The IRAM 30m telescope, operated by the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM), is one of the largest and most sensitive millimetre telescopes in the world today, equipped with a series of heterodyne receivers and continuum cameras operating at 3, 2, 1 and 0.9 mm. High-resolution spectroscopy allows studying the interplay of chemistry and ongoing star formation within the Milky Way’s giant molecular clouds and nearby galaxies up to the most distant known galaxies of the young Universe. The telescope is located on Pico Veleta in the Spanish Sierra Nevada, at an altitude of 2850 m.
| geographic longitude: | – 03° 23′ 34″ |
| geographic latitude: | 37° 03′ 58″ |
| altitude above sea level: | 2850 m |
| diameter of telescope: | 30 m |
| minimum elevation: | 0° |
Available observing mode: single dish, Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI).
Frequencies used currently:
| Frequency band | Observing mode |
| 73.0 – 117 GHz | single dish – Heterodyne |
| 125 – 172 GHz | single dish – Continuum |
| 140 – 162 GHz | single dish – Continuum |
| 125 – 184 GHz | single dish – Heterodyne |
| 202 – 274 GHz | single dish – Heterodyne |
| 220 – 280 GHz | single dish – Continuum |
| 277 – 375 GHz | single dish – Heterodyne |
Research programs: galactic research (circumstellar envelopes, interstellar medium: molecules and dust), Very Long Baseline Interferometry at mm wavelengths, near extra-galactic research (molecules and dust, star formation).