Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
References
Images
The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, located near the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
Britannica AI Icon

James Clerk Maxwell Telescope

astronomy
Written by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last updated

Quick Summary

The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, located near the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, located near the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) is a significant radio telescope located at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii. It is designed to observe at submillimetre and millimetre wavelengths, with a diameter of 15 meters (49 feet). The JCMT's location at a high elevation (over 4,000 meters or 13,000 feet) is crucial for minimizing atmospheric interference, which is essential for observing these specific wavelengths. This allows astronomers to study phenomena like star formation and distant galaxies with high resolution.123

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
3 Britannica Sources
  1. radio telescope - Radio telescope arrays
  2. Mauna Kea Observatory
  3. radio telescope - Filled-aperture telescopes

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.