The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), one of the largest ground-based astronomy projects of the next decade, is a major new facility for world astronomy. ALMA will be comprised of a giant array of 12-m submillimetre quality antennas, with baselines of several kilometres. An additional, compact array of 7-m and 12-m antennas is also foreseen. Construction of ALMA started in 2003 and will be completed in 2012. The ALMA project is an international collaboration between Europe, Japan and North America in cooperation with the Republic of Chile.

News

March 18, 2008

First radio image of the Moon taken with an ACA antenna at a wavelength of 2mm. This image is the result of the initial testing of the Japanese ACA 12-m antenna to be delivered to the ALMA project. See press release.

March 7, 2008

Today, the new European ALMA web pages went online.

February 20, 2008

The ALMA transporters arrived at the ALMA Operations Support Facility (OSF) at 2800 m altitude on February 20th. The transporters, 10 metres wide, 20 metres long and 6 metres high, will be used to move ALMA antennas across the array. See also the earlier press release.

January 18, 2008

Thijs de Graauw has taken up the position of interim ALMA director at the Joint ALMA Office in Santiago effective 1 April 2008. Thijs is a world expert in (sub)milimeter astronomy, with excellent instrumental credentials, and substantial experience in coordinating large international projects.

Timeline

  • mid 2006: European ARC activities begin
  • late 2007: First antennas arrive in Chile
  • mid 2008: Two antenna interferometry
  • early 2009: Commissioning and science verification starts
  • mid 2010: Early science
  • late 2012: Full science operations starts

Quick Links

  • Newsletter: Read the latest edition of the European ALMA Newsletter
  • Jobs: Working for ALMA
  • Basics: Learn about the ALMA basics
  • Sensitivity calculator: Use this to plan your ALMA science project
  • Brochure: This contains information about the ALMA project, its construction, the ALMA site, the technologies and the science objectives
  • Contact information: Find telephone numbers and email addresses

ALMA
antennas
on site:
8

The ALMA OSF Web Cam is up and running. It allows you to watch the OSF construction activities and has been configured to show a picture every minute.