As a research institute of the
Smithsonian Institution,
the Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is headquartered
in Cambridge, MA, where it is joined with the Harvard College Observatory (HCO) to form
the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics (CfA). More than 300 scientists at the CfA are
engaged in a broad program of research in astronomy, astrophysics,
earth and space sciences, and science education.
Return to the receiver lab homepage.
Here are the latest water vapor images of the Americas,
and of the eastern Pacific (including Hawaii).
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Submillimeter Receiver Lab Site Testing
The receiver lab staff operates a site-testing Fourier Transform
Spectrometer (FTS) which gathers atmospheric opacity information from
a high-altitude (>5000m) site in northern Chile.
A description of the instrument and the initial results can be found in
this publication.
Here is a photo of the FTS container sitting open in the laboratory.
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Initial field testing of the instrument took place during
Fall 1997 at the SMA site on Mauna Kea. Pictured from left to right
are C. Papa, R. Blundell, J. Barrett,
S. Radford (NRAO) and S. Paine.
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For a period of more than 2 years (October 1997 - December 1999), the
FTS was deployed and obtained atmospheric opacity data at the international ALMA site at Chajnantor.
Here is a photo of the working system at that time, adjacent
to the
NRAO site characterization instruments.
The Chajnantor data are available
at this link.
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Here is a portion of the road to the new site.
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