The 66th and final antenna of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has completed its long journey and arrived on the Chajnantor Plateau in Northern Chile on Friday 13 June 2014.
This is the last of the European antennas to be transported to the ALMA high site. The final North American antenna was delivered there in November of 2012. ALMA’s full complement of 66 antennas consists of 25 from North America, 25 from Europe, and 16 from East Asia.
ALMA was inaugurated in March 2013, which marked the completion of all of the major systems of the giant telescope and the formal transition from a construction project to a full-fledged observatory.
The telescope already has provided unprecedented views of the cosmos with only a portion of its full array. Once the final antenna is integrated fully into the array, ALMA will push our vision even further into the dark, distant Universe.
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
ALMA, an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), and on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.
Contact
Charles Blue
Public Information Officer
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Phone: +1 434-296-0314
Email: cblue@nrao.edu
