NANTEN Radio Telescope: Pioneering the Southern Molecular Clouds

NANTEN is the radio telescope of Nagoya University installed at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. The telescope is aimed at revealing the molecular clouds and star formation in the southern Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds with its high capability in surveying molecular emission. The author presents a brief history of NANTEN and the highlight of the first results including the identification of the formation sites of populous clusters in the LMC and the discovery of the first molecular supershell, the Carina Flare.