Habemus ALMA!

Yesterday was a career-defining day for many people.  No, I'm not referring to the new Pope.  March 13th, 2013 marked the official inauguration of the ALMA observatory, a multi-national scientific collaboration many years in the making.  The inauguration event took place at the ALMA Operations Support Facility (OSF), located at an elevation of 3000 meters in the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile, where more than 500 people gathered, with the President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera as the guest of honor.  Joining President Piñera were representatives of ALMA’s international partners, foreign ambassadors, ALMA executives, ALMA personnel and representatives of the neighbouring communities.

Important guests at the inauguration, on one of the antenna transporters.
Photo credit: ESO

Although commissioning and science verification, as well as early science projects have been undertaken during the construction phase of ALMA, the inauguration event officially marks the transition to a fully-operating observatory.  While I wasn't one of the lucky few (hundreds of) people invited to the inauguration, I watched the video feed from the ALMA Santiago Central Offices, along with many of the ALMA employees responsible for various components of the observatory.  After about one hour waiting in anticipation for the President to arrive at the OSF and for the ceremony to begin, it was a festive environment in the conference room which typically hosts routine meetings or seminars.

Several speeches during the event reminded us of the complexity and longevity of the ALMA project (check out this video for the full story).  In fact, the observatory had been independently conceived as three separate projects by the Europeans, North Americans and Japanese in the 1980s.  Each cohort was hoping to access the best site in the world for radio astronomy, and investigate the southern skies at wavelengths that had previously been basically invisible to humans.  In the 1990s, the independent groups came together with an agreement to build the largest observatory in the world, something that no individual member could achieve on its own, considering the total construction cost of ALMA is more than a billion US dollars.  Construction began in 2003, and here we are in 2013 celebrating the observatory's inauguration!

You can find a brochure about the ALMA partnership here.

Some people at the inauguration have devoted their careers to this observatory, and they must be very proud, perhaps amazed, at what it has achieved, and what it will achieve during its expected operating lifetime of 30 years.  I should be very thankful to these people, because watching the inauguration, I also began to reflect on the role that ALMA has played in my own "career".  When I entered graduate school at Yale, I was interested in learning about astronomy as much as I was interested in learning about how to do astronomy.

The idea that what we know about star formation is limited by the capabilities of the most powerful telescope fascinated me, and I knew that ALMA would provide ground-breaking data in the coming years.  Equally fascinating to me was the idea that only via an international collaboration on the grandest scale could a sufficient telescope be constructed.  And, lucky for me, this observatory was being built in the Atacama Desert, a landscape which I already loved and to which I hoped to return.

My thesis has been exciting because I'm learning the capabilities of ALMA along with the majority of other astronomers, grad students and professors alike. I have been fortunate to be visiting ALMA during 2012-2013, to learn from the experts how ALMA operates, and to see as the first ALMA results are released.  This year we will have our own science project observed with ALMA, and we're eagerly awaiting answers to questions we have been asking for several years about our designated target.

We represent the ALMA partners: East Asia, Europe, North America and Chile
Photo credit: ESO/Max Alexander

I estimate that if my astronomy career dates back to 2008 with my first astronomy research project at Cerro Tololo, then ALMA-anticipation has occupied about 50-75% of my career.  It's not that I myself have been integral in the construction of ALMA, but rather that ALMA has been integral in the development of my own career.  I wonder if one day I will witness the inauguration of another major astronomical project like ALMA, but from the perspective of one of those who made it happen.

Not only the scientific results, but the economic and cultural components of astronomy keep me interested, and keep me traveling to observatories around the world, the majority in Chile.  We have a lot to learn about the Universe, and a lot to learn about people working together to make these discoveries possible.

On astronomy and international relations

Photo of James Bond filming at Paranal in 2008, photo courtesy of ESO.

It was in Chile that I first became passionate about astronomy in 2008. During the REU at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, we had an opportunity to visit several of the major observatories in Chile, including the European Southern Observatory (ESO) at Cerro Paranal, coincidentally just weeks before James Bond would be filmed at the observatory's residencia.  Astronomy in Chile was gaining world-wide notice, and at the same time I was contemplating what to do with a liberal arts major in physics, minor in economics and an interest in international relations.

My first visit to Paranal, learning about astronomy in Chile in 2008.
Behind me are some of the 1.8m ESO telescopes.

You probably know where this led me -- to pursue a PhD in Astronomy at Yale, Fulbright fellowship and year in Chile.  I find myself fortunate to follow a path which returns to the places where my passion began.  Recently I had the opportunity to travel to Paranal again, this time with several ALMA astronomers.  Our goal was to learn how Paranal operates and how ALMA might aspire to operate once the construction and commissioning are complete.  ALMA and Paranal are two great examples of international projects, based on a worldwide effort of scientists and governments working together, with the goal of investigating the physical secrets of our Universe.  In other words, physics, economics and international relations.

In 2012, I spent about 6 weeks at observatories, all the time observing light with wavelengths of about 1 mm, also called millimeter or sub-mm wavelengths, so my visit to Paranal was an opportunity to become re-acquainted with optical astronomy.  While the mm/sub-mm telescopes look like giant satellite dishes, the telescopes at Paranal use giant mirrors enclosed within domes.  Paranal has four 8.4 m telescopes called the Very Large Telescopes, as well as several 1.8 m telescopes, which can work together to comprise the Very Large Telescope Interferometer.  With an ESO scientist and interferometry expert, we toured the telescopes and interferometer lab, and we watched the scientists at work in the control room.  We asked a million questions about optical interferometry; of particular interest to us were comparisons with interferometry at longer wavelengths with ALMA.

An 8m mirror...

...inside one of these giant domes!

Paranal is run very efficiently, a joint-effort of astronomers, telescope operators, engineers, computer programmers, and other staff.  To give you some idea, there seemed to be about 10 astronomers and operators working in the control room at the beginning of the night, with decreased demand as the nights' observations progressed smoothly. During the day was time for engineers and programmers to maintain the equipment, or for astronomers to catch up on science projects.  We heard that it took years for many of these operations to be stream-lined following the construction of Paranal in XX, giving hope to the scientists at ALMA where construction only began a few years ago and inauguration is planned for March 2013.

Isolated from the nearest city of Antofagasta, about two hours by bus, the location of Paranal ensures very dark skies, and the facilities provide a very conducive work environment for the staff and visitors. The blast of humidity as you step into the residencia will rejuvenate your desert-dried skin, as the lush indoor greenery and swimming pool will also refresh your senses.  I was impressed by a photo exhibit featuring work by ESO astronomers, as well as professional artwork in the lobby. Small touches like these acknowledged that astronomers are people too.  For the creative, artistic or spiritual guests, there is also a music room, theater, gym and non-denominational chapel on site.  Three square meals a day at the cafeteria, and cookie cabinets in the control room, sustained the necessary scientific and extracurricular endeavors.

The residencia at Paranal, an oasis in the desert.

I only had the opportunity to spend one night at Paranal, but I enjoyed very much the first-hand account of how a major observatory operates.  A successful observatory seems to depend equally on human and technical capital.  Paranal certainly does have cutting edge telescopes, with multi-ton structures, perfectly polished mirrors and precise lasers.  To make all of this function, it also has trained personnel from many countries (in this case, mostly Europe and of course Chile), who are passionate about their work and their working environment.  ALMA is one degree more international, considering that ESO, which runs Paranal, is one of three partners, including North America and East Asia, in collaboration with Chile.  In the control room or cafeteria at these observatories, it's not uncommon to hear several languages, or to strike up conversations about careers and experiences around the world.

Although my day-job usually finds me staring at a computer screen in a more urban office environment, my experiences at observatories, often in foreign countries and among remarkable landscapes, remind me of the multi-faceted lure of astronomy, which I consider the greatest example of international relations and scientific endeavor.