A powerful telescope that offer a view of the universe can not be beaten by most ground-based observatories looking at distant galaxies for the first time on Monday deep in the Atacama Desert in Chile.
The Atacama Large Millimeter / submillimeter Array, a joint project between Canada, Chile, the European Union, Japan, Taiwan and the United States, opened its doors for astronomers after a decade of planning and construction.
The world's largest project in astronomy, ALMA is described as the most powerful telescope Millimeter / submillimeter wavelength of the history and complex ground-based observatory.
The images came first in the mega-site in northern Chile of 12 of the 66 radio telescopes.
"Today is the recognition of the successful coalition of thousands of people around the world all working for the same purpose: to build the world's most advanced telescope to see the universe's coldest, darkest places, where galaxies and stars and maybe the basic elements of life are created, "said Thijs de Graauw ALMA Director.
"Today is the recognition of the successful coalition of thousands of people around the world all working for the same purpose: to build the world's most advanced telescope to see the universe's coldest, darkest places, where galaxies and stars and maybe the basic elements of life are created, "said Thijs de Graauw ALMA Director.
ALMA telescopes differ from visible and infrared light using an array of antennas connected to act as a single giant telescope, and detects wavelengths much longer than visible light, the representation of images as opposed to most others in the cosmos.
Although similar instruments used in other places, ALMA are 10 to 100 times more powerful than others currently in operation, the scientist said Lars Nyman ALMA.
ALMA location also offers a unique advantage due to the extremely arid Atacama Desert and the altitude of 5,000 meters (16,400 feet). It is in the same region as the European Extremely Large Telescope, due to start operating in 2018.
The first images were of the Antennae Galaxies, a pair of colliding galaxies with radically distorted forms about 70 million light-years away in the constellation of the Raven.
ALMA Viewpoint ", is something that can not be seen in visible light: cold clouds of dense gas from which new stars form," according to ALMA. "This is the best submillimeter wavelength image ever made of the Antennae Galaxies."
Images such as "will be vital in helping us understand how galaxy collisions can trigger the birth of new stars," said Alma.
The first images were of the Antennae Galaxies, a pair of colliding galaxies with radically distorted forms about 70 million light-years away in the constellation of the Raven.
ALMA Viewpoint ", is something that can not be seen in visible light: cold clouds of dense gas from which new stars form," according to ALMA. "This is the best submillimeter wavelength image ever made of the Antennae Galaxies."
Images such as "will be vital in helping us understand how galaxy collisions can trigger the birth of new stars," said Alma.
The scientist Richard Hills told AFP that the results were "better than expected."
"They're really very clear, there is nothing that messes up the data ... which really shows us what is going on inside their galaxies had been looking for," added the former scientist at the University of Cambridge.
"We've been waiting a long time to get to the point where ALMA is really capable of doing science. Some people have been working on this project for over 20 years. Therefore, it has been a long road, but all the bits and pieces we need to do this job telescope, now join. "
One of the projects selected for ALMA observations was that of David Wilner of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
"They're really very clear, there is nothing that messes up the data ... which really shows us what is going on inside their galaxies had been looking for," added the former scientist at the University of Cambridge.
"We've been waiting a long time to get to the point where ALMA is really capable of doing science. Some people have been working on this project for over 20 years. Therefore, it has been a long road, but all the bits and pieces we need to do this job telescope, now join. "
One of the projects selected for ALMA observations was that of David Wilner of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
"My team hunting the building blocks of solar systems, and ALMA is specially designed to detect," said Wilner.
Its aim is Microscopii AU, a star 33 light years away that is only one percent of the age of the sun.
"We will use the image SOUL 'ring of light" of the planetesimals we believe that the orbits of the young star, "he said. "We hope to find groups in these asteroid belts dust, which can be markers for the planets are not seen."
Masami Ouchi, University of Tokyo used to observe ALMA Himiko, a very distant galaxy producing a minimum of 100 soles "of the stars of each year and surrounded by a giant nebula, bright.
Its aim is Microscopii AU, a star 33 light years away that is only one percent of the age of the sun.
"We will use the image SOUL 'ring of light" of the planetesimals we believe that the orbits of the young star, "he said. "We hope to find groups in these asteroid belts dust, which can be markers for the planets are not seen."
Masami Ouchi, University of Tokyo used to observe ALMA Himiko, a very distant galaxy producing a minimum of 100 soles "of the stars of each year and surrounded by a giant nebula, bright.
"Other telescopes can not demonstrate why it is so bright Himiko and how it has developed as a large hazy and hot when the early universe around you is so quiet and dark," Ouchi said.
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