Star-forming regions

Continuum imaging of star-forming regions in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies will be very efficient with the existing and upcoming large MAMBO, BOLOCAM, and LABOCA arrays. Very wide field surveys of star forming regions are also planned with SIRTF, BLAST, and SOFIA. For the IRAM 30 m telescope it would be useful to have an additional array at 0.87 mm wavelength to take advantage of the higher spatial resolution to make detailed maps of star forming cores. After recent surface improvements, the IRAM 30 m telescope has a reasonable beam efficiency of 30% at 0.87 mm, thus potentially making it twice as powerful in collecting area and spatial resolution compared with the 15 m JCMT, which has a beam efficieny of 60%. The MPIfR bolometer group therefore proposes to provide an array with at least 37 elements to operate at 0.87 mm. Both the 0.87 mm and 1.2 mm arrays should then be operational at the same time, with the 0.87 mm system reserved for the best weather conditions. After a recent survey of the space in the receiver cabin of the 30 m telescope, two possible additional positions for small bolometer arrays were identified - assuming that the 117-element MAMBO and HUMBA keep their locations.