NMY Math Science 7/8

ALMA’s First Photo

For all those who are interested in the cosmos, this week marked the beginning of an exciting new era. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA, the world’s most complex radio telescope came online and shared it’s first image.  This array is located in a remote part of Chile in the Andes Mountains. This is a collaboration with institutions and organizations from around the world. 

What makes ALMA so exciting is that this telescope array will allow us to detect the colder and distant objects in the universe. It can detect wavelengths that are much longer than we have been able to detect to date. ALMA will allow us to peer into events of the early universe. 

This first image is of two spiral galaxies colliding about 70 million light-years away in the constellation Corvus. 

If you are interested in hearing more about the potential and the goals of ALMA, you should check out this episode of ESO Cast.

(via World’s Most Complex Radio Telescope Snaps Stunning 1st Photo of the Cosmos | ALMA & Radio Telescopes | Galaxy Formation & The Early Universe | LiveScience)