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Recollections of "Tucson Operations"

The Millimeter-Wave Observatory of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory

  • Book
  • © 2005

Overview

Authors:
  1. M. A. Gordon

    1. National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Tucson, USA

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  • No books have been published yet on this subject
  • Rather unique monograph presenting one of the key stories in the history of mm-wave observations in the USA (and therefore pretty much in the world)
  • Comes at the right moment
  • The mm-wave part of the spectrum is about the last window that remains to be opened for ground-based astronomy (gravitational waves being the other part)
  • Currently, two major new telescopes (GTM and ALMA) are being built to operate in the mm-wave band
  • They can be seen as a direct spin-off of the Tucson Operations
  • ALMA (see www.alma.nrao.edu/info) is the most internationally and heavily sponsored project (at least 500 million dollar) and will become operational in 2007
  • With these new tools arriving within a few years, the astronomical community is funding an increasing amount of projects in mm-wave astronomy
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Astrophysics and Space Science Library (ASSL, volume 323)

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xviii
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  2. The Early Years

    Pages 1-12

  3. Construction of the Telescope

    Pages 13-28

  4. Radio Lines from Molecules

    Pages 29-33

  5. Dispatched to Tucson

    Pages 35-43

  6. Expanding the Tucson Facilities

    Pages 45-72

  7. Providing Adequate Electricity

    Pages 73-76

  8. Lightning and Kitt Peak

    Pages 77-78

  9. Software

    Pages 79-89

  10. Millimeter-Wave Electronics

    Pages 91-105

  11. Quantifying mm-Wave Astronomy

    Pages 107-109

  12. Scheduling

    Pages 111-118

  13. Improving the Performance of the 36-ft Telescope

    Pages 119-124

  14. The 25-m Telescope

    Pages 125-159

  15. Odds and Ends

    Pages 161-172

  16. The MMA and ALMA

    Pages 173-184

  17. The Twilight Years

    Pages 185-189

  18. Back Matter

    Pages 191-221
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Keywords

About this book

This book is a personal account of the evolution of millimeter-wave astronomy at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. It begins with the construction of the hugely successful, but flawed, 36 ft radio telescope on Kitt Peak, Arizona, and continues through the funding of its ultimate successor, the Atacama Large Millimeter-wave Array (ALMA), being constructed on a 5.000 m (16.500 ft) site in northern Chile. The book describes the behind-the-scene activities of the NRAO Tucson staff. These include the identification and solution of technical problems, the scheduling and support of visiting astronomers, and the preparations and the politics of the proposal to replace the 36 ft telescope with a 25 m telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The book also describes the installation of a new 12 m surface and the involvement of the Tucson staff in the ALMA project. Finally, it describes events leading to the closing of the 36 ft telescope and, eventually, of the NRAO offices in Tucson.

Authors and Affiliations

  • National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Tucson, USA

    M. A. Gordon

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Recollections of "Tucson Operations"

  • Book Subtitle: The Millimeter-Wave Observatory of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory

  • Authors: M. A. Gordon

  • Series Title: Astrophysics and Space Science Library

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3236-6

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2005

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4020-3235-6Published: 14 January 2005

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-90-481-6822-4Published: 22 October 2010

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4020-3236-3Published: 30 March 2006

  • Series ISSN: 0067-0057

  • Series E-ISSN: 2214-7985

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVII, 221

  • Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology, History, general

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