Title
Reporting the first 3 years of 225-GHz opacity measurements at the site of the Large Millimeter Telescope Alfonso Serrano
Date Issued
01 January 2016
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
conference paper
Author(s)
Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica
Publisher(s)
SPIE
Abstract
The Large Millimeter Telescope Alfonso Serrano (LMT) is located in Puebla, Mexico, at an altitude of 4580 m. It is currently the largest single-dish telescope constructed to observe the Universe at wavelengths between 0.85 and 4 mm. Identifying interstellar molecules, exploring dense dark clouds, and understanding the properties of cold matter and interstellar dust in the local and distant Universe are among its main scientific goals. Since June 2013, the LMT has conducted four shared-risk early science campaigns∗ observing at 1.1 mm (AzTEC), and 3 mm (RSR) with the aid of a new meteorological and radiometer system to guide the exibility scheduling of observing time. Here we report measurements of the atmospheric opacity taken with this radiometer at 225 GHz between June 2013 and April 2016. These measurements show that the LMT site has exceptional weather conditions with opacities < 0:06 25% of its observing time during the driest months of December, January and February, excellent weather conditions with opacities < 0:1 50% of the same time, and opacities below 0.28 80% of the time during the entire dry season, making it a very convenient site for sub-millimeter/millimeter astronomy.
Volume
9906
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Meteorología y ciencias atmosféricas
Física y Astronomía
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85001053542
Source
Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Resource of which it is part
Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
ISSN of the container
0277786X
ISBN of the container
9781510601918
Conference
Ground-Based and Airborne Telescopes VI
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus