. L. Bennett
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  1. Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA

    J. Michael Shull

  2. Wyoming Infrared Observatory, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA

    Harley A. Thronson Jr.

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Bennett, C.L., Boggess, N.W., Hauser, M.G., Mather, J.C., Smoot, G.F., Wright, E.L. (1993). Recent Results from Cobe. In: Shull, J.M., Thronson, H.A. (eds) The Environment and Evolution of Galaxies. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 188. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1882-8_2

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