ALMA Telescope passes major milestone with successful antenna link
Wednesday, 06 May 2009
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an immense international telescope project under construction in northern Chile, reached a major milestone on April 30, when two ALMA antennas were linked together as an integrated system to observe an astronomical object for the first time.The milestone achievement, technically termed "First Fringes," came at ALMA’s Operations Support Facility, 2900 metres above sea level.
"This is another important step forward for ALMA as it proves that the various hardware components can work well together. The efforts of all the staff involved in this first antenna integration show the strength of our global collaboration and give much confidence that we can get to full operations with ALMA as one great astronomical observatory," says Thijs de Graauw, ALMA Director.
Faint radio waves emitted by the planet Mars were collected by the two 12-metre diameter ALMA antennas, then processed by state-of-the-art electronics to turn the two antennas into a single, high-resolution telescope system, called an interferometer.
Such pairs of antennas are the basic building blocks of imaging systems that enable radio telescopes to deliver pictures that approach or even exceed the resolving power of visible light telescopes. In such a system, each antenna is combined electronically with every other antenna to form a multitude of antenna pairs. Each pair contributes unique information that is used to build a highly-detailed image of the astronomical object under observation.
When completed in early in the next decade, ALMA’s 66 antennas will provide over a thousand such antenna pairings, with distances between antennas exceeding sixteen kilometres. This will enable ALMA to see with a sharpness surpassing that of the best space telescopes. The antennas will operate at an altitude of 5000 metres, high above the OSF, in one of the best locations on Earth for millimetre-wavelength astronomy, the Chajnantor Plateau in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
Last week’s successful Mars observation was conducted at an observing frequency of 104.2 GHz. Astronomers measured the distinctive varying “fringes” detected by the interferometer as the planet moved across the sky.
"This can only be achieved with the perfect synchronisation of the antennas and the electronic equipment: a precision much better than one millionth of a millionth of a second between equipment located many kilometres apart. The extreme environment where the ALMA observatory is located, with its strong winds, high altitude, and wide range of temperatures, just adds to the complexity of the observatory and to the fascinating engineering challenges we face", comments Richard Murowinski, ALMA Project Engineer.
ALMA will provide astronomers with the world's most advanced tool for exploring the Universe at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths. It will detect fainter objects and be able to produce much higher-quality images at these wavelengths than any previous telescope system. Scientists are eager to use this transformational capability to study stars and galaxies that formed in the early Universe, to learn long-sought details about how stars are born, and to trace the motion of gas and dust as it whirls toward the surface of newly-formed stars and planets.
“We are on target to do the first interferometry tests at the 5000-metre high-altitude site by the end of this year, and by the end of 2011 we plan to have at least 16 antennas working together as a single giant telescope,” says Thijs de Graauw.
The ALMA Project is a partnership between the scientific communities of East Asia, Europe and North America with Chile.
Images
• This graph shows a plot of a single channel of the correlator output as a function of time, when observing Mars.
• In the next image, we see a screenshot of the full correlator output for a single one-second integration. The top two windows are the spectral shapes of the signals from the two individual antennas. The bottom ones are the phase (right) and cross-correlated power (left), which is a little less than one percent of the total.
• The two ALMA antennas used in the project's successful test observation of "first astronomical fringes", at the Operations Support Facility at an altitude of 2900 metres. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)
Notes for editors
ALMA is a revolutionary astronomical telescope, comprising an array of 66 giant 12- metre and 7-metre diameter antennas observing at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths. ALMA, which will start scientific observations in 2011, is the most powerful telescope for observing the cool Universe — molecular gas and dust as well as the relic radiation of the Big Bang. ALMA will study the building blocks of stars, planetary systems, galaxies and life itself, and will address some of the deepest questions of our cosmic origins.
ALMA will operate at wavelengths of 0.3 to 9.6 mm. At these wavelengths, a high, dry site is needed for the telescope to be able to see through the Earth's atmosphere. This is why ALMA is being built on the breathtaking 5000-metre-high plateau of Chajnantor in the Atacama region of Chile, the highest astronomy site in the world. ALMA will offer unprecedented sensitivity and resolution. The 12-metre antennas will have reconfigurable baselines ranging from 15 m to 16 km. ALMA will have a resolution ten times better than the Hubble Space Telescope.
Comments
celmef@yahoo.com.br2009-05-22 04:12:16
Felicitaciones al proyeto Alma por este logro di vanguardia para el conocimiento
global.
marcelo.r.valenzuela@gmail.com2009-05-26 23:48:56
La tecnologia nos esta dando la oportunidad de obtener estos logros para la
humanidad. Felicitaciones al projecto ALMA, esperamos con ansias las imagenes
una vez integradas las 66 antenas.
jb.apariciogonzalez@hotmail.co2009-06-09 02:35:47
El observatorio alma, nos entregara una nutrida información astronómica,
aportando al mundo científico una gran información que ayudaran a entender y
descubrir variados temas e incógnitas de los objetos celestes más allá de la
Tierra y del Universo en su conjunto. Gracias por este paso en la ciencia que
nos puede ayudar a resolver problemas.
fernandita_6hermosa@hotmail.co2009-07-19 17:01:42
Encuentro Esta Oportunidad Interesante Y unica y en un Lugar tan Bello
Felicito a Tantas Enpresas que Aportan Para que Esto Sea Realidad y un Habanse
Para Laciencia y La Humanidad
haramayo@hotmail.com2009-07-23 23:56:27
"Observando sistemas plantarios con alma": Còmo likan antai, se agradece
por excelente exposiciòn del dr.Hales. Ojala màs hermanos originarios, y
especialmente jòvenes se acercaran màs a estos eventos, còmo lo hacian nuestros
antepasados.Ojala pudiera obtener las diapositivas, de tan interesante
investigaciòn que realiza el Dr. Hales.¡Felcitaciones! y muchas gracias.
bat_tery@hotmail.com2009-07-26 17:30:43
El observatorio abre otra ventana mas allá de lo que nos imaginamos y despues de
que se vean las primeras imagenes, se conocera algo que solo podriamos describir
o hacer con nuestra imaginación.
inversam1@vtr.net2009-07-29 17:01:04
Hola, en mi calidad de aficionado y apasionado a la astronomia y unido a
que vivo en la ciudad de Antofagasta,
quiero decir que es primero un orgullo enorme que este proyecto sea realizado en
nuestro desierto y por otro lado con la puesta en marcha de este proyecto de
seguro podremos descifrar un poco mas los misterios del origen del universo,
logrando captar imagenes mas frias, esto es en tiempo espacio, llevandonos a
conocer como era nuestro universo mas próximo al Big bang.
Saludos y cuenten conmigo.
inversam1@vtr.net2009-07-29 17:05:27
Hoy podemos apreciar el universo en toda su magnitud, pero en un tiempo
futuro....Ya no habrá nada……….el espacio estará
vació…el universo se expande y las estrellas y galaxias se alejan cada día mas y
mas…en un futuro aunque no muy cercano, cuando las personas miren el cielo solo
verán su espacio oscuro y vació.
.
Increíblemente la paradoja, el futuro investigativo debe ser hoy, el
futuro tecnológico se podrá utilizar mas temprano que tarde.
Bienvenido ALMA, el universo aun te espera.
Saludos y cuenten conmigo.
gp_madar@yahoo.fr2009-08-07 23:21:36
Felicitaciones al proyecto ALMA por este gran salto en la aventura de conocer
nuestros orígenes
droap@hotmail.com2009-08-09 19:00:36
Lo mas basica pregunta para un ser humano es saber quienes somos y de donde
venimos, el Observatorio el Alma es una ventana a esa inmensidad que nos rodea
tratando de explicarnos dichas preguntas gracias a un esfuerzo mancomunado de
paises en pos de la humanidad.
asdc@operamail.com2009-08-12 16:58:28
Reciban un nutrido reconocimiento por este logro y que ello los inspire a
seguir, para que este proyecto sea de relevancia y aporte mundial.
drcvilches@yahoo.com2009-10-26 10:35:36
The human spirit needs to clear the frontiers of his knowledge to adventure in
the limits of the cosmos, trying to find out why are we here, where are we from,
what is our purpose in the universe. Welcome to Chile you scientists of ALMA;
we all hope here in the driest desert of the world, that you succeed in your
quest.
javierduran@tigo.com.py2009-11-09 09:57:34
A los componentes de equipo ALMA, sólo una palabra para describir vuestro
trabajo:
E-S-P-E-C-T-A-C-U-L-A-R
