The Lawspeaker
11-15-2012, 11:36 AM
ALMA: The Cosmos at New Wavelengths
http://www.united-academics.org/magazine/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Antennae-galaxy-NRAO_ALMA_earlyscience_c.jpg
The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), could only function properly in the extremely dry climate of the Chajnantor plateau in Chile. The 5000+ meter elevation of the Chilean Andes also provides the Atacama desert with one of the driest regions in the world. When combined, the high and dry location is ideal for effective millimeter wavelength observation.
Once fully functional in the Spring of 2013, ALMA will have a much higher sensitivity and higher resolution than existing sub-millimeter telescopes. The antennas can be moved across the desert plateau over distances from 150 m to 16 km, providing ALMA with a powerful “zoom”, similar to the Very Large Array in New Mexico.
Though not yet fully operational, these images are among the first released by the joint European, US, Japanese and Canadian scientific effort. The highest priority scientific applications for ALMA will include the study of planet formation as well as star forming regions of our universe.
(this and more: United Academics.org (http://www.united-academics.org/magazine/29297/alma-the-cosmos-at-new-wavelengths/))
http://www.united-academics.org/magazine/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Antennae-galaxy-NRAO_ALMA_earlyscience_c.jpg
The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), could only function properly in the extremely dry climate of the Chajnantor plateau in Chile. The 5000+ meter elevation of the Chilean Andes also provides the Atacama desert with one of the driest regions in the world. When combined, the high and dry location is ideal for effective millimeter wavelength observation.
Once fully functional in the Spring of 2013, ALMA will have a much higher sensitivity and higher resolution than existing sub-millimeter telescopes. The antennas can be moved across the desert plateau over distances from 150 m to 16 km, providing ALMA with a powerful “zoom”, similar to the Very Large Array in New Mexico.
Though not yet fully operational, these images are among the first released by the joint European, US, Japanese and Canadian scientific effort. The highest priority scientific applications for ALMA will include the study of planet formation as well as star forming regions of our universe.
(this and more: United Academics.org (http://www.united-academics.org/magazine/29297/alma-the-cosmos-at-new-wavelengths/))