My scientist is a 21 year old named Kurt Miller. He studies astrophysics at Carnegie Mellon. The part that he is focusing on is Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. C.M.B.R. is believed to be left over from the Big-Bang, the beginning of the universe. The Big-Bang theory is that approximately 15 billion years ago, the universe began as a small expanding ball. In that tiny little ball, was all the matter in the universe at this present moment. Inside that ball was hot, glowing energy, but the light couldn't escape because of the matter all around it. After the universe expanded a lot, that light escaped and came shooting out. That light or C.M.B.R. is still bombarding the whole world at this very instant. He is trying to see if the unequalness in spacing in the universe is the same as the unequalness in C.M.B.R. This would mean that you could tell the pattern of the development of the universe from C.M.B.R.
He started working for the Viper microwave telescope
project as an undergraduate to help pay the rent, but became interested in it very
quickly. Now he is in charge of mechanics & some of the optics for the telescope being
built at Carnegie Mellon. The most important part in the mechanical aspect is for the
telescope to be able to move in its azimuth which means around in a circle, and in
elevation in other words up and down. The most important part of the optics is the primary
mirror, which is 2m across. The primary mirror acts like a large pupil collecting the
light. The other mirrors take the light & direct it into the detector. All of these
mirrors are made of shiny aluminum. He also needs to test the telescope at really low
temperatures because it will have to last in the freezing Antarctica temperatures of more
than negative 100 F when it is completed. It is tested by spraying the telescope with
liquid nitrogen which is negative 196 degrees Celsius. Testing matter at low temperatures
such as these is the science of cryogenics. Using cryogenics to test the energy of the
microwaves or to see the differences in their low heat, the detector has to be cooled down
with liquid Helium to 10.9 Kelvin or-440 F.
Kurt believes that the best way to learn something is to do it. He went to Antarctica to work with COBRA (cosmic background radiation anisotropy) and an older system to practice for Viper. While he was there he learned about COBRA and how to study C.M.B.R. They choose Antarctica as the sight for the telescopes for three reasons. First it is easier to go down to the low temperatures you need to detect the differences between the microwaves because it is already so cold. Second, since water soaks up CMBR it is best to detect these differences in Antarctica because the coldness takes all of the moisture out of the atmosphere. Thirdly the south pole is two miles above sea level and avoids having the CMBR going through two miles of the densest atmosphere.
Kurt brought with him: A big, warm hat, normal, everyday clothes, a Walkman and tapes, warm sweatshirts, rope (which came in handy with repair jobs), good sunglasses (the sun never set & shined off of the snow), some candy, 'Calvin and Hobbes' and 'Outland' Comic books and other odds and ends. When he was in New Zealand he was given: a lot of gloves (including 'Bear Paws'), lots of insulated hats, different types of insulated clothing, a huge warm parka, wind pants, & large heavy boots. He has things for pleasure to keep him sane and clothing to keep him safe.
Kurt left for Antarctica on December 24,1995. He flew from Pittsburgh to Chicago, to LA, to Auckland. The flight from LA to Auckland, New Zealand takes from 12-14 hours and crosses the International Date Line and he lost Christmas. From Auckland, he took an LC-130 cargo plane to Mcmurdo station, from Mcmurdo Kurt took another noisy cargo-plane to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station (which is actually on the south pole). That flight took 3 hours. Even though it is the best place on earth to detect these microwaves it is very hard to reach.
After the usual sleep of 6-8 hours a day Kurt would wake up and eat. His meal would consist of either rice, beans, or pasta because these are easy to store. One strange thing about Antarctica is that it is the only place where the refrigerators are heated. Then he might stay up for 24-36 hours depending on how much he had left to do in his current project. This is possible because the sun never sets, it just goes around the sky in a circle. After work he might catch a second meal, or he might watch a movie, talk with friends, read, write a letter, listen to music, play cards, or something like that. The buildings he was in were either built on stilts or had tubes going underneath them. The cold air was supposed to blow through these because if the building was just on the ground it would melt the ice and sink. The buildings along with COBRA were all connected by platforms that looked like bridges.
From this I have learned a little about the Big-Bang Theory and about what CMBR is. I have learned why people choose to study it in such a far away place like Antarctica and about the telescopes they use there.
