14 DAY TRIAL // The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) is going live today, and its array of 66 radio telescopes is now almost entirely operational. 50 antennas of the 66 are working, but the teams behind it decided to use this number to mark the official launch.
It's the largest radio telescope and the most powerful telescope available to scientists today. ALMA has already made several discoveries, with only several of the antennas turned on.
The telescope is located in the Atacama Desert in Chile, one of the most arid places on Earth. That's an advantage when it comes to cosmic observations; less water and a dry atmosphere means less interference and distortion.
The fact that it's at an altitude of 5,000 meters (16,500 feet) also means there's less atmosphere to pierce through.
The array of 66 antennas, ranging from 7 meters to 12 meters (23 to 40 feet), can be arranged in various configurations to observe a large swatch of the radio spectrum.
With the ALMA telescope, astronomers will be able to peek further and see greater detail than ever before.