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PHOTO CAPTION                        BOOMERANG MAP OF THE COSMIC 
                                     MICROWAVE BACKGROUND 

This image is the first highly detailed "snapshot" or "map" of 
the cosmic microwave background, which provides a snapshot of the 
universe when the radiation formed about 300,000 years after the 
Big Bang.  At this time, regions with a higher density of matter 
and energy left a record in the background radiation.  

The minute temperature fluctuations in this map trace the 
interaction of photons and matter.  The characteristic structures 
serve as a "thumbprint" that tells us about the nature, 
composition, and relative abundance of all forms of matter and 
energy in the universe.  

The pattern shown is consistent with an inflationary theory of 
cosmic development, which proposes that the universe went through 
a period of extreme, exponential inflation in the first moments 
after the Big Bang.  This theory further predicts a flat geometry 
for the universe, because the immense stretching of space during 
inflation would have removed any initially strong curvature in 
the smaller and denser early universe.

This map was obtained by internationally sponsored BOOMERANG 
(Balloon Observations of Millimetric Extragalactic Radiation and 
Geophysics) balloon experiment, which flew 36 km. (23 mi.) above 
the atmosphere in Antarctica, December, 1998.  Created at JPL's 
Microdevices Laboratory, a highly sensitive, micromesh bolometer 
was a critical component in creating the map.  The spiderweb-
shaped bolometer measured minute temperature variations of only 
100-millionths of a degree (0.0001 C) in the cosmic microwave 
background. In this image, areas with slightly higher 
temperatures show up as red.  In those areas, the density of 
matter and energy is higher.  Bluer, colder areas are less dense.
  
The BOOMERANG Project was led by Dr. Andrew Lange of the 
California Institute of Technology and by Dr. Paolo DeBernardis 
of the University of Rome La Sapienza. Primary funding for 
BOOMERANG was provided by the NSF and NASA in the United States, 
the Italian Space Agency, the Italian Antarctic Research 
Programme and the University of Rome La Sapienza in Italy; and 
the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council in the United 
Kingdom.  The Department of Energy's National Energy Research 
Supercomputing Center provided high-level computer analysis of 
the dataset.

The Microdevices Laboratory is a state-of-the-art research and 
technology-development facility in the Center for Space 
Microelectronics Technology (CSMT) at JPL.  Funding for the 
bolometer came from JPL's Technology and Applications Programs 
(TAP) Directorate.  JPL is managed by the California Institute of 
Technology on behalf of NASA.
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