The IRAM 30m telescope, operated by the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM), is one of today’s largest and most sensitive millimeter telescopes, equipped with a series of heterodyne receivers and continuum cameras operating at 3, 2, 1, and 0.9 mm. High resolution spectroscopy allows to study the interplay of chemistry and the ongoing formation of stars within giant molecular clouds of the Milky Way and of nearby galaxies, out to the farthest known galaxies of the young universe. The telescope is located on Pico Veleta in the Spanish Sierra Nevada, at an altitude of 2850m.

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).