Extending to the Submillimeter Universe with the CCAT Observatory

¹ Department of Physics, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, USA
² Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA

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Published online: 20 February 2026

Abstract

The CCAT Observatory’s Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope, a novel, high-throughput, 6-meter aperture telescope, is scheduled for first light in 2026. Located at 5600 m on Cerro Chajnantor in the Chilean Atacama Desert, the CCAT site enables unprecedented submillimeter measurement capabilities, fully overlapping with millimeter-wave surveys like the Simons Observatory. CCAT will address a suite of science goals, from Big Bang cosmology, star formation, and line-intensity mapping of cosmic reionization, to galactic magnetic fields, transients, and galaxy evolution over cosmic time. We highlight CCAT’s science goals with Prime-Cam, a first generation science instrument for the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope. Prime-Cam will field over 100,000 kinetic inductance detectors across seven instrument modules to enable over ten times faster mapping speed than previous submillimeter observatories in windows between 1.4 – 0.3 mm (220 – 850 GHz). We give an instrument summary, discuss the project status, and outline preliminary plans for early science.