Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope

The Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope (CCAT) is a proposed 25-metre telescope that is intended to reveal the cosmic origins of stars, planets, and galaxies with its submillimeter cameras and spectrometers enabled by the superconducting detector arrays.^[1][2] Submillimeter is a type of microwave radiation that is closest to infrared in the light spectrum. Situated at a planned altitude of 5612 meters^[3] on Cerro Chajnantor in northern Chile, CCAT would be one of the highest permanent, ground-based telescopes in the world.

The telescope is to be outfitted with a wide-field camera that is expected to map the sky 1000 times faster and with better resolution than than the SCUBA-2 camera installed on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii.^[4]

Of the universities participating in the 140 million dollar CCAT project, 2 are from Germany, 4 from the USA, and at least 7 from Canada.^[4]

Construction is projected to begin in 2013 and be completed in 2017. The telescope is intended to complement the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), by discovering new sources that ALMA will follow up with highly detailed imagery.^[5]

References

1. ^ National Research Council Report Highly Recommends CCAT CCAT News 12 November 2010
2. ^ Jonas Zmuidzinas bio NASA Accessed 28 March 2011
3. ^ The Cornell Caltech Atacama Telescope (CCAT) University of Cologne Accessed 28 March 2011
4. ^ ^{a b} Renata D'Aliesio Astronomers hope telescope unlocks secrets of universe Globe and Mail 28 March 2011
5. ^ Lauren Gold $11M gift for Atacama telescope will help astronomers answer fundamental questions about galaxy, star formation Cornell Chronicle 12 November 2010