ALMA at 5000 m

Feeling large and on top of the world.

This afternoon, fueled by little sleep but a lot of excitement, I had the opportunity to visit the ALMA antennas at the "Array Operations Site (AOS)", elevation 5000 meters (16,000 feet).  A fellow astronomer drove us -- me, and two Japanese astronomers visiting in the CSV group -- approximately 30 kilometers, along a wide, winding dirt road into the mountains.  Why so wide?  Because on occasion the antennas must travel along this road as well, on their special transporter, after being assembled or undergoing maintenance at the "Operations Support Facility (OSF)".  I won't bother to explain much more, but rather point you to the photos, where you can see the antennas currently at the site, as well as an antenna on the transporter down at OSF.

One thing I find completely incredible is how all of the antennas work together (you can see photos of the computers and correlators) to form one, large telescope.  In fact, the "L" in ALMA stands for "Large".  And, we are continually adding more antennas to the array, until full science operations commence in 2013 with 66 antennas!  I also realized when I was up at the AOS how much I love three things associated with astronomy (in one way or another): telescopes, mountains, and snowy landscapes.  You'll see all of them in these photos.