Caltech Receives $2.5 Million to Further Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy

Caltech News Release
For Immediate Release
February 2, 2005

Caltech Receives $2.5 Million to Further Research in Millimeter-Wave
Astronomy

PASADENA, Calif.-The California Institute of Technology announces a
$2.5 million award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to
support the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy
(CARMA).

CARMA will allow significant advances in the areas of astronomy and
astrophysics. The combined array will become a frontline instrument
for innovative research into the formation of galaxies, stars,
planets, and the origins of life.

At the increased level of instrumental sensitivity envisaged, CARMA
will allow researchers to "see" almost to the edge of the universe, a
few billion years after the Big Bang, and also to search comets,
planet-forming disks, and the interstellar medium for chemical clues
regarding the formation of complex organic molecules from which life
may originate.

CARMA is a collaboration between Caltech and the University of
California at Berkeley, the University of Illinois, and the
University of Maryland. It will merge the six 10.4-millimeter
antenna telescopes of Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO)
array with the nine 6.1-millimeter antenna telescopes of the
Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association (BIMA) array, on a
high-elevation 7,200-foot site at Cedar Flat in the Inyo Mountains
near Big Pine, California.

First light is anticipated this fall and full operation in 2006.

The Moore Foundation grant will be used for relocation of the 15
antennas to Cedar Flat; construction of a control center; antenna
pads; associated infrastructure; design and construction of a
telescope transporter; development of state-of-the-art electronics
and software; and other enhancements to ensure the successful
integration into a single system for optimal performance.

Relocation to the Cedar Flat high-elevation site will allow
atmospheric transparency that is a factor of two greater than at the
existing OVRO Observatory. With the improved atmospheric conditions,
more telescopes, and updated electronics, the new facility will have
10 times the sensitivity and imaging speed of the current
instruments. Shorter wavelength observations and resulting higher
angular resolution will also be increased through the improved
atmospheric transmission. With the new array's merged complement of
OVRO and BIMA antennas, CARMA's imaging fidelity will be unsurpassed.
Its unique ability to provide sensitive observations over a wide
range of angular scales will enable scientific research not possible
with any other existing instrument.

According to Anneila Sargent, Rosen Professor of Astronomy and
director of OVRO and CARMA, "CARMA builds on the pioneering technical
and scientific achievements of the OVRO and BIMA arrays over the last
20 years. Millimeter-wave emission from molecular gas and dust has
opened a critical window on the formation of stars, planets, and
galaxies, and results from these arrays are increasingly intriguing.
CARMA, with its improved sensitivity and imaging power, will allow us
to make significant advances and to remain at the forefront of
astronomical research and discovery."

Sargent continues, "While CARMA will ensure our ability to undertake
cutting-edge research, it will also serve a critical role as a
university instrument. This new merged array will encourage the
exploration of new technologies and techniques and will be a key
component in training the next generation of U.S. millimeter-wave
radio astronomers."

Sargent concludes, "If someone asks me these days, 'How's your
karma?', I tell them, 'My CARMA is good!'"

###

) wrote:
CARMA is a collaboration between Caltech and the University of
California at Berkeley, the University of Illinois, and the
University of Maryland. It will merge the six 10.4-millimeter
antenna telescopes of Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO)
array with the nine 6.1-millimeter antenna telescopes of the
Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association (BIMA) array, on a
high-elevation 7,200-foot site at Cedar Flat in the Inyo Mountains
near Big Pine, California.

10.4 millimeter? 6.1 millimeter? Geez, those are tiny telescopes!

They meant, of course, 10.4 meter and 6.1 meter. I wonder why they're
not also hooking into the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory on Mauna
Kea, since that's also 10.4 meters. (And at 13,410' it's high elevation
for real, none of that wimpy 7,200-foot stuff.

-Dan (works 360' uphill from CSO)

--
Dan Birchall, Hilo HI - http://hilom.multiply.com/ - images, words, technology

Dan Birchall writes:

wrote:

CARMA is a collaboration between Caltech and the University of
California at Berkeley, the University of Illinois, and the
University of Maryland. It will merge the six 10.4-millimeter
antenna telescopes of Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO)
array with the nine 6.1-millimeter antenna telescopes of the
Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association (BIMA) array, on a
high-elevation 7,200-foot site at Cedar Flat in the Inyo Mountains
near Big Pine, California.

10.4 millimeter? 6.1 millimeter? Geez, those are tiny telescopes!

They meant, of course, 10.4 meter and 6.1 meter.

Perhaps, though not necessarily. Sometimes a telescope is referred to
by the wavelength at which it is designed to operate.

I wonder why they're
not also hooking into the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory

Submillimeter? Gee, that's an even tinier telescope.

Which makes my point.

wrote:
Dan Birchall writes:
wrote:
CARMA is a collaboration between Caltech and the University of
California at Berkeley, the University of Illinois, and the
University of Maryland. It will merge the six 10.4-millimeter
antenna telescopes of Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO)
array with the nine 6.1-millimeter antenna telescopes of the
Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association (BIMA) array, on a
high-elevation 7,200-foot site at Cedar Flat in the Inyo Mountains
near Big Pine, California.

10.4 millimeter? 6.1 millimeter? Geez, those are tiny telescopes!

They meant, of course, 10.4 meter and 6.1 meter.

Perhaps, though not necessarily. Sometimes a telescope is referred to
by the wavelength at which it is designed to operate.

Well, the _range_ of wavelengths, typically. A telescope that only
operated at a single wavelength would be rather... self-limiting.

But the CARMA site at http://www.mmarray.org/ conveniently states the
(correct) dimensions of the dishes in question, just in case there was
any real uncertainty.

I wonder why they're not also hooking into the Caltech
Submillimeter Observatory

Submillimeter? Gee, that's an even tinier telescope.

Hee! Good one.

Actually, I think I've figured it out - CSO is a single dish, while
BIMA and OVRO have arrays, not unlike the SMA on Mauna Kea. (In fact,
the BIMA dishes appear to be pretty similar in size to the SMA ones.)
CARMA is more of an "array of arrays," I guess. Given that both
arrays are located within California (albeit at opposite ends), it's
not quite on as impressive a scale as the VLBA, but it's still nifty.

I see your name a few places on the 05S1 schedule for 88, so maybe I'll
TO one of those shifts and we can discuss teeny tiny telescopes.

--
Dan Birchall, Hilo HI - http://hilom.multiply.com/ - images, words, technology