ALMA, an international partnership to discover space
After 10 years of construction the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array [ALMA] based in Chile was inaugurated on 13 March 2013. The ceremony marks the completion of all the major systems of the giant telescope and the formal transition from a construction project to a fully-fledged observatory.
ALMA is funded by an international partnership comprised of the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere [ESO], by the U.S. National Science Foundation [NSF] and by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences [NINS] of Japan.
“This is an example of the great achievements that become possible when institutions and nations pool their efforts” said Tim de Zeeuw, ESO’s Director General.
The international community is excited by the ambitious research possible at ALMA, which will show never-before-seen details about the birth of stars, infant galaxies in the early Universe, and planets coalescing around distant suns. It also will allow the measurement and the distribution of molecules, many essential for life, that form in the space between the stars.
The antennas of the ALMA array, fifty-four 12-meter and twelve smaller 7-meter dish antennas, work together as a single telescope. Each antenna collects radiation coming from space and focuses it onto a receiver. The signals from the antennae are then brought together and processed by a specialised supercomputer: the ALMA Correlator. The 66 ALMA antennas can be arranged in different configurations, where the maximum distance between antennas can vary from 150m to 16km.
ALMA will start its full-scale operation in 2013 and operate for half a century. The observation time will be allocated according to the financial support to ALMA and 10% is allotted to Chile as the host country.
More information can be found on the ALMA website.
