IRAM news

December 4, 2013
Observing galactic 'blow out'

For the first time, an international team of astronomers has revealed the dramatic ‘blow out’ phase of galactic evolution. The astronomers discovered dense gas being blasted out of a compact galaxy (called SDSS J0905+57) at speeds of up to two million miles per hour. The gas is being driven to distances of tens of thousands of light years by the intense pressure exerted on it by the radiation of stars that are forming rapidly at the galaxy’s centre.

November 13, 2014
Questing for black holes in the early Universe

Observations of the infant Universe have shown that the most distant galaxies discovered so far host black holes that are extremely massive, characterized by thousand of billions solar masses. These objects, known with the name of “quasars” are generally discovered through the intense X-ray radiation they emit. The mechanism responsible for the formation of these black holes is still not known. To unveil this mystery...

November 12, 2014
IRAM 30m Summerschool 2015 - dates are now fixed!

The 8th IRAM 30m summerschool will take place on September 11-18, 2015 at Pradollano, near Granada (Spain). It combines lectures on millimeter astronomy with observations using the 30m telescope. Lectures will be given by experienced scientists and 30m observers, covering a range of topics...

November 03, 2014
Winter 2014 ratings now online

The IRAM program committee convened in Grenoble on October 20 and 21 to evaluate the proposals submitted for the winter 2014 scheduling period. The discussions were organized in 2 panels which were chaired by Henrik Beuther (MPIA, Heidelberg) and Romeel Davé (University of Western Cape, South Africa). The principal investigators of each proposal will be informed by letter which will include comments issued by the committee if there are any. As usual, the proposals were classified A (accepted), B (backup), and C (rejected).

October 30, 2014
Journey into the formation of a triple solar system

An international research group from LAB (CNRS / University of Bordeaux), IPAG (CNRS / Université Joseph Fourier Grenoble) and IRAM (CNRS / MPG / IGN), led the most accurate study to date, to observe the distribution of dust and gas in a multiple-star system called GG Tau-A.

October 6, 2014
Construction of the 1st NOEMA antenna - watch this video!

Watch a video about the construction of the 1st NOEMA antenna commented by NOEMA station manager Bertrand Gautier. Welcome to the Plateau de Bure, unique plateau in Europe at 2550 meters above sea level...

September 25, 2014
Spectacular aerial views of the Plateau de Bure Observatory!

The Plateau de Bure Observatory seen from the sky - a video documentation by DiVertiCimes

September 25, 2014
First step for NOEMA: MPG President, INSU Director and German Ambassadress inaugurate 1st antenna!

With the official inauguration of the first of six planned NOEMA antennas on 22 September, IRAM is taking a crucial step towards one of the largest Franco-German projects in astronomy: the expansion of the Plateau de Bure observatory in the French Alps into the most powerful and most sensitive millimetre radio telescope in the northern hemisphere. The scientists are hoping that this state of the art observatory will provide answers to questions about our origins and the formation of the universe...

September 8, 2014
Inauguration of the 1st NOEMA antenna: the program is now online

We are very pleased to announce the official inauguration of the first antenna of NOEMA, one of the biggest astronomical research projects in Europe! Read more about the programm here...

August 28, 2014
Inauguration of the 1st NOEMA antenna, September 22, 2014

We are very pleased to announce the official inauguration of the first antenna of NOEMA, one of the biggest astronomical research projects in Europe! The inauguration will take place on September 22, 2014 at the IRAM Headquarters in presence of..

August 07, 2014
Call for Proposals Winter 2014/2015

Covering the period from December 2014 to May 2015, this year’s second proposal deadline for IRAM facilities will be on Thursday September 18, 2014. As usual, the submission facility will be opened about three weeks before the deadline.

July 22, 2014
In Memory of Peter Mezger

On July 9, 2014, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Mezger passed away at the age of 85, after a long illness. As a director of the Max-Planck-Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Peter Mezger was a key figure during the creation and throughout the first 15 years of IRAM. His close relations with the French radio astronomy community allowed the French and German groups to find the mutual understanding and direct exchange necessary for the setup of such a complex co-operation.

July 10, 2014
Les molécules interstellaires témoins de choix pour l’étude des rayons cosmiques et leur accélération par les supernovae

L'origine du rayonnement cosmique, découvert en 1912 par Victor Hess, reste en grande partie mystérieuse. Une méthode d’observation originale pour ce domaine de l’astrophysique, a été utilisée par une équipe de chercheurs. À l'aide du radiotélescope de 30m de l'IRAM, ils ont détecté, dans les nuages moléculaires voisins irradiés par la supernova W28, la signature laissée par des particules de relativement basse énergie (500 MeV) produites dans le choc associé à l'explosion de la supernova. En particulier...

July 03, 2014
Rafael Bachiller and Bertrand Lefloch winners of the SEA-SF2A prize 2014 with an IRAM Large Program

IRAM congratulates Rafael Bachiller (OAN, Spain) and Bertrand Lefloch (IPAG, France), the winners of the SEA-SF2A prize 2014 for outstanding achievements in a French-Spanish scientific research cooperation.

April 28, 2014
Summer 2014 Ratings now online

The IRAM program committee convened in Granada on April 9 and 10 to evaluate the proposals submitted for the summer 2014 scheduling period. The discussions were organized in 2 panels which were chaired by Henrik Beuther (MPIA, Heidelberg) and Romeel Davé (University of Western Cape, South Africa). The principal investigators of each proposal will be informed by letter which will include comments issued by the committee if there are any. As usual, the proposals were classified A (accepted), B (backup), and C (rejected).

February 11, 2014
Call for Proposals Summer 2014

Covering the period from June 2014 to November 2014 this year’s first proposal deadline for IRAM facilities will be on Thursday March 13, 2014. The new submission facility will be opened about three weeks before the deadline.

January 21, 2014
Channelling the flow: A key to the formation of super-Suns

One of the central issues in understanding how stars form is how the massive clouds of gas and dust in which stars form fragment to produce the the direct progenitors of individual stars. An international team of astronomers has used the 30m telescope of the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique in Spain in order to shed new light on this long-standing issue for stars more than 10 times the mass of our Sun.

2014 News