Large radio telescope ‘levels up’ to study the early universe
The Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA), a powerful radio telescope in the French Alps, has increased its capacity. The telescope, which consists of 12 antennas, was inaugurated on September 30 and became the most powerful millimeter radio telescope in the northern hemisphere.
The telescope will make unprecedented observations of the cosmos, as it is able to capture light that has been traveling in land for 13 billion years, when the universe was about 600 million years old.
NOEMA will also study the stars at all stages of their life and continue to help them Event horizon telescope when studying black holes. This means it will play a key role in helping astronomers answer some of the fundamental questions about the universe.
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In 2014, the first antenna of the NOEMA system was inaugurated, and the telescope now includes 12 antennas. In addition, the length of the tracks along which the 12 antennas can be moved has been extended from 2,500 feet (760 meters) to just over a mile (1.7 kilometers), according to a statement of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).
This allows antenna configurations to be adjusted so that astronomers can zoom in on cosmic objects and investigate them in more detail. With various configurations that help NOEMA work like a camera with a zoom lens, the maximum spatial resolution the telescope can achieve would allow it to detect a mobile phone more than 500 km away, the CNRS researchers said in the statement .
NOEMA’s impressive resolving power also comes from its antenna technology. All the antennas, which point towards the same area of space, are equipped with high-sensitivity receivers that operate at quantum limits and use a technique called interferometry. The signals received by the antennas are combined by a supercomputer, which allows the 12 antennas spread over a wide area to function as a single massive telescope with a diameter that covers that entire area.
Millimeter radio telescopes like NOEMA study light with wavelengths in the millimeter range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Cosmic objects like galaxies, nebulae i stars they emit different types of light depending on factors such as their composition, temperature and age. This means that to build a more complete picture of an object, astronomers must combine observations and data collected at different wavelengths.
The newly launched NOEMA telescope is one of the few radio observatories worldwide that can collect data on a large number of molecular and atomic signatures, the “fingerprints” of molecules and atoms at once, which astronomers call “multiline “. observations”.
This means that the instrument is well equipped to study the matter found in the regions between stars. This so-called interstellar medium is usually made up of hydrogen and helium gas, with small amounts of heavier elements, and is the stuff from which stars and planets form.
Astronomers will also use NOEMA to study the cold matter that exists just a few degrees above absolute zero, the hypothetical temperature at which all atomic motion ceases, and the compositions of entire galaxies.
Even before reaching full capacity, NOEMA was making waves in astronomy. The radio telescope recently observed one of the most distant galaxies ever seen, which formed shortly after the big bang. NOEMA also discovered the first example of a rapidly growing black hole in the dust-filled heart of the so-called starburst galaxyin which star formation is occurring rapidly.
In addition, NOEMA has measured the early temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the first light to fill the universe after it had cooled enough to allow electrons and protons to connect and photons to travel freely. This measure could help better constrain the effects of dark energy, the mysterious force driving the acceleration. expansion of the universe see you today
NOEMA, which is the culmination of 40 years of scientific collaboration in Europe, was inaugurated on 30 September during a ceremony attended by several leading astronomers, including Reinhard Genzel, one of the winners of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics .
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