Title: CCAT: A wide-field submillimeter telescope at an exceptional site

Speaker: Martha P. Haynes (Cornell University) 　　

Time: Monday, 2:00pm, March 30th 　　

Place: Lecture Hall, 3rdfloor　　

Biography: 　　

A native of the Boston area, Martha P. Haynes graduated with special honors from Wellesley College and received her graduate degrees from Indiana University. She served on the staff of the Arecibo Observatory of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center in Puerto Rico and was the Site Director of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Green Bank Observatory. She joined the Cornell faculty in 1983 and is now the Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy.　　 　　She has served on numerous institutional and agency boards and advisory committees, including a term as Vice President of the International Astronomical Union from 2006-2012. A long-time member of its Board of Trustees, she was the Interim President of Associated Universities, Inc. during the initial design and development phase of the Millimeter Array project, now the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA). She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the U.S.National Academy of Sciences. In 1989 she was awarded the Henry Draper Medal by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences for her work on mapping the filamentary distribution of galaxies in the local universe. Her scientific research concentrates on observational cosmology, galaxy evolution and radio astronomy techniques.　　

Abstract:　　

Over cosmic time, half of the radiation emitted by stars has been absorbed by dust and re-emitted at far-infrared and submillimeter wavelengths, so that a full understanding of the star formation history of the Universe requires observations in the submillimeter bands. CCAT will be a 25-meter submillimeter telescope that will enable a broad range of astronomical studies focused on the origins of stars, galaxies and galaxy clusters. Located on a high elevation site in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, CCAT is designed to provide sensitive high angular resolution observations at submillimeter wavelengths (3.5 arcsec at 350 microns) over a 1 degree field-of-view. The combination of the large aperture telescope, on a prime observing site, with a wide field-of-view, and equipped with state-of-the-art large-format cameras and spectrometers makes CCAT a powerful discovery instrument.