Project Overview
The Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT), designed by MAN Technologie, is a 50-m (currently, 32-m) diameter single-dish
telescope optimized for astronomical observations at millimeter
wavelengths (0.85 mm < λ < 4 mm). The LMT Project is a bi-national collaboration between
México and the U.S.A. The institutions leading this
effort are the
Instituto
Nacional de Astrofísica,
Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE) and
the
University of
Massachusetts at Amherst (UMass) respectively.
A principal scientific goal of the LMT is to understand the physical
process of structure formation and its evolutionary history throughout
the Universe. More specifically the LMT has the capability to
investigate subjects as diverse as the const
itution of comets and
planetary atmospheres, the formation of extra-solar planets and the birth
and evolution of stars, the hierarchical growth of galaxies and
clusters and their large-scale distribution, as well as the cosmic
microwave background and its anisotropies.
The
selected telescope site of Volcán Sierra Negra (lat. ~ +19 °),
situated ~ 100 km east of INAOE, in the Mexican state of
Puebla, is at an altitude of 4,600 m (15,000 ft.)
and provides excellent millimeter
wavelength transmission throughout the year.
The LMT
is a
n open-air telescope which has been designed to provide a pointing
accuracy better than 1 arcsec under median wind-loading conditions
(v < 5 m/s). Following the characterization and correction
of the telescope surface under the typical deforming effects
of wind, gravity and temperature gradients, an r.m.s.
accuracy of 70 micron is expected. Consequently the
LMT will be the largest and most sensitive single-aperture
telescope operating at wavelengths of ~0.85mm to 4 mm.
The
combination of the large collecting-area and available field-of-view
(up to 8 arcminutes
in diameter) will provide the LMT with extremely fast mapping-speeds,
an advantage that will be exploited by the suite of first-light
instruments that include a variety of continuum array cameras,
heterodyne arrays and wide-band receivers, and a large flexible
auto-correlator spectrometer. An on-going program of instrument
development and collaborative access to the telescope for guest
instruments will ensure that the LMT remains a leading millimeter-wavelength
facility.
