James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT)
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT)
The JCMT is the largest single-dish telescope in the world dedicated to detecting submillimeter radiation. The diameter of the antenna is 15 m, and the observable wavelength coverage is 0.4 1.4 mm. The JCMT is located near the summit (4,092 m) of Mauna Kea on the big island of Hawaii. To learn more about the JCMT, please visit the JCMT homepage
The JCMT is the first telescope operated by the East Asian Observatory (EAO), which was established by the East Asian Core Observatories Association (EACOA) to pursue joint projects in astronomy within the East Asian region. The member institutions of the EAO are the National Astronomical Observatories, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC; China), the Academia Sinica, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA; Taiwan), the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ; Japan), and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI; Korea). JCMT operation was transferred to the EAO in to the EAO in, 2015-03.
The JCMT is the first telescope operated by the East Asian Observatory (EAO), which was established by the East Asian Core Observatories Association (EACOA) to pursue joint projects in astronomy within the East Asian region. The member institutions of the EAO are the National Astronomical Observatories, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC; China), the Academia Sinica, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA; Taiwan), the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ; Japan), and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI; Korea). JCMT operation was transferred to the EAO in to the EAO in, 2015-03.
The Research Fields Studied Using JCMT
- Submillimeter cosmology
- Nearby galaxies
- Star formation
- Debris disks
JCMT Archive Data
The data taken for 27 years before the EAO-JCMT era are available in the JCMT Science Archive (JSA). The JSA contains a variety of JCMT science data including those of the JCMT Legacy Surveys. The archive data can be searched through the Canadian Astronomical Data Center (CADC). For detailed information on the JSA and CADC, please visit http://www.eaobservatory.org/jcmt/science/archive/ and http://www.eaobservatory.org/jcmt/science/archive/guide/.
JCMT Large Programs
To enhance the synergy of international collaboration in the EAO by taking advantage of JCMT’s scientific capability, seven Large Programs (>200 hours) were selected on 2015-11-09. The programs cover various science topics, as follows:
- A Transient Search for Variable Protostars
- SCOPE: SCUBA-2 Continuum Observations of Pre-protostellar Evolution
- BISTRO: B-fields In STar forming RegiOns
- MALATANG: Mapping the Dense Molecular Gas in the Strongest Star-forming Galaxies
- JINGLE: the JCMT dust and gas In Nearby Galaxies Legacy Exploration
- S2-COSMOS: An EAO SCUBA-2 survey of 1,000 SMGs in the COSMOS field
- STUDIES: SCUBA-2 Ultra Deep Imaging EAO Survey
To learn more about the Large Programs and the policies regarding participation, please visit the Large Programs homepage.
Instruments and Observing with JCMT
The current representative instruments of the JCMT are HARP and SCUBA-2. HARP is a heterodyne receiver with a 16-pixel array operating at 345 GHz, and SCUBA-2 is a continuum camera with four 32 x 40 detector arrays at 850 and 450 μm. An instrument with polarimetric capability, POL-2, will be included in the near future. Please visit the JCMT instrumentation webpage to learn the current status and capabilities.
To check the current call for proposals, visit http://www.eaobservatory.org/jcmt/proposals/.
To check the current call for proposals, visit http://www.eaobservatory.org/jcmt/proposals/.