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CARMA telescope facility dedication set for May 5
James E.
Kloeppel, Physical Sciences Editor
217 244-1073; kloeppel@uiuc.edu
5/5/06
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. —
Astronomers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign soon
will be observing the universe with a new millimeter-wave telescope
array located in the high desert of California. Dedication of the facility
– called the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy
– is set for 3 p.m. PDT on Friday (May 5) at Cedar Flat in the
Inyo Mountains near Bishop.
CARMA is a joint venture of the California Institute of Technology,
the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Maryland,
and Illinois. Developing the CARMA site involved moving the six 10-meter
telescopes at Caltech’s Owens Valley Radio Observatory, along
with nine 6-meter telescopes at the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association
array, to the new Cedar Flat location.
“By combining two university-based millimeter arrays into one
15-telescope array, we have created a much more powerful astronomical
tool,” said Richard Crutcher, a professor of astronomy at Illinois and a member of the CARMA science steering committee. “CARMA
will be able to produce images comparable in resolution to the Hubble
Space Telescope, and will be the most powerful telescope of its type
for years to come.”
According to Crutcher, a major advantage of relocating the telescopes
to Cedar Flat is the dry air at the site’s elevation of 7,200
feet, which is more than twice as high as the previous OVRO and BIMA
array locations. At the new high-altitude site, CARMA will provide unparalleled
sensitivity, opening new windows into the hidden universe.
“CARMA is a premier facility and will be used both for conducting
front-line research and for training the next generation of radio astronomers,”
said James Kirkpatrick, executive associate dean of the College
of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Illinois and a member of the CARMA
board of representatives.
“Our participation in building and operating this important observatory
strongly supports the research and educational excellence expected of
Illinois as a major research university,” Kirkpatrick said.
Astronomers using CARMA will peer into the hearts of galaxies to study
the cold molecular gas that fuels star formation and feeds massive black
holes. They also will study disks surrounding newly forming stars that
are believed to be future sites of planet formation, identify interstellar
clouds of molecules that can form the building blocks of life, and examine
fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation in order to
study the origin and early evolution of the universe.
“These observations will address some of the most important questions
in astrophysics today,” said Lewis Snyder, a professor emeritus
of astronomy at Illinois and a leader in the effort to develop the combined
array. “These questions include how the first stars and galaxies
formed, how stars and planetary systems like our own are formed, and
what the chemistry of the interstellar gas can tell us about the origins
of life.”
The new array is operated by the CARMA Association, which comprises
the four partner universities. The association coordinates the separate
activities of its members through a board of representatives that includes
senior administrators from each partner university and the CARMA science
steering committee, made up of an equal number of scientists from Caltech
and from BIMA.
The National Science Foundation has supported both the OVRO and BIMA
arrays since their inception, and will continue to support CARMA operations.
Construction costs for the combined array, which has a value in excess
of $50 million, were divided among the NSF and the four universities.
Astronomers around the world have access to the facility.
Further information may be found at: http://www.mmarray.org/
Editor’s note:
To reach Richard Crutcher, call 217-333-9581; e-mail: crutcher@uiuc.edu.
To reach Lewis Snyder, call 217-333-5530; e-mail: lesnyder@uiuc.edu.
To reach James Kirkpatrick, call 217-265-0349; e-mail: kirkpat@uiuc.edu.
