Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)

An international project of astonishing scope and scientific promise, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) will provide an unprecedented combination of sensitivity, resolution, and imaging capability at the shortest radio wavelengths for which the Earth's atmosphere is transparent.

An international partnership representing North America, Europe, and Japan is now building ALMA. Advanced electronics, antennas, and software are now under construction around the world. ALMA will begin astronomical research in 2010 and be completely operational by 2013.

The NRAO is the North American Executive for the construction and operation of this extraordinary research facility. The North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC) at the NRAO headquarters in Charlottesville, Virginia is responsible for supporting the scientific use of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array by astronomers in North America.

Located at in the Atacama desert of northern Chile, one of the world's best sites for astronomy, the ALMA telescope array will reside at an elevation of 16,500 feet above sea level and include at least 66 radio telescopes.

The millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelength region is one of astronomy's last frontiers. ALMA will open this frontier, giving scientists a new window on celestial origins, capturing new information about the very first stars and galaxies in our Universe, and directly image the formation of planets.

The left image is a simulation of the rich detail that ALMA will probe when it observes the disks of material surrounding many stars. The right low-resolution image represents the best that existing radio telescope arrays can achieve. (Credit: NRAO/AUI; A. Wootten)