AST 96-15025. California Institute of Technology. PI: T. G. Phillips Astronomical Studies with the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory This award supports research, technological development and student education at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO). The Observatory consists of a precision 10.4m antenna enclosed in a dome located near the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The CSO's mission is to carry out spectroscopic and continuum observations of astronomical objects in the wavelength range 1mm-350 mm; the opacity of the Earth's atmosphere to radiation at these wavelengths is the reason for the observatory's location at an altitude of nearly 4,300m. The observatory was constructed with funds from the National Science Foundation (NSF) during the period 1984-1987. The CSO is presently the only US facility capable of operations throughout the full submillimeter atmospheric window. Over the next three years, the CSO will focus on three major goals: 1. The detection and study of the interstellar medium in distant and possibly primeval galaxies. 2. The study of star formation in the interstellar medium, particularly the very early stages of the process. 3. The extension of previously-successful Sunyaev-Zel'dovich measurements to a wide range of galaxy clusters to allow estimates of the Hubble constant.
