Institut de radioastronomie millimétrique

The Institute for Radio Astronomy in the Millimeter Range (IRAM ) is an international radio observatory.

IRAM was founded in 1979 and is operated in German -French- Spanish co-operation. Sponsoring organizations are the Max Planck Society, the French Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS ) and the Spanish Instituto Nacional Geográfico ( IGN). IRAM operates two observatories for radio astronomy. Both are located at high altitude, in which the permeability of the atmosphere to absorb radio waves from 1-3 mm wavelength is cheaper.

30m telescope on Pico Veleta del

This item has telescope with 30 m diameter reflector was located in 2920 m altitude in the vicinity of the Pico del Veleta in the Sierra Nevada in southern Spain, about 50 km south-east of Granada. Since the 1980s, it is the world's largest radio telescope in the wavelength range from 4 mm down to 1 mm (corresponding to a frequency range of 72 to 300 GHz ). It is considered one of the most sensitive radio telescopes in the world for measurements at shorter millimeter wavelengths.

37 ° 4 ' N, 3 ° 24' W37.066194444444 - 3.3926944444444

Millimeter interferometer on the Plateau de Bure

On the 2550m high plateau de Bure in the French Alps is since 1988 a radio interferometer from the current 6 antennas with 15 m diameter for observations with high angular resolution at wavelengths of 1, 2 and 3 mm. With the largest distances between the antennas from the current 760 m angular resolution is achieved up to 0.4 seconds of arc.

44 ° 38 ' N, 5 ° 54' O44.6338888888895.9079166666667

Institute facilities in Grenoble and Granada are the technical development and support, management, and scientific use.