The Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope (CCAT) is a proposed telescope that is intended to reveal the cosmic origins of stars, planets, and galaxies with its submillimeter cameras and spectrometers enabled by superconducting detector arrays.National Research Council Report Highly Recommends CCAT CCAT News 12 November 2010Jonas Zmuidzinas bio NASA Accessed 28 March 2011 The telescope was originally called the Cornell Caltech Atacama Telescope.
The collaboration is building a smaller submillimeter/millimeter telescope, CCAT-prime, as a first step before pursuing the 25-metre CCAT at some (unknown) time in the future. CCAT-prime is based on a high-optical-throughput Crossed Dragone optical design,Niemack, M. (2016). Designs for a large-aperture telescope to map the CMB 10X faster Applied Optics 55:7, 1688. and the Simons Observatory large-aperture telescope uses the same optical design.Parshley, S. et al. (2018). The optical design of the six-meter CCAT-prime and Simons Observatory telescopes Proc. SPIE 10700, 1070041. CCAT-prime will be located at the same site and share similar mission as the full-sized CCAT, but naturally with reduced angular resolution compared to the 25-metre CCAT.
On September 14, 2020, the CCAT-prime telescope was renamed to be the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) after Fred Young, a Cornell alumnus who has supported the telescope for about two decades with over US$16 million.
Site The planned site is at an altitude of , on Cerro Chajnantor in the volcanic Purico Complex, in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. FYST will be one of the highest permanent, ground-based telescopes in the world.The Cornell Caltech Atacama Telescope (CCAT) ; University of Cologne; Accessed 28 March 2011. The University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory is located slightly above the proposed telescope location on the same peak.
Description The CCAT consortium participating in the project includes Cornell University, University of Cologne, University of Bonn, University of Waterloo, University of British Columbia, and other institutions in Germany and Canada.
The telescope is intended to complement the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), by discovering new sources that ALMA will follow up with highly detailed imagery.Lauren Gold $11M gift for Atacama telescope will help astronomers answer fundamental questions about galaxy, star formation Cornell Chronicle 12 November 2010
The FYST telescope is to be outfitted with a wide-field camera called Prime-CamVavagiakis, E. et al. (2018). Prime-Cam: A first-light instrument for the CCAT-prime telescope Proc. SPIE 10708, 107081U.Choi, S. et al. (2020). Sensitivity of the Prime-Cam Instrument on the CCAT-Prime Telescope Journal of Low Temperature Physics 199, 1089–1097. that is expected to map the sky many times faster than previous submillimeter instruments, including SCUBA-2 camera installed on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii.Renata D'Aliesio Astronomers hope telescope unlocks secrets of universe The Globe and Mail 28 March 2011
The submillimeter- and millimeter-wavelength light that FYST will measure is a type of microwave radiation that is closest to infrared in the light spectrum. These measurements will enable astronomers to learn more about the Milky Way, local galaxies, the epoch of reionization, and cosmology.CCAT-prime Collaboration: Science Goals and Forecasts with Prime-Cam on the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope
Construction In January 2014, the Chilean government granted the use of land on Cerro Chajnantor to the CCAT consortium for the telescope and the road to the mountain summit.Cornell Chronicle: "Chilean government grants land for giant telescope"; 16 January 2014. Also in January 2014, the Atacama Astronomy Park was inaugurated by the Chilean government, to coordinate activities between the current and upcoming observatories in the Chajnantor region.
The 6-metre CCAT-prime telescope construction started 2017 (signing of construction contract), with first light expected in 2026. The fabrication of telescope components started late 2018.
The disassembled telescope having been trucked nearly 300 miles to the base of Cerro Chajnantor, it will be reassembled at the summit (first light projected for April 2026). Glaser, Linda B. https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/03/new-high-powered-telescope-reaches-chilean-peak "New high-powered telescope reaches Chilean peak". March 31, 2025.
See also Lists of telescopes Martha P. Haynes, project director, originally proposed with Riccardo Giovanelli in the mid-1990s that a CCAT-like telescope be built Riccardo Giovanelli, originally proposed with Martha Haynes in the mid-1990s that a CCAT-like telescope be built
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