A 32 m Parabolic Antenna in Peru At 3,370m of Altitude

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by  J. Ishitsuka

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.