Common menu bar links
Related Information
Institutes & Programs
Areas of Research
Communities
Careers
News
Events
Enquiries: NRC-HIA
Phone: 250-363-0001
Fax: 250-363-0045
Email: HIA-WWW@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
5071 West Saanich Road
Victoria,
British Columbia,
V9E 2E7
Canada
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
A Microwave Telescope
Naturally emitted microwaves are the targets of this unusual telescope. Located near the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the JCMT is helping to open a new window on the universe. Named after the pioneering Scottish physicist who gave us a fundamental understanding of electricity and magnetism, the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope is used to investigate a part of the electromagnetic spectrum that is only now beginning to be explored. The telescope is capable of exploring radio waves with a range of about 0.3 to 2 mm.
Science and the JCMT
What sort of organic molecules exist beyond our solar system? How are stars made in the murky depths of interstellar clouds? Astronomers have used the telescope to gather unique information about many types of objects, including the Sun, comets, planets, molecular clouds, galaxies, quasars and the cosmic background radiation. Analysis might include determining what the microwave emitting gases are made of, how they are moving, what sort of magnetic field is present or how much radiation is given off, helping to answer questions that would be otherwise impossible to answer.
An International Facility
JCMT was built jointly by the United Kingdom and the Netherlands and is funded by the UK, Canada and the Netherlands. It is operated from the Joint Astronomy Center in Hilo, Hawaii and used by astronomers from the funding countries and world-wide, who visit the observatory for the few days that they are scheduled to use the telescope each year.
