| Popis: |
With ESO and Onsala Space Observatory as partners, the Max-Planck-Institut fur Radioastronomie (MPIfR) is building a submillimeter telescope of 12 m diameter (APEX), to be placed on the ALMA site (Chajnantor) in Chile. The telescope will be a modified copy of that ALMA prototype antenna, which has been designed by Vertex. First light is foreseen for 2003. As a result of the excellent atmospheric conditions of the site, APEX will offer unique opportunities for submm astronomy in the southern hemisphere. Many kinds of astronomical reseach projects benefit from large format bolometer arrays, especially the search for early galaxies and QSOs at very high redshifts. Designed for this purpose, LABOCA, the large bolometer camera, will operate at a wavelength of 870 m and is planned to be operational soon after first light of APEX. Keywords: APEX, bolometer, submillimeter astronomy, micromachining, pulse tube INTRODUCTION Some of the most interesting objects in the universe are only accessible through astronomical observations in the atmospheric windows at submillimeter wavelengths. The submillimeter emission from molecular spectral lines and from warm dust allows an almost unhindered, unique view of star-forming regions and galactic nuclei, from our own Milky Way to the most distant galaxies and quasars in the early Universe. Furthermore, the southern celestial hemisphere is almost unexplored at submillimeter wavelengths. An international collaboration led by the Millimeter and Submillimeter Astronomy Group at the Max-Planck-Institut fur Radioastronomie (MPIfR) will therefore place a 12-meter radio telescope at the best accessible site for submillimeter observations, Llano de Chajnantor in Chile's Atacama desert. The new telescope is called "Atacama Pathfinder Experiment" (APEX). The Astronomisches Institut Ruhr-Universitat Bochum (AIRUB), the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Onsala Space Observatory (OSO) have agreed with the MPIfR to share APEX funding and observing time, with 10% of the observing time being set aside for Chilean astronomers. Construction of the antenna by Vertex Antennentechnik |
