Proceedingsofthe7thEuropeanVLBINetworkSymposium Bachiller,R.Colomer,F.,Desmurs,J.F.,deVicente,P.(eds.) October12th-15th2004,Toledo,Spain A 32 m Parabolic Antenna in Peru At 3,370m of Altitude Jose´ Ishitsuka1⋆,MutsumiIshitsuka2,NorioKaifu1,ShokenMiyama1,MakotoInoue1,MasatoTsuboi1,3,Masatoshi Ohishi1,KentaFujisawa5,TakashiKasuga6,KeisukeMiyazawa1 ⋆⋆,andShinjiHoriuchi4 1 NationalAstronomicalObservatory,Japan 5 2 InstitutoGeof´ısicodelPeru´ (IGP),Peru´ 0 3 NobeyamaRadioObservatory,Japan 0 4 SquareKilometerArray(SKA),Australia 2 5 YamaguchiUniversity,Japan,6HoseiUniversity,Japan n Abstract. At the altitude of 3,370 m on the Peruvian Andes, a 32m antenna owned by the telecommunications company a J Telefo´nicadelPeru´ willbetransformedtoaRadioTelescope,itwouldbetransferredtotheGeophysicalInstituteofPeru(IGP). Theparabolicantennawasconstructedin1984byNipponElectricCo.(NEC)andworkedasanINTELSATstationuntil2000. 4 AteamoftheNationalObservatoryofJapan(NAOJ)evaluatedtheantennain2003andreporteditsavailabilitytobeusedasa 1 RadioTelescope.IncollaborationoftheNAOJa6.7GHzreceiverisunderconstructionandwillbeinstalledwithinthisyear. v InitiallythetelescopeasasingledishwillmonitorandsurveyMethanolMaserofYSO,higherfrequenciesequipmentandVLBI 5 instrumentswillbeconsidered. Theantennawillbemanaged bytheIGPandusedbyuniversitiesinPeru,becoming aVLBI 3 stationwillbeagratecontributiontoastronomyandgeodeticcommunity. 0 1 1. TheAntenna 3. FirstStep 0 5 The INTELSAT station was built between 1984 and 1985 by As the firststep the antennawill be equippedwith a 6.7GHz 0 theENTEL-PERU(EmpresaNacionaldeTelecumunicaciones receiver.The6.7GHzreceiverisunderconstructionandplaned / h -Peru´)thenationalcommunicationsenterpriseofPeru,thean- tobereadyforthisspring. p tenna system was built by the Nippon Electric Co., and then Initially we are planningto monitor and survey Methanol - o in1993thenationaltelecommunicationsenterprisewastrans- masers on Young Stellar Objects. Methanol masers are good r ferredtotheprivatecompanyTelefo´nicadelPeru´.In2000the tracersaroundtheyoungobjectsthatcanbeusedtodisentangle t s antennastationstoppedoperationsasanINTELSATstation. unknownphysicalconditionsofstellarsurroundings. a Actually the antenna station belongs to this private com- : v pany and negotiations are in progress to transfer the antenna 4. VLBI i X stationtotheIGP. Oncetheantennaisequippedandallowedtoobserveathigher r a frequencies,itwillbecameanimportantVLBIstationinSouth 2. Location America,duetotheuniquelocationandaltitudewillcontribute enormously to for instance the VLBA array (Horiuchi et al. The Sicaya antenna station is located on a small hill in a 2003).Inthefutureitwillbecomeapromisinggeodeticstation. beautiful open flat valley that is similar to Owens Valley in California or Nobeyama in Japan where world famous radio 5. Conclusion observatoriesarelocated.Theantennalooksstillinverygood conditionwithoutnoapparentrustprobablyduetoitslocation The32mantennainPeruwillbetransformedintoaradiotele- at 3,370m of high altitude andbeing far away fromsea side. scope.As the first step, asa single dishtelescope the antenna Thestructureoftheantennaiswellsuitedtoupgradereceivers willbeequippedwitha6.7GHzreceivertomonitorandsurvey infuture. methanol masers of Young Stellar Objects. The antenna will becomeapowerfulmeantodevelopandsettleradioastronomy Latitude:-12◦02’15”, in Peruvian institutionsand universities.In the future, receiv- longitude:-75◦17’39”, inghigherfrequenciesandparticipatingasaVLBIstationare altitude:3,370m. inmind. Weather: References Annualprecipitation:700mminaverage, averagetemperature:12◦C, Horiuchi,S.,Murphy,D.,Ishitsuka,J.,Ishitsuka,M.2003,Potential averagehumidity:61%,nosnow. Improvements to VLBA u-v Coverages by the Addition of a 32mPeruvianAntenna, atFutureDirectionsinHighResolution ⋆ E-mail:[email protected] Astronomy-Acelebrationofthe10thAnniversaryoftheVLBA, ⋆⋆ Retired Socorro,NewMexico,USA. 296 Jose´Ishitsukaetal.:A32mParabolicAntennainPeruAt3,370mofAltitude Fig.1.The32mSicayaantennaislocatedatthealtitudeof3,370monthePeruvianAndes.