Earth’s most Powerful ALMA Telescope goes online

On 13 March 2013 the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), most Powerful Telescope, the largest astronomical project in the world, will be inaugurated in Chile, celebrating ALMA’s transition from a construction project to a fully fledged observatory. Image © Almaobservatory

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile, is the largest astronomical project in existence. ALMA will be a single telescope of revolutionary design, composed initially of 66 high precision antennas located on the Chajnantor plateau, 5000 meters altitude in northern Chile.