James Clerk Maxwell Telescope

The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope ( JCMT ) is a radio telescope for wavelengths in the submillimeter range with a 15 meters in diameter receiving antenna at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii. It is the world's largest radio telescope, which is specialized in this wavelength range. It is used for studies of the solar system, the interstellar medium, and distant galaxies.

The JCMT was created by a collaboration between Britain, Canada and the Netherlands. It got its name in honor of James Clerk Maxwell. It is controlled by the Joint Astronomy Centre. In conjunction with the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory for the first time a submillimeter interferometer was created. This successful experiment laid the foundation for the Submillimeter Array and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array interferometer.