Workshop attendees at the UFS. © Laura Schmidt (UFS); Bob Campbell, JIVE Head of Science Operations Group, presenting technical/practical aspects of the EVN as they relate to the WMT's potential participation in EVN observations. © Benito Marcote (JIVE); Part of the Zugspitzplatt: the likely future sites for the WMT would lie on this high karst plateau. © Bob Campbell
The Wetterstein Millimeter Telescope (WMT) is a planned radio telescope associated with the Environmental Research Station Scheenfernerhaus (UFS) on the Zugspitze in the Bavarian Alps. This is the highest mountain in Germany (2962m), lying about 11 km southwest of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The WMT antenna itself would be compatible with the 18-m ngVLA design, with frequency coverage from 1.2 to 120 GHz and intentions to extend higher into the sub-millimeter. The telescope would likely be located on the Zugspitzplatt plateau near the UFS, about 300 m below the peak.
The Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) and the UFS convened a workshop "Science and Technology with the WMT" on 23–24 June, held at the UFS itself. The workshop brought together German and international astronomers to discuss how the WMT can contribute to a range of scientific topics. These spanned from extragalactic studies of AGN cores & jets, dark matter via gravitational lensing, and galaxy evolution, to investigations of star formation & astrochemistry, and exoplanets & proto-planetary disks in our own Galaxy, through to monitoring space situational awareness and near-Earth objects within the solar system, and characterising physical processes within Earth's atmosphere and mesosphere.
The enthusiasm and engagement expressed by the workshop attendees can help translate the broad scientific objectives into directions to take in refining the WMT system-design capabilities.
Technical presentations focused on the antenna design (including practical issues affecting the construction on the mountain) and developments in receiver miniaturisation and shared-path multiband approaches. The statuses of other mm/sub-mm telescopes in various stages of development in Hungary, Chile (AtLAST and CCAT/FYST), Namibia, and South Africa were also presented.
Representatives of different VLBI arrays introduced their arrays and highlighted the benefits of the WMT's inclusion. Providing trans-Atlantic baselines with the ngVLA is one of the foundational rationales underlying the WMT concept. Its initially planned frequency coverage would permit joining the EVN or the GMVA directly; extension into the sub-millimeter could open up the possibility of observing with the EHT. Participating with the EVN would also imply joining global VLBI observations with EVN + NRAO stations, as well as leading to future SKA-VLBI observations with EVN + SKA-MID in South Africa.
Workshop participants stayed in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Transportation to the UFS on the first day was via the cog railway following a tunnel through the mountain; on the second day via a series of cable-cars.
The weather and scenery (and workshop organisation) were spectacular.