Instrumentation Overview

Updated on June 27, 2025

ASTE

The ASTE telescope (Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment) is a submillimeter telescope with a diameter of 10 meters located at an altitude of 4860 meters at Pampa La Bora in the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. The ASTE telescope observes radio waves shorter than one millimeter (submillimeter waves) to view the dark Universe that we cannot see with the naked eye.

The location of the ASTE telescope

Antenna

Visit the URL below to find out the descriptions on the telescope performance (angular resolution, main-beam efficiency, pointing accuracy, etc.) and pointing strategy.

  • Antenna

    • Receivers

    Here is a summary of the current status of the receivers in ASTE. Click the instrument name to find out the specifications and performance of each receiver. Please note that simultaneous observations of different receivers are not available.

    Table 1. Status of ASTE receivers.
    Instrument Type Frequency
    (GHz)    		 HPBW
    (arcsec)    		 Npix Band width
    (GHz)    		 Status Note
    DASH345 Heterodyne 321-376 22 1 IF=4.0-8.0 Available 2SB; 2 pol
    CAT8W Heterodyne 387-498 17 1 IF=4.0-18.0 Available 2SB; 2 pol
    CAT10 Heterodyne 787-950 8 1 IF=4.0-12.0 Under CSV(*) DSB; 2 pol
    ASTE Band8 Heterodyne 387-498 17 1 IF=4.0-8.0 Decommissioned 2SB; 2 pol
    CATS345 Heterodyne 324-372 22 1 IF=4.5-7.0 Decommissioned SSB; 1 pol; 2012
    SC345 Heterodyne 320-370 22 1 IF=4.5-7.0 Decommissioned DSB; 1 pol
    THz HEB Heterodyne 880-960 9.5 1 Decommissioned DSB; 1 pol; Test in 2011
    1200-1500 1
    DESHIMA 2.0 ISS 220-400 1 180 Decommissioned Test in 2023-2024
    DESHIMA 1.0 ISS 332-377 22 1 45 Decommissioned Test in 2017
    TES Camera Bolometer 270 28 169 ~50 Decommissioned Test in 2014
    350 22 271 ~30
    AzTEC Bolometer 270 28 144 49 Decommissioned 2007-2008

    (*) CAT10 is not available for science observations yet.

    Spectrometers

    Here is a summary of the current status of the ASTE digital spectrometers.

    Table 2. Status of spectrometers.
    Instrument Mode Bandwidth
    (MHz)    		 Nchan/IF Spectral
    resolution    		 Velocity
    resolution
    at 350 GHz    		 Velocity
    coverage
    at 350 GHz    		 Status
    XFFTS XF 2500 32768 76.3 kHz 0.065 km/s 2141 km/s Available
    WHSF FX 4096 2048 2 MHz 1.7 km/s 3500 km/s Decommissioned
    2048 1 MHz 0.86 km/s 1755 km/s
    1024 0.5 MHz 0.43 km/s 878 km/s
    F-FX 64 31.25 kHz 27 m/s 55 km/s
    32 15.625 kHz 13 m/s 27 km/s
    MAC XF 512 1024 0.5 MHz 0.43 km/s 445 km/s Decommissioned
    128 0.125 MHz 0.11 km/s 111 km/s

    Intensity Calibration (Spectroscopic Observations)

    A standard chopper wheel method using a room temperature absorber is employed to obtain antenna temperature of the source.

    It is recommended to observe a standard source every night (at least) for intensity calibration within your observing time.

    A list of the standard sources is available.

    Observing Modes (Spectroscopic Observations)

    Only On-The-Fly (OTF) mapping is available so far for the observations with XFFTS. Position switching and frequency switching are not available. Chopping/wobbling of the secondary mirror is not available either.

    • Position switching: The target position (ON position) and nearby sky position (OFF position) are alternatively observed to subtract atmospheric emission. It is suited for deep observations of a single point or a small number of observing points of a small portion of the sky.
    • OTF mapping: Continuous acquisition of the data during a raster scan of the telescope. It is appropriate for wide area mapping of a (relatively) bright line.

    Observing scripts will be prepared using a dedicated GUI tool, aobs. You may consult with your collaborator from ASTE team about the preparation of scripts as well as planning of observations in advance if you are not familiar with observations using ASTE.

    Observations and Monitors

    Updated information on science observations and monitoring is available from here.

    Data Reduction (Spectroscopic Observations)

    The CASA software, an astronomical data analysis software package for ALMA, is available for the tools for analysis of ASTE data.