The Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment
Abstract
The Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE) is a joint project between Japan and Chile to install and operate a high-precision, 10 m telescope in the Atacama desert for exploration of the southern sky in the sub-millimeter. Currently, we have achieved a main reflector surface accuracy of 19 μm (RMS) and a pointing accuracy of 1.2 arcsec (RMS). A new 350 GHz cartridge-type receiver, installed in September 2004, shows good performance, with a typical system noise temperature of 200 K (DSB (Double Sideband)) and a main beam efficiency of up to 0.8 during winter nights. Four banks of 512 MHz (or 128 MHz) width digital spectrometers with 1024 channels are available. Extensive sub-millimeter observations of various objects such as massive star forming regions in our Galaxy have been started with ASTE.
- Publication:
-
The Cool Universe: Observing Cosmic Dawn
- Pub Date:
- December 2005
- Bibcode:
- 2005ASPC..344..242K