Science and Technology
In Search of our Cosmic Origins !
Most of the photons in the Universe are in the wavelength range
that ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) will receive: the millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths, which lie between what is traditionally considered radio waves and infrared waves.
ALMA will operate at wavelengths of 0.3 to 9.6 millimeters. It will give us our first high-resolution views at these wavelengths and will enable transformational research into the physics of the cold Universe, regions that are optically dark but shine brightly in the millimeter portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. ALMA will thus provide scientists with precise images of galaxies in formation seen as they were twelve billion years ago, and will reveal the chemical composition of heretofore unknown stars and planets still in their formative process.
These science objectives, and many hundreds more, will be made possible owing to the design concept of ALMA that combines the imaging clarity of detail provided by a 66-antennas interferometric reconfigurable array together with the brightness sensitivity of a single dish very large antenna.
This will be a tremendous advancement for astronomy and open one of our science's last frontiers. In addition, we know that every time in the past that a new wavelength region has been opened up, as ALMA will do, we have been surprised by entirely unexpected discoveries that significantly changed our understanding of the Universe.
We also expect the unexpected from ALMA!
