The Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) was planned and assembled by CCAT Observatory Inc., an international scientific consortium in which the Universities of Cologne and Bonn have a 25 per cent share. It was developed by the company Vertex Antennentechnik GmbH in Duisburg, Germany. In April 2024, the telescope was set up and presented for testing on the premises of Wessel GmbH in Xanten. Since then, the components of the FYST have been disassembled and are now set to be transported to the telescope’s final location at an altitude of 5,600 metres on Cerro Chajnantor in the Chilean Atacama Desert. 

Small parts of the telescope are already on their way. On 17 January the large parts of the telescope will be transferred from heavy goods vehicles to an inland vessel in the port of Wesel using a crane and transported to the port of Antwerp, where they will then be loaded onto a heavy goods vessel for the journey to Chile at the end of January.

When:
17 January 2025 at 8:00 a.m.
“Loading and shipping of the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST)“
Where: Rhein-Lippe-Hafen Wesel, Zum Rhein-Lippe-Hafen 14, 46485 Wesel
Members of the press are cordially invited to accompany and report on the loading of the telescope components in the port of Wesel. Please send an e-mail for registration to: presse-akkreditierungverw.uni-koeln.de

The telescope has a mirror diameter of 6 metres and a surface accuracy of 10µm, making it capable to operate at submillimetre to millimetre wavelengths. The novel optical design of FYST will deliver high-throughput images with a wide field of view, enabling rapid and efficient mapping of the sky. It is intended to provide insights into the birth of the first stars after the Big Bang as well as into the formation of stars and galaxies. 

Observations in the submillimetre radiation range are distorted by water vapour in the Earth’s atmosphere and the signal is greatly weakened. Since a dry location at a high altitude is required, the installation of the telescope at an altitude of 5,600 metres on Cerro Chajnantor in Chile is therefore ideal. FYST is located 700 metres above the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) radio telescope network, which is located on the Chajnantor plateau and consists of 66 parabolic antennas.

“After the successful test setup in Germany, the transport to Chile is another milestone for our unique telescope. We are now a significant step closer to the groundbreaking scientific observations we expect from FYST,” said Professor Dr Dominik A. Riechers from the University of Cologne’s Institute of Astrophysics.

Partners in the FYST project are Cornell University (USA), a German consortium including the University of Cologne, the University of Bonn and the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching as well as a Canadian consortium of several universities.


Media Contact:
Professor Dr Dominik A. Riechers
Institute of Astrophysics
+49 221 470 76027
riechers@ph1.uni-koeln.de 

Press and Communications Team:
Mathias Martin
+49 221 470 1705
m.martinverw.uni-koeln.de

Adam Polczyk
+49 221 470 1856
a.polczykverw.uni-koeln.de

Further information: 
https://www.ccatobservatory.org/