White Mountain

The White Mountain Research Station (WMRS), located in the mountains to the East of Bishop, CA provides the perfect location for many of our astrophysical observations and data collection equipment. WMRS itself is funded by the University of California Campuses with each campus being able to use the facility for its own research objectives. The UCSB Experimental Cosmology group primarily use the Barcroft Station of the facility with several labs and observational equipment being located there. More information about the entire WMRS facility can be found on their website at www.WMRS.edu. Our group has used the site since 1989 when Todd Gaier fielded his “Big Plate” 15 and 23 GHz sky survey. It has been in continuous use by our group since 2000.

The B-Machine project was moved to the WMRS in Summer 2008 to collect data helping us to map the microwave sky. The B-Machine works every night, gathering the data to produce a final image of the microwave sky. Currently the equipment is shutdown for the winter months however it will become functional again in Summer 2009.

To monitor the station during the winter months when it is often unaccessible, we have a remote weather station several webcams and an optical and IR sky monitor on site. You can view the live camera and weather data from the main menu.

B Machine in "white dome" at Barcroft station

B Machine in “white dome” at Barcroft station