Location(s) | Mauna Kea , United States of America |
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Coordinates | 19°49′21″N 155°28′34″W / 19.8225°N 155.476°WCoordinates: 19°49′21″N 155°28′34″W / 19.8225°N 155.476°W |
Organisation | California Institute of Technology |
Altitude | 13,570 ft (13,570 ft) |
Wavelength | 1,300, 350 µm (230,000, 860,000 MHz) |
Built | –1985 |
First light | 1986 |
Telescope style | radio telescope |
Diameter | 10.4 m (34 ft 1 in) |
Website | www |
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The Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) is a 10.4-meter (34 ft) diameter submillimeter wavelength telescope situated alongside the 15-meter (49 ft) James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) at Mauna Kea Observatories. It is engaged in submillimetre astronomy, of the terahertz radiation band. The telescope closed on September 18, 2015. The telescope is set to be decommissioned in the near future as part of the Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan.
The CSO and JCMT were combined to form the first submillimeter interferometer. The success of this experiment was important in pushing ahead the construction of the Submillimeter Array and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array interferometers.
On April 30, 2009, Caltech announced plans to decommission the CSO, transferring ongoing research to the next-generation Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope (CCAT) in Chile. The plans call for CSO to be dismantled, beginning in 2016, with its site returned to a natural state by 2018.