The final antenna for the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub millimeter Array (ALMA) project has just been handed over to the ALMA Observatory. The 12-metre-diameter dish was manufactured by the European AEM Consortium and also marks the successful delivery of a total of 25 European antennas — the largest ESO contract so far.
The antenna is the 66th and final antenna to be delivered to the observatory. North America has provided 25 12-metre antennas, while East Asia has delivered 16 (four 12-metre and twelve 7-metre). By the end of 2013, all 66 ultra-precise millimeter/sub millimeter-wave radio antennas are expected to be working together as one telescope, in an array that will stretch for up to 16 kilometers across the Chajnantor Plateau in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.
“This is an important milestone for the ALMA Observatory since it enables astronomers in Europe and elsewhere to use the complete ALMA telescope, with its full sensitivity and collecting area,” says Wolfgang Wild, the European ALMA Project Manager.
ALMA helps astronomers to answer important questions about our cosmic origins. The telescope observes the Universe using light with millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths, between infrared light and radio waves in the electromagnetic spectrum. Light at these wavelengths comes from some of the coldest, but also from some of the most distant, objects in the cosmos.
Source: ESO