Across the Universe: Mexico’s Giant Telescope Helps Reveal the Sky’s Secrets Sputnik News
go to original June 29, 2017

The Large Millimeter Telescope is installed on the top of the Sierra Negra peak near the town of Atzitzintla, Mexico (AP/Dario Lopez-Mills)

Mounted on the top of the Sierra Negra peak in Mexico, the Large Millimeter Telescope is believed to be the world's largest such device in terms of its frequency range. Sputnik Spain interviewed Mexican astrophysicist Arturo Gomez, one of the scientists who participate in the project.

The Large Millimeter Telescope is designed for observing radio waves in the wave lengths ranging from approximately 0.85 to 4 mm.

Located at an altitude of 4,850 meters on top of the Sierra Negra peak in Mexico, it has an active surface with a diameter of 50 meters (160 feet) and its collecting area totals 1,960 square meters (21,100 square feet).

This unique device is needed in order to better understand how our universe was formed and developed.

"In the early 1990s, our colleagues from the University of Massachusetts, together with astronomers from the National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics, decided to launch an important astronomy project which could be a step forward in the field of space exploration. They agreed to build the largest telescope at the time," Mexican astrophysicist Arturo Gomez told Sputnik Spain.

Studies in the millimeter range provide a unique opportunity to explore the most remote areas of the universe, where life possibly originated, according to Gomez.

Read the rest at Sputnik News

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