IRAM 30m telescope

Built from 1980 to 1984,[3][4] the telescope operates at 2850 meters above sea level. Due to its large surface, in the shape of a parabola and 420 panels adjusted to a precision of 55 micrometers, the IRAM is one of the most sensitive single dish radio telescopes in the world.[2] The telescope can be pointed towards a celestial source, allowing astronomers to build up radio images of complete galaxies or regions of star formations.

The telescope is equipped with a suit of heterodyne receivers and continuum cameras operating at wavelengths of around 0.8, 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 millimeters. The telescope can observe these wavelengths simultaneously, allowing it to at once produce multiple images of the same region in different wavelengths.

IRAM also offers guided tours through the observatory and public talks during the summer months. A virtual tour is provided on IRAM's website[5]

Unlike optical astronomy telescopes, which are suitable to observing hot objects which emit visible radiation, radio telescopes that operate in the millimeter wavebands can view much colder objects that emit lower frequency radiation. For instance, supermassive black holes are very cold, with some larger black holes on the order of 10⁻¹⁴ °K, and as such the Event Horizon Telescope is composed of radio telescopes. Cold cosmic objects include planets, distant galaxies, and large gas clouds.[4]

As part of the Event Horizon Telescope array, the IRAM 30-meter telescope obtained the first-ever image of a black hole. The IRAM 30-meter telescope also produced the first high-resolution radio observations of the heart of the Milky Way galaxy and its black hole named Sagittarius A* in 1995 along with the NOEMA array (formerly the Plateau de Bure Interferometer). Together with NOEMA, it discovered one-third of the interstellar molecules known to date.[6]

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  The IRAM 30-meter telescope scanning the night sky.
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  The IRAM 30-meter telescope.
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  The NOEMA observatory, IRAM's second facility.