The Greenland Telescope

Paul Grimes; Raymond Blundell

doi:10.1117/12.927459

17 September 2012 The Greenland Telescope

Paul Grimes, Raymond Blundell

Proceedings Volume 8444, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes IV; 84441N (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.927459
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

In the spring of 2010, the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, acquired the ALMA North America prototype antenna – a state-of-the-art 12-m diameter dish designed for submillimeter astronomy. Together with the MIT-Haystack Observatory and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, the plan is to retrofit this antenna for cold-weather operation and equip it with a suite of instruments designed for a variety of scientific experiments and observations. The primary scientific goal is to image the shadow of the Super-Massive Black Hole in M87 in order to test Einstein’s theory of relativity under extreme gravity. This requires the highest angular resolution, which can only be achieved by linking this antenna with others already in place to form a telescope almost the size of the Earth. We are therefore developing plans to install this antenna at the peak of the Greenland ice-sheet. This location will produce an equivalent North-South separation of almost 9,000 km when linked to the ALMA telescope in Northern Chile, and an East-West separation of about 6,000 km when linked to SAO and ASIAA’s Submillimeter Array on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and will provide an angular resolution almost 1000 times higher than that of the most powerful optical telescopes. Given the quality of the atmosphere at the proposed telescope location, we also plan to make observations in the atmospheric windows at 1.3 and 1.5 THz. We will present plans to retrofit the telescope for cold-weather operation, and discuss potential instrumentation and projected time-line.

Citation Download Citation

Paul Grimes and Raymond Blundell "The Greenland Telescope", Proc. SPIE 8444, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes IV, 84441N (17 September 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.927459

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available

Members: $17.00

Non-members: $21.00 ADD TO CART

PROCEEDINGS
12 PAGES

DOWNLOAD PAPER SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

GET CITATION

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Get copyright permission Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace

KEYWORDS

Telescopes

Antennas

Galactic astronomy

Space telescopes

Observatories

Terahertz radiation

Spatial resolution

Show All Keywords

Keywords/Phrases

Search In:

Publication Years