NRC-built detectors to track colder universe

A Canadian-designed and built radio wave detector will allow a new space telescope to peer into the darker, colder regions of the universe, the National Research Council of Canada said Friday.

The "Band 3" radio-wave detectors are designed to record subtle changes in the three millimetre-wavelength band of light, allowing astonomers to view objects in space that don't give off enough radiation to be detected by optical telescopes.

The detectors will be installed on the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, or ALMA, which will be the world's largest and most sophisticated radio telescope array when completed in 2012 in Chile.

ALMA will cover submillimetre- to millimetre-wavelengths of light, crossing the boundary between infrared and microwave radiation, wavelengths that are longer than that of visible light.

Since the wavelength of radiation is related to the energy of its source with longer wavelength radiation having less energy studying these ranges will help astronomers move beyond the stars and learn more about the colder objects in space, such as interstellar dust.

Tracking the formation and movement of this dust around stellar bodies could provide clues as to the early formation of planets.

"The international ALMA community has placed a great deal of faith in NRC's ability to deliver stable, reliable receivers," said Gregory Fahlman, director general of the NRC. "I am very proud that we have designed and built the highly precise electronic and mechanical components necessary for reliable operation under extreme conditions."

The Band 3 detectors employ switches 50 times smaller than a human hair and must operate at -269 C to detect minute changes in radiation.

Construction of ALMA's 64 12-metre telescopes began in 2003 on Chile's Chajnantor plain, located five kilometres above sea level. The dry, high-altitude site was chosento avoid theabsorption ofthemillimetre-long waves of radiation by atmospheric water vapour.

The international project is scheduled to be partially operational by 2010 and fully constructed by 2012, and will let astronomers survey galaxies beyond our own.