Probe to snap earliest picture of universe

A photo of the MAP spacecraft

By Amanda Barnett
CNN

(CNN) -- A NASA probe designed to chart the oldest light in the cosmos has arrived at its new home about a million miles from Earth.

The Microwave Anisotropy Probe, or MAP, will image what scientists say is the microwave background radiation left over from the theoretical Big Bang.

"This is a major milestone for the MAP project," said Dr. Charles Bennett, the project's principal investigator at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Launched on June 30, 2001, MAP is now at what's called the L2 Lagrange Point. MAP is the first spacecraft to use an L2 orbit as its permanent observing station. The region allows MAP to operate free from interference from the Earth, sun and moon.

MAP will collect five wavebands of light. The data will be analyzed and made into a full sky map for each waveband.

"What we want to do is make a picture of the microwave emissions from the early sky. We call that a map which is why the mission is called MAP, " Bennett said.

The first sky map results are expected in December 2002 or early 2003.

Bennett said scientists expect MAP to help them better understand the history of the universe and its ultimate destiny.