Radiometer system to map the cosmic background radiation

We have developed a 33-GHz airborne radiometer system to map large angular scale variations in the temperature of the 3 K cosmic background radiation. A ferrite circulator switches a room-temperature mixer between two antennas pointing 600 apart in the sky. In 40 min of observing, the radiometer can measure the anisotropy of the microwave background with an accuracy of +- 1 mK rms, or about 1 part in 3000 of 3 K. The apparatus is flown in a U-2 jet to 20 km altitude where 33-GHz thermal microwave emission from the atmosphere is at a low level. A second radiometer, tuned to 54 GHz near oxygen emission lines, monitors spurious signals from residual atmospheric radiation. The antennas, which have an extremely low side-lobe response of less than -65 dB past 600, reject anisotropic radiation from the earth's surface. Periodic interchange of the antenna positions and reversal of the aircraft's flight direction cancel equipment-based imbalances. The system has been operated successfully in U-2 aircraft flown from NASA-Ames at Moffett Field, CA