The Greenland Telescope (GLT) currently achieves a blind pointing accuracy of 2" rms, sufficient for 230GHz VLBI operations at Pituffik Space Base. Plans to relocate the antenna to Summit Station are underway to enable observations at ≥690GHz, which requires improving the pointing accuracy due to smaller beam sizes at higher frequencies. Since achieving the ALMA-standard referenced pointing accuracy of less than 1" for single-dish operations is impractical due to limited sensitivity, GLT’s strategy involves real-time adjustments using data from metrology sensors, following the Systematic Pointing Error Model (SPEM) by the antenna manufacturer (Vertex Antennentechnik). This paper highlights our metrology system’s role in predicting pointing corrections through real-time monitoring of inclinometers, linear, and temperature sensors. Additionally, we introduce a night-viable optical guidescope system for astrometric referencing of star-fields, aiming to enhance pointing precision for high-frequency VLBI with the GLT.
We describe the latest development of the control and monitoring system of the Greenland Telescope (GLT). The GLT is a 12-m radio telescope aiming to carry out the sub-millimeter Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations through the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) and the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (GMVA), to image the shadows of super massive black holes. The telescope is currently located at the Thule Air Base for commissioning before deployed to the Summit Station. The GLT participated in the VLBI observing campaigns in 2018 and 2019 and fringes were successfully detected at 86 and 230 GHz. Our antenna control software was adapted from the Submillimeter Array (SMA), and as a result for single-dish observations we added new routines to coordinate it with other instruments. We are exploring new communication interfaces; we utilized both in-memory and on-disk databases to be part of the interfaces not only for hardware monitoring but also for engineering event logging. We plan to incorporate the system of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope for the full Linux-based receiver control. The current progress of integrating our receivers, spectrometers, sub-reflector, and continuum detector into control is presented, together with the implementation of the commissioning software for spectral line pointing. We also describe how we built the anti-collision protection and the recovery mechanism for the sub-reflector hexapod.
Seoul National University Radio Astronomy Observatory (SRAO), a 6-meter single-dish telescope recently applied new 100GHz and 230GHz dual-band receiver. The SRAO had been inactive for several years, but resumed operation by adapting the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) receiver. We succeeded in the single-dish observations in 2019 March. We upgraded the SRAO to the mm-VLBI station and participated in the test observation of East Asia VLBI Network (EAVN) with several telescopes worldwide. The simultaneous single dish and VLBI observation is possible. We are going to design the new receiver and import a wideband 230GHz mixer and have a VLBI observation with Korean VLBI Network (KVN). Also, we are planning to test the phase reference technique between 100Ghz and 230GHz.
The Greenland Telescope (GLT), currently located at Thule Air Base, is a 12-m single dish telescope operating at frequencies of 86, 230 and 345 GHz. Since April 2018, the GLT has regularly participated in (sub-)mm VLBI observations of supermassive black holes as part of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) and the Global mm VLBI Array (GMVA). We present the status of scientific commissioning activities at the GLT, including most recently the 345 GHz first light and test observations. The antenna surface accuracy has been improved to ~25 microns through panel adjustments aided by photogrammetry, significantly increasing the antenna efficiency. Through all-sky spectral line pointing observations (SiO masers at 86 GHz and CO at 230 and 345 GHz), we have improved the radio pointing accuracy down to <~ 3" at all 3 frequencies. Due to the pandemic, we are in the process of transitioning GLT commissioning and observing activities to remote operations.
A three-cartridge cryogenic receiver system is constructed for the Greenland Telescope Project. The system is equipped with a set of sub-millimeter receivers operating at 86, 230, and 345 GHz, as well as a complete set of instruments for calibration, control and monitoring. It is single pixel instrument built for VLBI observations. With the receiver system, the GLT has completed commissioning of its 12-m sub-millimeter antenna and participated in global very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations at Thule Air Base (TAB). This paper describes the receiver specification, construction, and verification.
The Greenland Telescope project has recently participated in an experiment to image the supermassive black hole shadow at the center of M87 using Very Long Baseline Interferometry technique in April of 2018. The antenna consists of the 12-m ALMA North American prototype antenna that was modified to support two auxiliary side containers and to withstand an extremely cold environment. The telescope is currently at Thule Air Base in Greenland with the long-term goal to move the telescope over the Greenland ice sheet to Summit Station. The GLT currently has a single cryostat which houses three dual polarization receivers that cover 84-96 GHz, 213-243 GHz and 271-377 GHz bands. A hydrogen maser frequency source in conjunction with high frequency synthesizers are used to generate the local oscillator references for the receivers. The intermediate frequency outputs of each receiver cover 4-8 GHz and are heterodyned to baseband for digitization within a set of ROACH-2 units then formatted for recording onto Mark-6 data recorders. A separate set of ROACH-2 units operating in parallel provides the function of auto-correlation for real-time spectral analysis. Due to the stringent instrumental stability requirements for interferometry a diagnostic test system was incorporated into the design. Tying all of the above equipment together is the fiber optic system designed to operate in a low temperature environment and scalable to accommodate a larger distance between the control module and telescope for Summit Station. A report on the progress of the above electronics instrumentation system will be provided.
The Greenland Telescope (GLT) project and the East Asian Observatory (EAO) successfully commissioned the first light GLT instrument at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) in Hawaii, prior to transferring the instrument to Greenland. The GLT instrument which comprises of a cryostat with three cartridge-type receivers (at 86GHz, 230GHz and 345GHz) was installed into the receiver cabin of JCMT and operated in three modes: - (a) Regular JCMT observing with the GLT instrument, using ACSIS, (JCMT’s autocorrelation spectrometer) as the backend and JCMT software for telescope control, data reduction, pointing and antenna focus adjustment. (b) Single dish observations of astronomical spectral line sources, recording data onto mark 6 recorders for offline data reduction. (c) eSMA interferometer array observations at 230GHz in conjunction with the SMA. In this paper, we report on the installation and integration of the GLT instrument at JCMT, present results from commissioning and show how the success of the GLT instrument commissioning fits with our plans for future instrumentation at JCMT.
The Greenland Telescope completed its construction, so the commissioning phase has been started since December 2017. Single-dish commissioning has started from the optical pointing which produced the first pointing model, followed by the radio pointing and focusing using the Moon for both the 86 GHz and the 230 GHz receivers. After Venus started to rise from the horizon, the focus positions has been improved for both receivers. Once we started the line pointing using the SiO(2-1) maser line and the CO(2-1) line for the 86 GHz and the 230 GHz receivers, respectively, the pointing accuracy also improved, and the final pointing accuracy turned to be around 3" - 5" for both receivers. In parallel, VLBI commissioning has been performed, with checking the frequency accuracy and the phase stability for all the components that would be used for the VLBI observations. After all the checks, we successfully joined the dress rehearsals and actual observations of the 86 GHz and 230 GHz VLBI observations, The first dress rehearsal data between GLT and ALMA were correlated, and successfully detected the first fringe, which confirmed that the GLT commissioning was successfully performed.
The Greenland Telescope Project (GLT) has successfully commissioned its 12-m sub-millimeter. In January 2018, the fringes were detected between the GLT and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) during a very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) exercise. In April 2018, the telescope participated in global VLBI science observations at Thule Air Base (TAB). The telescope has been completely rebuilt, with many new components, from the ALMA NA (North America) Prototype antenna and equipped with a new set of sub-millimeter receivers operating at 86, 230, and 345 GHz, as well as a complete set of instruments and VLBI backends. This paper describes our progress and status of the project and its plan for the coming decade.
We describe the control and monitoring system for the Greenland Telescope (GLT). The GLT is a 12-m radio telescope aiming to carry out the sub-millimeter Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations and image the shadow of the super massive black hole in M87. In November 2017 construction has been finished and commissioning activity has been started. In April 2018 we participated in the VLBI observing campaign for the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration. In this paper we present the entire GLT control/monitoring system in terms of computers, network and software.
Since the ALMA North America Prototype Antenna was awarded to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), SAO and the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA) are working jointly to relocate the antenna to Greenland. This paper shows the status of the antenna retrofit and the work carried out after the recommissioning and subsequent disassembly of the antenna at the VLA has taken place. The next coming months will see the start of the antenna reassembly at Thule Air Base. These activities are expected to last until the fall of 2017 when commissioning should take place. In parallel, design, fabrication and testing of the last components are taking place in Taiwan.
The Greenland Telescope project will deploy and operate a 12m sub-millimeter telescope at the highest point of the Greenland i e sheet. The Greenland Telescope project is a joint venture between the Smithsonian As- trophysical Observatory (SAO) and the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA). In this paper we discuss the concepts, specifications, and science goals of the instruments being developed for single-dish observations with the Greenland Telescope, and the coupling optics required to couple both them and the mm-VLBI receivers to antenna. The project will outfit the ALMA North America prototype antenna for Arctic operations and deploy it to Summit Station,1 a NSF operated Arctic station at 3,100m above MSL on the Greenland I e Sheet. This site is exceptionally dry, and promises to be an excellent site for sub-millimeter astronomical observations. The main science goal of the Greenland Telescope is to carry out millimeter VLBI observations alongside other telescopes in Europe and the Americas, with the aim of resolving the event horizon of the super-massive black hole at the enter of M87. The Greenland Telescope will also be outfitted for single-dish observations from the millimeter-wave to Tera-hertz bands. In this paper we will discuss the proposed instruments that are currently in development for the Greenland Telescope - 350 GHz and 650 GHz heterodyne array receivers; 1.4 THz HEB array receivers and a W-band bolometric spectrometer. SAO is leading the development of two heterodyne array instruments for the Greenland Telescope, a 48- pixel, 325-375 GHz SIS array receiver, and a 4 pixel, 1.4 THz HEB array receiver. A key science goal for these instruments is the mapping of ortho and para H2D+ in old protostellar ores, as well as general mapping of CO and other transitions in molecular louds. An 8-pixel prototype module for the 350 GHz array is currently being built for laboratory and operational testing on the Greenland Telescope. Arizona State University are developing a 650 GHz 256 pixel SIS array receiver based on the KAPPa SIS mixer array technology and ASIAA are developing 1.4 THz HEB single pixel and array receivers. The University of Cambridge and SAO are collaborating on the development of the CAMbridge Emission Line Surveyor (CAMELS), a W-band `on- hip' spectrometer instrument with a spectral resolution of R ~ 3000. CAMELS will consist of two pairs of horn antennas, feeding super conducting niobium nitride filter banks read by tantalum based Kinetic Inductance Detectors.
The ALMA North America Prototype Antenna was awarded to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in 2011. SAO and the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA), SAO’s main partner for this project, are working jointly to relocate the antenna to Greenland to carry out millimeter and submillimeter VLBI observations. This paper presents the work carried out on upgrading the antenna to enable operation in the Arctic climate by the GLT Team to make this challenging project possible, with an emphasis on the unexpected telescope components that had to be either redesigned or changed. Five-years of inactivity, with the antenna laying idle in the desert of New Mexico, coupled with the extreme weather conditions of the selected site in Greenland have it necessary to significantly refurbish the antenna. We found that many components did need to be replaced, such as the antenna support cone, the azimuth bearing, the carbon fiber quadrupod, the hexapod, the HVAC, the tiltmeters, the antenna electronic enclosures housing servo and other drive components, and the cables. We selected Vertex, the original antenna manufacturer, for the main design work, which is in progress. The next coming months will see the major antenna components and subsystems shipped to a site of the US East Coast for test-fitting the major antenna components, which have been retrofitted. The following step will be to ship the components to Greenland to carry out VLBI
We report three winter seasons and two full summer from August 2011 to April 2014 of atmospheric opacity measurements with a 225GHz tipping radiometer at Summit camp in Greenland (Latitude 72°.57 N, Longitude 38°.46 W, Elevation 3250 masl). The summit of the ice cap in Greenland is expected to be the location for the GreenLand Telescope (GLT), a 12 meters aperture millimeter / sub-millimeter telescope with VLBI and single- dish capability. The winter regime (November to April) is of particular interest for sub-millimeter observations since the opacities lower quartile in these months can get as low as 0.042, with occasional opacities as low as 0.025. We then compare Summit zenith opacities to other submillimeter sites.
We report the first measurements of 225 GHz atmospheric opacity at Summit Camp (Latitude 72°.57 N; Longitude
38°.46 W; Altitude 3250 m) in Greenland and the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory
(PEARL: Latitude 80°.05 N; Longitude 86°.42 W; Altitude 600 m) in Northern Canada with a tipping radiometer.
Summit Camp and PEARL are research stations mostly interested in meteorology and geophysics, and
they are potentially excellent sites for astronomical observations at sub-millimeter wavelength. We purchased
a tipping radiometer from Radiometer Physics GmbH. After a test run at the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii,
the radiometer was deployed to PEARL in February 2011, and relocated to Summit Camp in August 2011. The
atmospheric opacity has been monitored from February 14th to May 10th, 2011 at PEARL and since August
2011 at Summit Camp. The median values of the measured opacity at PEARL ranged from 0.11 in February to 0.19 in May; Summit Camp varied in the range from 0.04 to 0.18 between August 2011 and May 2012. Summit
Camp in Greenland is expected to be an excellent site for sub-millimeter and Terahertz astronomy, and we plan
to set up there a 12-m telescope for VLBI and single-dish observations.
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