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Session 88 - Cosmic Background Radiation Anisotropies Now and in the Future.
Oral session, Wednesday, January 15
Frontenac Ballroom,
The Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) is an approved NASA Mid-class Explorer (MIDEX) mission, scheduled to launch in the year 2000. The purpose of the mission is to determine how considerable structure formed in the universe from a remarkably uniform initial state. If a particular structure formation model matches the observations well, then values of the key cosmological parameters will be determined to unprecedented accuracy. MAP will make a full sky map of the temperature fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background radiation at sub-degree angular resolution. Detailed measurements of the anisotropy on this angular scale will provide a wealth of information about the physics of the early universe, beyond that already probed by the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) mission. This talk will provide an overview of the MAP mission.
