文档介绍：Infrared Phys. Tech&. Vol. 35, No. 213, pp. 331-336, 1994
Elsevier Science Ltd. Printed in Great Britain
1350~4495/94 +
INFRARED MEASUREMENTS FROM THE COSMIC
BACKGROUND EXPLORER (COBE)
JOHN C. MATHER
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 685, Laboratory for Astronomy and Solar Physics, Greenbelt,
MD 20771, .
(Received 8 June 1993)
Abstract-The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite was developed by NASA’s Goddard Space
Flight Center to measure the diffuse IR and microwave radiation from the early universe, to the limits
set by our astrophysical environment. It was launched 18 November 1989 and carried three instruments,
a FIR Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS) pare the cosmic microwave background radiation
with a precise blackbody, a Differential Microwave Radiometer (DMR) to map the cosmic radiation
precisely, and a Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) to search for the accumulated light
of primeval galaxies. The cosmic microwave background radiation spectrum was measured 1000 times
more precisely than was possible before the COBE launch. The microwave background was found to have
an intrinsic anisotropy for the first time, at a level of a part in 10’ with a smoothing of 10”. A
comprehensive set of absolutely calibrated IR sky maps has been acquired to search for the cosmic IR
background.