Sharper `eyes' for star gazers [a new submillimeter-wavelength radio receiver]

The radio astronomy receiver built at the European Space Research and Technology Center allows astronomers to study intergalactic molecules that emit radio signals of submillimeter wavelength. The receiver is basically a heterodyne frequency analyzer for detecting weak microwave signals of about 10^-20 W at 200 GHz to 400 GHz. Incoming signals are mixed with the signal from a local oscillator and downconverted to a lower frequency that can be amplified with low noise. The amplified signal is fed to a spectrometer, a bank of filters, and a minicomputer that yield the power spectra of received signals.