GHz and 48 at 150 GHz), which were sensitive to the polarisation of the CMB. A pair of detectors constitutes one polarization-sensitive pixel. The instrument, a prototype for future instruments, was first described in Keating et al. 2003 and started observing in January 2006 and ran until the end of 2008. BICEP2 The second-generation instrument was BICEP2. Featuring a greatly improved focal-plane transition edge sensor (TES) bolometer array of 512 sensors (256 pixels) operating at 150 GHz, this 26 cm aperture telescope replaced the BICEP1 instrument, and observed from 2010 to 2012. Reports stated in March 2014 that BICEP2 had detected B-modes from gravitational waves in the early universe (called primordial gravitational waves), a result reported by the four co-principal investigators of BICEP2: John M. Kovac of the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian; Chao-Lin Kuo of Stanford University; Jamie Bock of the California Institute of Technology; and Clem Pryke of the University of Minnesota. An announcement was made on 17 March 2014 from the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian. The reported detection was of B-modes at the level of , disfavouring the null hypothesis () at the level of 7 sigma (5.9σ after foreground subtraction). However, on 19 June 2014, lowered confidence in confirming the cosmic inflation findings was reported; the accepted and reviewed version of the discovery paper contains an appendix discussing the possible production of the signal by cosmic dust. In part because the large value of the tensor to scalar ratio, which contradicts limits from the Planck data, this is considered the most likely explanation for the detected signal by many scientists. For example, on June 5, 2014 at a conference of the American Astronomical Society, astronomer David Spergel argued that the B-mode polarization detected by BICEP2 could instead be the result of light emitted from dust between the stars in our Milky Way galaxy. A preprint released by the Planck team in September 2014, eventually accepted in 2016, provided the most accurate measurement yet of dust, concluding that the signal from dust is the same strength as that reported from BICEP2. On January 30, 2015, a joint analysis of BICEP2 and Planck data was published and the European Space Agency announced that the signal can be entirely attributed to dust in the Milky Way. BICEP2 has combined their data with the Keck Array and Planck in a joint analysis. A March 2015 publication in