We are only as good as the instruments we have. With this sentiment in mind, we make way for the next generation of instruments as we retire one of our long-serving heterodyne receivers, RxA3.
RxA3m in the receiver cabin at JCMT
RxA3 (http://www.eaobservatory.org/jcmt/instrumentation/heterodyne/rxa/) has been a stable source of great science for the JCMT since it was built by the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics and delivered in 1998. It has served our JCMT user community well and the data collected from RxA3 will be utilized still for years to come.
The GLT receiver installed at the JCMT when it was being tested in August 2017.
With the retirement of RxA3, JCMT prepares for it’s replacement to arrive in January 2019 and hopes to be on sky by April 2019 in time for the next Event Horizon Telescope observing run. The replacement will be a three-receiver cryostat identical to that installed on the Greenland Telescope (GLT), and is estimated to be able to complete observations in approximately 1/4 of the time required by RxA3.
-2018/07/05