L. Danese et al., SUB-DEGREE ANISOTROPY OBSERVATIONS - GROUND-BASED, BALLOON-BORNE AND SPACE EXPERIMENTS, Astrophysical letters & communications, 33(6), 1996, pp. 257-274
Extensive, accurate imaging of the Cosmic Background Radiation tempera
ture anisotropy at sub-degree angular resolution is widely recognized
as one of the most crucial goals for cosmology and astroparticle physi
cs in the next decade. We review the scientific case for such measurem
ents in relation with sky coverage, attainable sensitivity, confusing
foreground radiation components, and experimental strategies. Although
ground-based and balloon-borne experiments will provide valuable resu
lts, only a well-designed, far-Earth orbit space mission covering a wi
de spectral range and a significant part of all the sky will provide d
ecisive answers on the mechanism of structure formation.