x12NOEMA

NOEMA a new telescope to explore the invisible universe

NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array

NOEMA, the successor to the Plateau du Bure observatory, will be the most powerful millimeter radiotelescope of the Northern Hemisphere:

● twelve 15-meter antennas on a 2550-meter-high plateau in the French Alps

● 2000 meters of track on which the antennas can be moved into di� erent con� gurations

● 48 high technology reception systems with sensitivities close to quantic limits

● state-of-the-art electronic equipment designed to process the celestial data

NOEMA will be able to answer some of the most fundamental questions of modern astronomy:

● see the formation of the � rst galaxies in the universe

● understand the role of super-giant black holes at the center of galaxies

● probe the dynamics and the chemical evolution of nearby galaxies

● detect complex organic molecules while searching for the key elements of life

● follow the various stages of stellar formation to the appearance of planetary systems

To combine the celestial signals collected by the 12 antennas, NOEMA’s electronic equipment will perform millions of billions of mathematical calculations per second.

The celestial signals captured by NOEMA are incredibly small. Its antennas would need to observe the sky for a period equal to the entire age of the universe to collect enough energy to light an ordinary light-bulb for 10 seconds.

NOEMA’s spatial resolution is such that the twelve antennas would be able to detect the pages of this brochure from a distance of over 500 km.

NOEMA, a telescope searching for the origins of our universe

Why radioastronomy?Radioastronomy plays an essential role in modern-day astrophysics and is a key complement to optical astronomy. Compared to optical astronomy, which is sensitive to the hot universe (stars are generally a few thousand degrees Celsius), radiotelescopes that operate in the millimeter wavebands, such as the Plateau de Bure observatory, probe the cold universe (around -250 degrees Celsius).

Millimeter radioastronomy is therefore able to:

● detect star formations hidden behind clouds of dust making them invisible to optical telescopes

● identify interstellar molecules and study cosmic dust, key elements of star and galaxy formation

● observe galaxies and quasars at the outer limits of the universe

● help us understand the evolution of the universe

Plateau de Bure

2012

NOEMA

2018

NOEMA, one of the largest observatories in Europe, will:

● serve an international community of astronomers

● undertake hundreds of scienti� c research projects per year

● operate in synergy with the largest astronomical instruments on the ground and in space such as ALMA (the most powerful telescope of the Southern Hemisphere) and the James Webb Space Telescope, successor to the Hubble Space Telescope

● allow testing and implementing new technologies that will push the limits of the exploration of our universe

13,7 billion light yearsThe Big Bang / the limits of the observable universe

The outer reaches of the universe as seen by the Herschel satellite

2,5 million light years M31, Andromeda galaxy

25 000 light yearsThe center of our galaxy

149 597 870,7 km / 1 astronomical unit / 0,000015 light yearsThe Sun

During observations NOEMA’s 12 antennas will function as a single telescope, a technique called interferometry. With the antennas pointing towards the same cosmic source, the signals received by each of them are subsequently combined. This method will give NOEMA a resolution of a 1600 meter telescope, equivalent to the distance between its outermost antennas.

Plateau de Bure2012

NOEMA 2016

NOEMA 2018

Number of antennas 6 10 12

Track length 1200 m 1200 m 2000 m

Collecting surface 1 060 m2 1 766 m2 2 120 m2

Best angular resolution 0.2 arc seconds 0.2 arc seconds 0.1 arc seconds

Bandwidth 120 GHz 1 440 GHz 2 112 GHz

Number of baselines 15 45 66

Thanks to its increased angular resolution, NOEMA will be able

to obtain much more detailed and precise

images of cosmic objects from our solar system to the very � rst galaxies formed in the

universe.

Plateau de Bure 6 antennas

NOEMA 12 antennas

New antenna positions for NOEMAExisting antenna positions used by NOEMAExisting antenna positions

West

North

∅760 m ∅1600 m

South

East

The outer reaches of the universe as seen by the Herschel satellite

Institut de RadioastronomieMillimétrique

C100 M44 Y0 K0Pantone 300 C

Myriad Roman Tracking -20 Solid leading(The iram 'a' is re-drawn)

C100 M44 Y0 K0Pantone 300 C

C0 M100 Y100 K0 Pantone RED 032 C

C0 M0 Y0 K100 Pantone Process Black

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NOEMA, IRAM’s visionary project IRAM (Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique) is an international research institute. Its overall objective is to explore the universe and to study its origins and its evolution.

Founded in 1979 by the French CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scienti� que) and the German MPG (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) and extended in 1990 by a third partner, the Spanish IGN (Instituto Geográ� co Nacional), IRAM is a role model of multinational scienti� c cooperation.

IRAM’s headquarters are located in Grenoble, France. With a sta� of more than 120 scientists, engineers, technicians and administrative personnel, IRAM operates two observatories : the 30 meter telescope at Pico Veleta near Granada in Spain and the Plateau de Bure observatory (an array of six 15-meter antennas) in the French Alps. NOEMA will transform the Plateau de Bure observatory by doubling the number of antennas, making it the most powerful millimeter radiotelescope of the Northern Hemisphere.

Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique300 rue de la PiscineSaint-Martin d’HèresF-38406 FranceTel: +33 [0]4 76 82 49 00Fax: +33 [0]4 76 51 59 38info@iram.fr www.iram-institute.org

Published by IRAM © 2012

Director Pierre CoxText Karin Zacher

Photo creditsAll images and graphics : IRAM, except :Cover : NASA/ESA/ESO/Wolfram Freudling et al. (STECF); RebusDiagram of the universe : galaxy M31: GALEX (NASA) ; IRAM. universe : ESA/SPIRE/Herschel-ATLASThis page : galaxy M51 : IRAM/Eva Schinnerer

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NOEMA