 CARMA at night, credit:David MacMahon The Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) is an astronomical instrument composed of 23 radio telescopes. The signals detected by these telescopes are combined to form an interferometer. It is located in the Inyo Mountains to the east of the Owens Valley Radio Observatory at a site called Cedar Flat, accessed through Westgard Pass. It is currently under construction with plans for normal observations to commence in late 2005. CARMA Logo File links The following pages link to this file: Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy Categories: United States government images ...
CARMA Logo File links The following pages link to this file: Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy Categories: United States government images ...
Interferometry is the applied science of combining two or more input points of a particular data type, such as optical measurements, to form a greater picture based on the combination of the two sources. ...
The Inyo Mountains The Inyo Mountains are a short mountain range east of the Sierra Nevada mountains in eastern California in the United States. ...
The Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) is a radio observatory located near Bishop, California, approximately 250 miles north of Los Angeles on the east side of the Sierra Nevada. ...
Until the Atacama Large Millimeter Array is constructed in Chile, this instrument will be the most powerful millimeter wave interferometer in the world. This array is unique for being a heterogeneous collection of radio telescopes of varying sizes and design. There are three types of telescopes. The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) is an international astronomy project that consists of a system of radio telescopes in an array formation, located at Llano de Chajnantor Observatory in the Atacama desert in northern Chile. ...
- 9 Telescopes each 6.1 meters (20 feet) in diameter. These were once located at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory and operated by the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland-Association (BIMA) consortium. These were moved from HCRO in the spring of 2005 to Cedar Flat.
- 8 Telescopes each 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) in diameter. These were newly built and are also known as the Sunyaev-Zel'dovic Array (SZA), a project lead by John Carlstrom at the University of Chicago. The SZA is currently observing the sky on the valley floor of the Owens Valley Radio Observatory and will be moved up to Cedar Flat sometime in 2006. The array presently observes radio waves with a wavelength of 1 cm (about 22 GHz).
- 6 Telescopes each 10.4 meters (34 feet) in diameter. These were once part of the Millimeter Array at the OVRO site. They were moved to Cedar Flat in the spring of 2005.
Observations are primarily in the 3 mm range (80-115 GHz) and the 1 mm range (210-270 GHz). These frequencies are useful for detecting many molecular gases, including the second most abundant molecule in the universe, carbon monoxide (CO). Observing CO is an indirect indicator of the presence of molecular hydrogen gas (the most abundant molecule in the universe) which is difficult to detect. Constructing 85-foot dish The Hat Creek Radio Observatory (HCRO) is operated by the Radio Astronomy Laboratory (an Organized Research Unit of the Astronomy Department at the University of California, Berkeley). ...
The Sunyaev-Zeldovic Array (SZA) in California is surveying the Cosmic Microwave Background to find clusters of galaxies. ...
Universities Involved
CARMA is a consortium composed of three primary groups.
Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association (BIMA), California Institute of Technology, University of Chicago
The California Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Caltech) is a private, coeducational university located in Pasadena, California, in the United States. ...
The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. ...
See also The Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) is a radio observatory located near Bishop, California, approximately 250 miles north of Los Angeles on the east side of the Sierra Nevada. ...
The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) is an international astronomy project that consists of a system of radio telescopes in an array formation, located at Llano de Chajnantor Observatory in the Atacama desert in northern Chile. ...
The Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (SZ effect or Sunyaev-Zeldovich theory) is due to high energy electrons distorting the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) through the inverse Compton effect, in which some of the high energy of the electrons is transferred to the low energy photons. ...
Microwave image of 3C353 galaxy at 8. ...
Interferometry is the applied science of combining two or more input points of a particular data type, such as optical measurements, to form a greater picture based on the combination of the two sources. ...
External links |
Feeds |
Contact