New South Pole Telescope to study dark energy

February 28, 2007

The new South Pole Telescope has recently collected its first light in a long-term project to learn about the nature of dark energy. It will use the cold and dry conditions in Antarctica to detect cosmic microwave background radiation, which is said to be the afterglow of the Big Bang. The study will help determine if dark energy affected the development of galaxy clusters. Most of the $19.2 million funding for the telescope came from the National Science Foundation.