alma telescope history
Leave a CommentThis video clip shows the distinguished guests, including the President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, arriving at the ALMA Operations Support Facility (OSF), located at an altitude of 2900 meters in the Atacama Desert in Chile for the inauguration of the giant telescope. Phase closure with three antennas at Chajnantor. The telescope as we know it today has gone through several significant milestones since it was first patented way back in 1608. ESO and NRAO worked together in technical, science, and management groups to define and organize a joint project between the two observatories with participation by Canada and Spain (the latter became a member of ESO later). memorandum of understanding for design & development. Placing the antennas closer together enables the imaging of sources of larger angular extent. ... an array of radio telescopes known as the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) is under construction, which will provide us with one of the clearest views of the universe yet. This video shows the antenna being moved on the giant transporter called "Otto". It was this period that the scientists in the ALPINE project focused on when they used ESO's ALMA telescope to carry out the first ever large survey of distant galaxies. [29][30] However, this theory has since been overturned, and there has been a new study indicating that there is no phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus. ALMA is an international partnership among Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Chile. 「生命の材料は、地球以外の場所にも存在しているのだろうか?」, 人類が長年抱いてきたこんな疑問に挑む最前線が、アルマ望遠鏡です。南米チリの標高5,000mの高地に建設され、2011年に科学観測を開始したこの巨大望遠鏡。これを使えば、星や惑星の材料となる塵やガス、生命の材料になるかもしれない物質が放つかすかな電波を、「視力6000」に相当する圧倒的な性能でとらえることができます。惑星誕生のメカニズムや地球外生命の可能性を明らかにし、私たちのルーツを宇宙にたどること。これが、日本を含む22の国と地域が協力して運用するアルマ望遠鏡の使命です。ここでは、アルマ望遠鏡が挑む壮大な宇宙の謎と、その解明を目指す取り組みについて紹介します。, アルマ望遠鏡は、130億光年以上も遠くにある天体が放った電波をとらえ、撮影することに成功しています。130億光年離れた天体が放った光や電波は、130億年の時間をかけて地球に届くので、私たちが観測したのは、その天体の130億年前の姿なのです。宇宙で「遠くを見ること」は「昔を見ること」と同じです。先のアルマ望遠鏡の観測からは、130億年以上前の天体付近にも、すでに酸素や塵が多く存在していたことがわかりました。, 宇宙は、いまから138億年前にビッグバンで誕生したと考えられています。では、最初の銀河はいつごろどんな大きさで生まれ、進化したのでしょうか? そして私たちの太陽系がある天の川銀河はどのように生まれたのでしょうか?宇宙の進化に大きな影響を与えたと考えられる、爆発的星形成銀河(120億年前に発生したとされる、天の川銀河の数百倍の勢いで恒星を生みだす銀河)といった謎に満ちた天体にも、アルマ望遠鏡は迫りつつあります。視力6000に相当する圧倒的な性能を駆使して、銀河の誕生と進化の謎を明らかにし、歴史を紐解いていくことも、アルマ望遠鏡の大きな目標なのです。, 宇宙の歴史の模式図。138億年前のビッグバンで始まった宇宙が膨張を続け、その中で星や銀河が生まれ、進化してきた様子を表現しています。, Credit:B.Saxton(NRAO / AUI / NSF); ALMA (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO); NASA / ESA Hubble, 夜空に輝く星たちのほとんどは「恒星」といって、太陽と同じように自らエネルギーを作りだして発光しています。宇宙全体にはおそらく1,000億個のさらに数千億倍もの恒星があると言われています。これまで、望遠鏡で数多くの恒星の研究が行われてきました。そして近年、天文学の進歩によって、私たちが住む太陽系と同じように、夜空に輝く恒星のまわりにも数多くの惑星が存在していることが明らかになってきました。, では、それらの惑星が誕生する様子はどんなものだったのでしょうか?「第2の地球」と呼べるような惑星は、どんな場所に、どんなプロセスでできるのでしょうか?アルマ望遠鏡は、惑星の材料になる小さな塵(ちり)やガスを観測することができます。塵やガスが集まっていく様子を詳しく観測することで、惑星が作られていく姿を描き出すことができるのです。アルマ望遠鏡の活躍により、天文学者たちは、惑星誕生の現場をこれまでになく鮮明に写し出すことに成功しています。アルマ望遠鏡は、惑星誕生のシナリオを構築し、惑星の多様性の起源を明らかにするという究極の目標に向かって、今日も観測を続けています。, Credit: S. Andrews(Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), ALMA(ESO / NAOJ / NRAO), Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/L. At the end of 2009, a team of ALMA astronomers and engineers successfully linked three antennas at the 5,000-metre (16,000 ft) elevation observing site thus finishing the first stage of assembly and integration of the fledgling array. Share the excitement of the inauguration ceremony and contemplate the breathtaking images from ALMA itself and views of its unique environment in the Atacama Desert. 66th and final antenna arrived and accepted. English: The Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) is an array of radio telescopes in the Atacama desert of northern Chile. © ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) The construction of the observatory dates back to 2004. ALMA is funded in Europe by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and in East Asia by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences of Japan (NINS) in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan. This 16-minute video presents the history of ALMA from the origins of the project several decades ago to the recent first science results. However, two decades prior to this, the global scientific community had already identified the need for a radiotelescope with the characteristics of ALMA. Following mutual discussions over several years, the ALMA Project received a proposal from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) whereby Japan would provide the ACA (Atacama Compact Array) and three additional receiver bands for the large array, to form Enhanced ALMA. A talk on the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), by Leonardo Testi. The array has been fully operational since March 2013.[5][6]. The telescopes were provided by the European, North American and East Asian partners of ALMA. Although ALMA did not observe the entire galaxy merger, the result is the best submillimeter-wavelength image ever made of the Antennae Galaxies, showing the clouds of dense cold gas from which new stars form, which cannot be seen using visible light. ALMA is a premier telescope for studying the first stars and galaxies that emerged from the cosmic “dark ages” billions of years ago. Testing of first prototype antenna begins at the ALMA Test Facility (ATF) site in Socorro, New Mexico. The guests are shown with one of the giant ALMA transporters as well as other components. It also delayed the cycle 8 proposal submission deadline and suspended public visits to the site.[44]. 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