Submillimeter wave astronomy is a relatively new branch of astronomy that studies celestial objects using the submillimeter band of the electromagnetic spectrum, which ranges from 0.1 millimeters to 1.0 millimeters (300 GHz to 3000 GHz). This band, which lies between the far infrared and high-frequency radio bands, contains valuable astonomical data (in form of both continuum emissions and molecular radiations), but has been unavailable to astronomers until recently because most of the radiation is blocked by the Earth's atmosphere. In order to overcome this barrier, submillimeter observatories such as the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) are usually placed at high altitude.^[1]

Photo: Caltech Submillimeter Observatory in Hawaii