Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA)
Introduction
The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) is the largest ground based, international astronomical observational facility ever built. It is currently under construction in the Chajnantor area in the Atacama desert in northern Chile. ALMA is designed to cover the wavelength range from 0.3mm to 9mm with an angular resolution of up to 0.004 arcsec. The baseline project consists of the 12-m array of up to 64 12-m telescopes, and the Atacama Compact Array (ACA) of 4 12-m telescopes and 12 7-m telescopes. ALMA will be studying a broad range of exciting science, such as weather patterns on solar system planets, the formation of planets and stars in our galaxy, the motions within active galactic unclei , and the formation of the earliest galaxies at z~10.
Credit: http://www.alma.nrao.edu/almanews/almagallery/index.html
Credit: http://www.alma.nrao.edu/almanews/almagallery/index.html