Plateau de Bure Interferometer
Encyclopedia
The Plateau de Bure Interferometer is a six-antenna interferometer on the Plateau de Bure (2550 m) in the French Alps
, operated by the Institut de radioastronomie millimétrique
.
It is specifically designed for millimetre-wave observations and specialises in studies of line emission from molecular gas and radio continuum of cold dust.
At an observing wavelength of 3 mm (100 GHz frequency) each of these telescopes can resolve two objects 45 arcseconds apart from each other on the sky. In an interferometer, these 45″ are actually the size of the field of view. So an interferometer like this one images, at very high resolution (better than 1″), structures smaller than 45″.
On July 1, 1999 20 people were killed at the crash of the aerial tramway leading up to the observatory.
French Alps
The French Alps are those portions of the Alps mountain range which stand within France, located in the Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions....
, operated by the Institut de radioastronomie millimétrique
Institut de radioastronomie millimétrique
The Institut de radioastronomie millimétrique operates two observatories for radio astronomy at millimeter wavelengths, which are open to the international astronomical community: the 30-m single-dish radio telescope located on Pico Veleta in the Spanish Sierra Nevada , and the six-antenna...
.
It is specifically designed for millimetre-wave observations and specialises in studies of line emission from molecular gas and radio continuum of cold dust.
At an observing wavelength of 3 mm (100 GHz frequency) each of these telescopes can resolve two objects 45 arcseconds apart from each other on the sky. In an interferometer, these 45″ are actually the size of the field of view. So an interferometer like this one images, at very high resolution (better than 1″), structures smaller than 45″.
On July 1, 1999 20 people were killed at the crash of the aerial tramway leading up to the observatory.
See also
- List of radio telescopes
- List of observatories
- CARMACombined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave AstronomyThe Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy is an astronomical instrument comprising 23 radio telescopes. These telescopes form an astronomical interferometer where all the signals are combined in a purpose-built computer to produce high-resolution astronomical images.- Location...
another millimeter-wave array operated by a consortium including Caltech, University of California Berkeley, University of Illinois, University of Maryland and University of Chicago. - Atacama Large Millimeter ArrayAtacama Large Millimeter ArrayThe Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array is an array of radio telescopes in the Atacama desert of northern Chile. Since a high and dry site is crucial to millimeter wavelength operations, the array is being constructed on the Chajnantor plateau at 5000 metres altitude...
, a large array in the (sub)millimetre range currently under construction.