Image: Still from 2012 ALMA Video Compilation

Description: A new video compilation of freshly filmed footage of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is now available. Under construction on the Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes, ALMA is a revolutionary observatory, designed to study some of the coldest and most distant objects in the Universe. When construction is completed in 2013, ALMA will have a total of 66 state-of-the-art antennas, but the telescope is already making scientific observations with a partial array of antennas. The footage, filmed in October 2012, includes the spectacular synchronised movements of the antennas at the Array Operations Site (AOS), 5000 metres above sea level. There are also several scenes of engineers at work in the AOS Technical Building, for example working on the ALMA correlator, as well as at the Operations Support Facility (OSF), at an altitude of 2900 metres. Additional footage of the OSF includes astronomers operating the telescope. Stunning sunsets and footage of the landscape around Chajnantor and the OSF — including timelapses — are also included in the compilation. ALMA is an international astronomy facility, supported by Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ESO is the European partner in ALMA.
Title: Still from 2012 ALMA Video Compilation
Credit: http://www.eso.org/public/images/ann12083a/
Author: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
License: CC BY 3.0
License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Attribution Required?: Yes