ALMA: Atacama Large Millimeter Submillimeter Array

Focused on exploring the darkest, coldest, most distant, regions of space to develop a deeper understanding of the origins of our universe.

The Atacama Large Millimeter Submillimeter Array (ALMA) is a forefront astronomy facility in northern Chile. ALMA is at an altitude of 5,050 meters and consists of an 11-mile-wide interferometric imaging array of 54, 12-meter dish antennas and a compact array of 12, 7-meter antennas.

AUI proposed the creation of ALMA

And led efforts in the design, construction, management, and operation of the resulting facilities. AUI maintains offices in Chile and US dedicated to our continued support and management.

ALMA Discoveries

ALMA began early science operations in September 2011 and has led to several important discoveries including the first detailed images of a planet forming disc around the young star HL Tau.

ALMA also played a significant role through the Event Horizon Telescope Project on the creation of the first images of a supermassive black hole and its shadow. ALMA explores the Universe in millimeter and submillimeter-wavelengths with unprecedented sensitivity, resolution, and imaging capability. In cooperation with the Republic of Chile, ALMA is a major international partnership of North America, Europe, and East Asia.



1st

Images of Planet Forming Disc

1st

Images of Super Massive Black Hole

Related News

ALMA Discovers Misaligned Rings in Planet-Forming Disk Around Triple Stars

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), two teams of astronomers have for the first time discovered a planet-forming disk with misaligned rings around a triple star system, called GW Orionis. The astronomers give two possible scenarios for the...

ALMA Discovers Massive Rotating Disk in Early Universe

In our 13.8 billion-year-old universe, most galaxies like our Milky Way form gradually, reaching their large mass relatively late. But a new discovery made with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) of a massive rotating disk galaxy, seen when the...

The Strange Orbits of ‘Tatooine’ Planetary Disks

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have found striking orbital geometries in protoplanetary disks around binary stars. While disks orbiting the most compact binary star systems share very nearly the same plane, disks encircling...

ALMA Reveals Unusual Composition of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov

2I/Borisov likely formed in extremely cold environment, high amounts of carbon monoxide show A galactic visitor entered our solar system last year – interstellar comet 2I/Borisov. When astronomers pointed the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) toward...

ALMA Spots Most Distant Dusty Galaxy Hidden in Plain Sight

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have spotted the light of a massive galaxy seen only 970 million years after the Big Bang. This galaxy, called MAMBO-9, is the most distant dusty star-forming galaxy that has ever been observed...

Gas ‘Waterfalls’ Reveal Infant Planets around Young Star

** Synopsis: For the first time, astronomers using ALMA have witnessed 3D motions of gas in a planet-forming disk. At three locations in the disk around a young star called HD 163296, gas is flowing like a waterfall into gaps that are most likely caused by planets in...

Going Against the Flow Around a Supermassive Black Hole

At the center of a galaxy called NGC 1068, a supermassive black hole hides within a thick doughnut-shaped cloud of dust and gas. When astronomers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to study this cloud in more detail, they made an unexpected...

New NSF Support Agreement for Next Generation Very Large Array

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded an additional $4M to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) to fund the design and development of the next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA). With this funding...

Image Release: ALMA Shows What’s Inside Jupiter’s Storms

Swirling clouds, big colorful belts, giant storms — the beautiful and turbulent atmosphere of Jupiter has been showcased many times. But what is going on below the clouds? What is causing the many storms and eruptions that we see on the ‘surface’ of the planet? To see...

ALMA Dives into Black Hole’s ‘Sphere of Influence’

What happens inside a black hole stays inside a black hole, but what happens inside a black hole’s “sphere of influence” – the innermost region of a galaxy where a black hole’s gravity is the dominant force – is of intense interest to astronomers and can help...