March 2007

March 2: Monthly Meeting

The Large Millimeter Telescope

F. Peter Schloerb

F. Peter Schloerb
Department of Astronomy
University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Dr. Peter Schloerb will present a summary of the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) Project and its scientific potential. The LMT is a 50m diameter radio telescope designed for operation at wavelengths between 1 and 4 millimeters. At these wavelengths, the principle sources of radiation are thermal emissions from dense, star forming, interstellar gas and dust. The large size of the LMT will enable observations of these clouds in distant galaxies at the earliest stages of galaxy formation and provide important clues about the history of star formation and galaxy evolution in the Universe.

The construction of the telescope is a joint project between the Mexican National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics, and Electronics and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMass-Amherst). The telescope is being built at an altitude of 4600 m atop Volcan Sierra Negra, an extinct volcanic peak in the state of Puebla, Mexico, approximately 100 km east of the city of Puebla; construction of the facility is well advanced. In November 2006, President Fox of Mexico dedicated the telescope and viewed an initial detection of an astronomical source with a test receiver and with about half of the reflector surface installed. The "first light" for the telescope at its operating wavelength is expected in 2008 upon full completion of the surface. When the LMT is completed, it will be the largest telescope of its kind in the world.