Astronomers celebrate a decade of groundbreaking discoveries with ALMA
16 March, 2023
The ALMA Observatory recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. This mega-telescope has contributed to numerous discoveries about the cosmos and changed our understanding of the universe. Well-positioned in the Atacama Desert, it is a key component of Chile’s burgeoning astronomical infrastructure.
March 13 marked the 10th anniversary of the planet’s largest radio telescope: the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array aka ALMA. To celebrate a decade of discoveries, the facility hosted a special ceremony.
The two-hour ceremony consisted of speeches by ALMA’s directors and representatives from international partner observatories, a talk by the Chilean Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Science, and a documentary showcasing highlights from the past decade. The event was broadcasted live.
In December 2023, ALMA will also host a science conference to commemorate its 10th anniversary.
10 years of groundbreaking discoveries
The enormous facility (ALMA is the largest and most expensive ground-based astronomical project, costing an estimated US$1.5 billion) is funded by European, North American, and East Asian partner observatories. It consists of 66 individual antennas, and was built to capture the special “rain” that falls in Chile’s northern Andean region: electromagnetic radiation, or space light, that reaches our planet after traveling through the cosmos for billions of light years. The radiation is captured in wavelengths and is valuable to astronomers because it contains information about the origins of the universe.
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In an interview with CNN Chile, Lucas Cieza, from the Institute of Astrophysical Studies at the Diego Portales University, said that Chile is currently home to 50 percent of the world’s astronomical infrastructure, and that its percentage is only increasing.
More:
https://chiletoday.cl/astronomers-celebrate-a-decade-of-groundbreaking-discoveries-with-alma/
