The 30 m radio telescope is located at 2850 m of altitude, in the Pico Veleta of Sierra Nevada, near the city of Granada. It is one of the two observatories of the Institute of Millimetric Radioastronomy (IRAM), an organization managed by the French Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the German Max-Plank Gessellschaft (MPG) and the National Geographic Institute (IGN) of the Spanish Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda.
This telescope consists of a classic parabolic antenna capable of exploring vast cosmic objects such as nearby galaxies and interstellar clouds.
It has receivers at wavelengths of 3, 2, 1 and 0.8 mm, recording up to 160 000 high-resolution frequency channels, for the mapping of molecular gas from large nebulae.
It is also equipped with cameras that work at 2 and 1 mm of wavelength, dedicated to the observation of dust in nearby molecular clouds and in galaxies, including the most distant (and young) of the known universe.
