Antennae Galaxies Get An ALMA Close-Up
Thursday, October 6, 2011 - 12:00
in Astronomy & Space
The world's most complex ground-based astronomy observatory, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) on on the Chajnantor plateau in northern Chile, has officially opened for astronomers.A lack of light pollution and anti-science hippies filing lawsuits has made Chile a new favorite spot for space science and the first image we got after ALMA opened its eyes is darn spectacular. What we can't see with visible-light or infrared telescopes, ALMA can see just fine. And the image below is with only 12 of its final 66 radio antennas. It's fitting that the first image was of the Antenna Galaxies. read more