These images show the scale of the ALMA project

Oct 3, 2011 14:58 GMT  ·  By

Earlier today, officials from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) announced that the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is finally opened for business, after many years of construction. ESO also released a number of images showing the telescope and its surroundings.

Located 5,000 meters (16,404 feet) above sea level, on the Chajnantor plateau in northern Chile, the ALMA installation will be the largest, most complex and most capable radio observatory ever built.

When completed, it will feature 66 high-precision antennas that will be able to scan the skies so that even the coldest, most distant objects in the Universe become visible. The image gallery shows some of the antennas that are already installed in action.

ALMA will be finished in a few years, but even now it is the best radio telescope in the world. As more and more antennas are added, its capabilities will expand even further. Enjoy these images of the telescope, and try to picture it in its full-scale configuration.

The ALMA radio astronomy array (6 Images)

This is the ALMA site, with several antennas showing
This is the ALMA site, with several antennas showingThese are ALMA's surrounding, high in the Chilean mountains
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