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MAXIMA is a balloon-based bolometric experiment to measure the temperature anisotropy of the CMB over spatial frequency range 36≤l≤1235. The MAXIMA-1 flight produced a 124 square degree temperature anisotropy map with a beam diameter of 10 arcmin. These data have been used to produce a power spectrum which is in excellent agreement with data from BOOMERANG and DASI, but covers a wider range of angular scales. The MAXIMA power spectrum is consistent with the prediction of Λ CDM models and has been used to constrain cosmological models. The MAXIMA experiment is described and an outline is given of the contents and significance of papers written by the MAXIMA team. MAXIMA is being modified to measure the polarization anisotropy of the CMB. A brief description of this MAXIPOL experiment is also given. © 2002 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interstellar dust (ISD) emission is present in the mm-wave maps obtained by the BOOMERanG experiment at intermediate and high Galactic latitudes. We find that, while being sub-dominant at the lower frequencies (90, 150, 240 GHz), thermal emission from ISD is dominant at 410 GHz, and is well correlated with the IRAS map at 100 μm. We find also that the angular power spectrum of ISD fluctuations at 410 GHz is a power law, and its level is negligible with respect to the angular power spectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) at 90 and 150 GHz. © 2002 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pointing System is a key part of any balloon-borne experiment. It has to achieve the required attitude stabilization of the telescope during the flight, as well as guarantee the post-flight pointing reconstruction. The ACS that has been developed at IROE can reach a high real-time stability in pointing and scanning and it guarantees an attitude solution with an accuracy that is better than 1 arc-minute RMS. © 2002 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]