Very large millimeter/submillimeter array toward search for 2nd Earth

Satoru Iguchi; Masao Saito

doi:10.1117/12.927119

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17 September 2012 Very large millimeter/submillimeter array toward search for 2nd Earth

Satoru Iguchi, Masao Saito

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Proceedings Volume 8444, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes IV; 84443I (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.927119
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) is a revolutionary radio telescope and its early scientific operation has just started. It is expected that ALMA will resolve several cosmic questions and will give us a new cosmic view. Our passion for astronomy naturally goes beyond ALMA because we believe that the 21st-century astronomy should pursue the new scientific frontier. In this conference, we propose a project of the future radio telescope to search for habitable planets and finally detect 2nd Earth as a migratable planet. Detection of 2nd Earth is one of the ultimate dreams not only for astronomers but also for every human being. To directly detect 2nd Earth, we have to carefully design the sensitivity and angular resolution of the telescope by conducting trade-off analysis between the confusion limit and the minimum detectable temperature. The result of the sensitivity analysis is derived assuming an array that has sixty-four (64) 50-m antennas with 25-;μm surface accuracy mainly located within the area of 300 km (up to 3000 km), dual-polarization SSB receivers with the best noise temperature performance achieved by ALMA or better, and IF bandwidth of 128 or 256 GHz.. We temporarily name this telescope "Very Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (VLMSA)". Since this sensitivity is extremely high, we can have a lot of chances to study the galaxy, star formation, cosmology and of course the new scientific frontier.

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Satoru Iguchi and Masao Saito "Very large millimeter/submillimeter array toward search for 2nd Earth", Proc. SPIE 8444, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes IV, 84443I (17 September 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.927119

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