THE LARGE MILLIMETER TELESCOPE

This paper, presented on behalf of the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) project team, describes the status and near-term plans for the telescope and its initial instrumentation. The LMT is a bi-national collaboration between Mexico and the USA, led by the Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica (INAOE) and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, to construct, commission and operate a 50 in diameter millimeter-wave radio telescope. Construction activities are nearly complete at the LMT site, at an altitude of similar to 4600 in on the summit of Sierra Negra, an extinct volcano in the Mexican state of Puebla. Full movement of the telescope, under computer control in both azimuth and elevation, has been achieved. First-light at centimeter wavelengths on astronomical sources was obtained in November 2006. Installation of precision surface segments for millimeter-wave operation is underway, with the inner 32 m diameter of the surface now complete and ready to be used to obtain first-light at millimeter wavelengths in 2008. Installation of the remainder of the reflector will continue during the next year and be completed in 2009 for final commissioning of the antenna. The full LMT antenna, outfitted with its initial complement of scientific instruments, will be a world-leading scientific research facility for millimeter-wave astronomy.