Jul 28, 2011 14:46 GMT  ·  By

On Wednesday, July 27, the first European antenna built to augment the capabilities of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) reached its new home, the Array Operations Site.

The AOS is located in Chile, where the ALMA site is being constructed. When completed, the Array will be one of the largest and most powerful in the world, capable of conducting astronomical surveys the like of which experts have never seen before.

This particular observatory is made from numerous, 12-meter antennas, that are connected to each other via a technique called interferometry. This allows the devices to function as if they were a single antenna, with a diameter equal to the largest distance between any two of them.

ALMA is being constructed more than 5,000 meters above sea level, on the Chajnantor plateau. The new European antenna that made its way there yesterday is the 16th to be installed. The telescope project involves numerous international partners.

Now that the first 16 antennas are operational, ALMA can begin to conduct basic scientific observations. Additional capabilities will become available as new antennas are being installed. Hooking them up does not require closing the entire observatory.

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) commissioned the new antenna, which was manufactured by the European AEM Consortium. The collaboration is made up of Thales Alenia Space, European Industrial Engineering, and MT-Mechatronics.

Initially, the observatory will features 66 high-precision antennas. Twenty-five of these will be have a diameter of 12 meters, such as the one that recently made its way to the ASO. These instruments were commissioned by North American and European partners.

East Asian partners commissioned four 12-meter antennas and twelve 7-meter ones, a total of 16. These will form a distinct group that will operate within ALMA, called the Atacama Compact Array (ACA).

“It’s great to see the first European ALMA antenna reach Chajnantor. It is from this arid plateau that these masterpieces of technology will be used to study the cosmos,” says ESO ALMA project manager Stefano Stanghellini.

“ALMA’s Early Science observations are planned to begin later this year. Although ALMA will still be under construction, the 16-antenna array that will be available already outmatches all other telescopes of this kind,” an ESO press release informs.

“Astronomers from around the world have submitted almost 1000 proposals for Early Science observations. This level of demand is about nine times the number of observations that are expected be carried out during the first phase of Early Science, which demonstrates how excited researchers are to use ALMA, even at this early stage,” it concludes.