The main goal of the Observational Cosmology group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is to answer fundamental questions about the beginning and evolution of the universe.

We specialize in precision measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation. The image on the left is a map of the CMB sky from the WMAP mission. The CMB is the oldest light in the universe. By observing the CMB we hope to learn about the epoch of inflation, which occured roughly 10^-36 seconds after the Big Bang.

We are also developing techniques to observe the redshifted 21-cm line of neutral hydrogen gas in order to study the accelerating expansion of the universe, and dark energy.