James Clerk Maxwell Telescope

The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) is a sub-millimeter infrared (far infrared) telescope near the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, covering roughly half a millimeter to a millimeter. Its primary mirror is 15 meters, it is located at an altitude of 4000 meters and has been in operation since 1987. It is used to study the solar system, interstellar dust and gas, and distant galaxies. Instruments:

• SCUBA-2 - Submillimetre Common-user Bolometer Array.
• HARP - heterodyne array receiver.
• ACSIS - digital autocorrelation spectrometer, a back end instrument for HARP.
• POL-2 - linear polarimeter, uses SCUBA-2's output.

In development:

• Nāmakanui - low-noise receivers at three frequencies, two of them currently commissioning.

Past:

• SCUBA.
• Aztec - bolometer camera, destined for Large Millimeter Telescope.