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| IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer | |
|---|---|
| Name | Plateau de Bure Interferometer |
| Country | France |
| Location | Plateau de Bure, Hautes-Alpes |
| Established | 1988 |
| Closed | 2015 |
| Owner | Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique |
| Telescopes | Six 15-m antennas (expanded to six) |
| Wavelength | Millimetre (1 mm – 3 mm) |
| Type | Radio interferometer |
IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer was a millimetre-wave radio interferometer operated by the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique near Saint-Véran, Hautes-Alpes on the Plateau de Bure in the French Alps, providing high-resolution imaging for studies of molecular clouds, protoplanetary discs, and galaxies from 1988 until its replacement by NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array projects. It partnered with observatories and institutions including Max Planck Society, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, European Southern Observatory, California Institute of Technology, and attracted astronomers from Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for collaborative programs.
The facility stood on the Plateau de Bure near Saint-Véran, Hautes-Alpes, situated in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France, and operated by Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique as part of European millimetre astronomy networks that included Atacama Large Millimeter Array, James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, IRAM 30m Telescope, Submillimeter Array, and NOEMA partner projects. Its high-altitude site was chosen for transparency at millimetre wavelengths, comparable to stations at Mauna Kea, Chajnantor Plateau, and Sierra Nevada Observatory, enabling observations across atmospheric windows used by teams from University of Cambridge, University of Bonn, University of Manchester, and University of California, Berkeley.
Conceived in the 1970s by scientists from Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, and National Scientific Research Center collaborations, construction began in the early 1980s with funding and oversight from Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique and member states including France, Germany, and Spain. The array saw progressive enhancements: initial operations with three to four 15-m antennas evolved into a six-antenna configuration by the 1990s, paralleling upgrades at Very Large Array and upgrades planned for Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. Leadership and scientific planning involved figures associated with European Space Agency, Centre National d'Études Spatiales, and research groups at Max Planck Society and Observatoire de Paris.
The observatory used six 15-m parabolic antennas mounted on movable tracks forming baselines up to several hundred metres, conceptually similar to arrays like Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope and Very Long Baseline Array but optimized for millimetre bands embraced by facilities such as IRAM 30m Telescope and Submillimeter Array. Receivers covered the 3 mm, 2 mm, and 1.3 mm atmospheric windows with cryogenically cooled mixers based on designs from groups at National Radio Astronomy Observatory and Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, and local oscillator systems influenced by technology developed at Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Rochester Institute of Technology. The correlator architecture allowed high spectral resolution for molecular line work, paralleling correlator developments at Atacama Pathfinder Experiment and Swinburne University of Technology research teams, while the site infrastructure incorporated telemetry and control systems compatible with standards used by European Southern Observatory and Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC.
The array supported synthesis imaging, aperture synthesis, and spectral line observations with bandwidth and spectral resolution suitable for detecting transitions of molecules like CO, HCN, HCO+, and other species studied by research groups at Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, and University of Tokyo. Observing modes included continuum mapping, high-resolution spectroscopy for kinematics in protoplanetary disks, and mosaic imaging for extended emission, coordinated with time allocation committees similar to those at National Science Foundation-funded facilities and European Research Council grant projects. Calibration and phase referencing methods exploited nearby calibrators cataloged by VLBA and techniques developed in concert with engineers from California Institute of Technology and University of Chicago.
The instrument produced influential results in the study of star formation, extragalactic molecular gas, and planet-forming systems, contributing to high-impact collaborations with groups from Max Planck Society, CEA Saclay, University of Leiden, University of Bordeaux, and University of Grenoble. Notable achievements included resolved imaging of molecular gas in high-redshift galaxies studied alongside teams at Harvard University and Princeton University, detailed kinematic maps of nearby galaxies analyzed by researchers from University of Oxford and University College London, and imaging of protoplanetary disks that informed models developed at California Institute of Technology and MPIA Heidelberg. These results were published in journals where contributors were affiliated with institutions like European Southern Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, and Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris.
Incremental upgrades culminated in plans to replace the array with a more sensitive and extended facility; the transition paralleled developments at Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array and led to the establishment of NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array infrastructure managed by Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique and partner institutions including CNRS and Max Planck Society. Decommissioning of the original array enabled reallocation of antennas and expertise to successor projects and influenced instrument design at IRAM 30m Telescope and international collaborations with ESO and ALMA partners. The legacy includes datasets and methodologies archived and reanalyzed by teams at NASA, European Space Agency, Max Planck Society, Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and dozens of university groups, sustaining scientific impact across studies of molecular clouds, star formation, and galaxy evolution.
Category:Radio telescopes Category:Astronomical observatories in France Category:Interferometers