Simons Observatory

@simonsobservatory.org

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Figuring out some of the mysteries of the Universe from Chile at simonsobservatory.org

A phototgraph of people seated in a lecture theater with laptops in front of some of them while a few people are on the stage showing a video projected on a screen.
A series of swirly black lines are overlaid on a blue-green background with a yellow band in the middle, distorting it. This image won a 2019 wikimedia competition for science images. Uros' explanation: "Scientists believe our Universe started with a rapid expansion, during which tiny quantum seeds were imprinted into the fabric of spacetime, leading in time to creation of galaxies, stars and planets, including the Earth. To prove this theory scientists are searching for B-modes, a spiral type of polarization imprinted in the microwave sky. However, Milky Way emits dust, which is also polarized, and scientists must learn how to distinguish the two signals. This image was created by taking dust emission as measured from the Planck satellite and converting its intensity into a polarization pattern. The bright yellow band is Milky Way as seen in the microwave sky. A B-mode was imprinted into a single spot by locally rotating the dust polarization pattern by 45 degrees. A hilly landscape was added at the bottom to represent that many of the B-mode experiments are ground based, in places from Antarctica to Atacama desert in Chile. This picture is a great example of a teamwork in science and could not have been made without the input of numerous people. Special thanks to the Planck satellite team who observed and made public the data this is based on, Susan Clark for the original inspiration, Yu Feng for the data processing and Andrej Berlot for the post-processing. "
A map of blobs in grayscale, that correspond to the gravitational lensing measured by the SO LAT in a small part of the sky (the edges of the image give the dimensions in degrees. The whole patch is roughly 15x45 degrees
The photovoltaïc array of the Simons Observatory nearly complete in the Atacama Desert. Mountains are visible in the distance of the earthy landscape, small clouds drift in the blue sky above.
A yellow-orange vicuna (kind of looks like a miniature lama) stands in the foreground of a white structure in a rocky landscape. The structure has two parts: a U-shaped part, to which is attached a rectangular box with one side open. The box part looks like it can rotate on its attachement axis.
Steps in the snow. In the background, some funnel-like structures can be seen set against a blue sky.
A timeline of the SAT construction and operations. A box reads: "SAT science: Searching for the signature of primordial gravitational waves generated in the early Universe" The timeline indicates 3 SATS/36000 detectors observing from 2024 to 2027, and 6 SATs/62000 detectors from 2027 to 2035. Four of the SATs are labelled 90/145GHz, one is labelled 225/280GHz, one 27/39GHz. The uncertainty on r (sigma r) drops to 0.001 in 2035, compared to 0.003 in 2028.
A diagram illustrating the three possible polarizations of light. The x and y axes of an electrical field are labelled in black. For light coming out of the screen towards you, the linear polarization Q, in red, makes a + cross shape along those x and y axes, U, in blue, is rotated by 45° and makes an x shape. A green circle with two arrows on it attempts to represent circular polarization V.
A timelapse over a day staring at a telescope mount surrounded by a screen. A door opens to the right, and a white, boxy-looking contraption is rolled in (the SAT). It is then lifted on the mount by a gantry. People dressed in safety gear are visible around throught the video.
A view of the Atacama desert on the shoulder of a mountain. In the foreground, the SO LAT stands, like a 10m tall searchlight painted white. In the background, on the left, some big upturned funnels can be seen: they shield our delicate SATs from having to see the mountain.
A Mercator map of the world with the countries outlined. The map is mostly white, but Greenland, Tibet, the Andean Plateau and Antarctica are colored in various shades of blue. The legend indicates this means lower amounts of precipitable water vapor. The color scale goes from 0 to 5, with antarcitca the closest to 0, Greenland , Chile and Tibet sit between 1 and 2.5
A group of about a hundred people arrayed outdoors on a lawn in front of a multi-story brick building detailed with oxidized copper panels. The sky is grey but they are smiling
An oval projection of the full night sky, with the galaxy forming a wispy horseshoe figure through it. several trapezoids of color cover different parts of it. The original caption reads: "FIG. 3. Footprints of the SPT-3G surveys—Main (green filled area), Summer (orange filled area), and Wide (red filled area)—shown alongside the ACT DR6 survey mask (blue solid line). We show Galactic dust as measured by Planck in the background [45] and indicate the most contaminated region with the Planck GAL080 mask as shown in gray shading with a white border. This work is based on observations of the SPT-3G Main field. The combination of the SPT-3G Main, SPT-3G Summer, and SPT-3G Wide fields will constitute the Ext-10k field, which will probe 25% of the sky with low noise and high resolution."
A night photo of a large building-sized telescope. The building is in two parts: a big u-shaped structure is mounted on a pivot, and itself ensnares a smaller brick-shaped box that can swivel with a hole in it. Some rocks in the background are visible in yellow, illuminated by an unseen source. Red safety lights at the bottom of the U element and ice blue light from within the telescope's opening complete the scene
A front view of one of the SO Small aperture telescopes from up close. The top half of the image is filled by a conical structure we are looking into: its inside is covered with a white, wallpaper looking structure. There is snow piled up on the bottom lip of the cone. At the end of the cone is an aluminium foil cover. Beneath and behind the cone you can see a white metal platform that holds the rest of the telescope, including its mount. Various surfaces are covered in snow, black cables meander around the scene. In the background, a deep blue sky and a shiny screen that provides additional sun and terrain shielding.
The Simons Observatory LAT with its aperture open, looking at the sky at night. Red safety lights illuminate the bottom of the telescope structure, while a few stars shine in the background.
A green dot (Mars) surrounded by a white ring on a purple background. A faint white x pattern is visible
A drone view of the Atacama desert on a clear day with the SO site in the foreground.
A figure with four panels showing oscillating, roughly exponential lines in different colors between blue and yellow. The caption reads: Figure 1. Logarithmic profiles of five monochromatic co-polar beam maps generated for each of the 93 (top left), 145 (top right), 225 (bottom left), and 280 GHz bands (bottom right), using TICRA TOOLS software. Each set of (five) maps is produced at frequencies of uniform spacing across the full frequency range of the corresponding band. All bands are assumed to have 25% fractional width, and all beam maps are generated for a detector on the center of the focal plane of a simulated three-lens refracting telescope.
A timeline of the LAT's status between 2020 and 2034. Construction lasts until 2025, the LAT gets upgraded sometimes in 2028, sensitivity raises with time to 2.5 microK/arcmin over 20000 square degrees. 3d renders show the LAT and the focal plane getting filled up
Cover of an MIT Kids Press book called "I'm a neutrino - Tiny particles in a big Universe." Some doodly neutrinos are tumbling in front of a pastel spiral galaxy
A series of curves of the CMB lensing power spectrum with changing colors matching to specific sums of neutrino masses. The caption below it says: The effect of massive neutrinos on the matter power spectrum and CMB lensing power spectrum. Top Left: The effect of neutrino mass on the matter power spectrum. Top Right: The change to the matter power spectrum relative to the case with massless neutrinos. Bottom Left: The projected matter power spectrum observed through CMB lensing shows the same suppression with neutrino mass. Bottom Right: The relative change to the lensing potential power spectrum.
An illustration of gravitational lensing by large scale structure. We are viewing a brick-shaped slice of the Universe in perspective. At the far end, the blue-orange Planck map emits some rays. Those wind through a purple haze that represents the matter of the universe organizing into filaments, walls and voids. at the front of the brick the haze has condensed into a web-like structure.
A large aluminium mirror made of square panels is being attached to a metallic truss structure inside a housing by several people. The people are less than a third the size of the mirror. The top of the mirror is attached to a wooden beam that is itself attached to some ropes that disappear towards what we assume to be a crane beyond the top of the image.
A large aluminium mirror made of square panels is being lifted by a crane on a foggy day. Many ropes are connected to it to control the hoist
A crane is lifting one end of a big rectangular trussed structure that contains the LAT secondary mirror covered by a tarp. The structure is therefore pivoting around one of its corners, the large edge is ~30º off the ground already. In the background is a foggy mountain.
A view of the SO site in the Atacama desert. A crane is lifting a large wooden box in front of the Large Aperture Telescope building.
A view inside a big wooden crate. On the left are wooden slats, on which a mirror made of square panels rests. The mirror extends diagonally towards the top right of the image, its other end fading in darkness. At the top of the image is a tarp deformed by the water accumulated in it. At the bottom, the edge of the mirror can be seen, resting on its back structure.
A blue panel with three ports, two of which are connected by a bright blue cable. To the left of the image is the name of the contraption: a SMuRF
A mass of blue cables link a panel on the left of the image to a server-rack looking contraption on the right. The panel on the left is affixed to a larger metal structure with tubes running along it. The server-contraption is sitting on a table, twice as tall as a thermos in the foreground.
A very large wooden box (approx 2.5x8x8m) being hoisted by an erector crane in front of the SImons Observatory LAT building. Several people are in the foreground, almost toy figurines compared to the scale of the box and the telescope.
An SO SAT is in the foreground. It looks like a big funnel mounted on a swivel pivot, surrounded by various boxes that hold parts of the telescope's controls. In the background is the ground screen, a tall circular wall that stops the telescope from seeing the terrain around. At the top is an evening sky with faint pink and orange clouds.
A poster made by the Simons foundation explaining SO's search for the B-modes.
A view of the SO site from a drone. In the center of a desolate mountain landscape, the SO site is visible. The one "Large Aperture Telescope", several stories tall, on its mount, is in front. A little distance from it are three round enclosures that contain the "Small Aperture Telescopes". In the background other CMB telescopes are visible: the ground shield of the defunct Atacama Cosmology Telescope, the CLASS telescopes, and the Simons Array.
More than a hundred people standing in a plaza in rows on a summer day. Behind them are some trees and a glass facade.