Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

According to reports, at present, the powerful radio telescope "Northern extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA)" in the French Alps is working at full load. On September 30, the NOEMA telescope composed of 12 antennas was officially launched, becoming the most powerful millimeter radio telescope in the northern hemisphere.

The telescope will make an unprecedented observation of the universe because it can capture light that has reached Earth for 13 billion years, when the universe was only hundreds of millions of years old. At the same time, the NOEMA telescope will study all stages of stellar life and continue to assist the event horizon telescope in studying and analyzing black holes, which means it will play a key role in helping astronomers answer some basic questions about the universe.

The first antenna of the NOEMA telescope, which was completed in 2014, now has 12 antennas, and the movable orbit length of all 12 antennas has been extended from 760m to more than 1700 m, according to a statement from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).

In this way, astronomers can magnify cosmic objects by adjusting the antenna configuration to study them in more detail. By investigating the antenna configuration, the NOEMA telescope is like a camera with a zoom lens, and the telescope has a maximum spatial resolution to detect mobile phones 500km away, according to a statement from the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

The spatial resolution of the NOEMA telescope stems from its unique antenna technology, with all 12 antennas pointing to the same area of space, equipped with highly sensitive receivers, operating at quantum limits, and using a technique called interferometry. The signals received by the antenna are combined by a supercomputer, making the 12 antennas distributed over a wide area look like a large telescope with a diameter covering the entire area.

Millimeter radio telescopes like NOEMA can study light at wavelengths in the millimeter range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Cosmic bodies such as galaxies, nebulae and stars emit different types of light, depending on their composition, temperature and age, which means that in order to create a more complete image of celestial bodies, astronomers must combine observations with data of different wavelengths.

The newly upgraded NOEMA telescope is one of the few radio observatories in the world to collect large amounts of molecular and atomic data, which astronomers call "multi-line observations." This means that the telescope is well equipped to study matter in the region between stars, which is usually made up of hydrogen and helium, as well as a small number of heavier elements, which are the raw materials that give birth to stars and planets.

At the same time, astronomers also use the NOEMA telescope to study cold matter around minus 270C and the composition of the entire universe. It is reported that near absolute zero is the hypothetical temperature condition that all atomic movements will stop.

Scientists point out that even before the NOEMA telescope reached full capacity, the telescope revolutionized astronomy. Not long ago, the telescope observed the farthest galaxy to date, formed shortly after the Big Bang, and found the first fast-growing black hole in the center of a dusty starburst galaxy, usually a "hotbed of star breeding."

In addition, the NOEMA telescope measured the early temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), the first beam of light in the universe that cools enough to connect electrons and protons and fills the universe after photons move freely. This measurement helps to better limit the effects of dark energy, a mysterious force that accelerates the expansion of the universe.

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.