ALMA’s science, so far
Scientists commissioned this giant submillimeter array in March, and they've already made plenty of discoveries.
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is the largest telescope studying radiation at these long wavelengths. This radiation comes from cold objects in the sky — like dust disks that will eventually lead to planets and prestellar cores marking the very early stages of star formation.
From a plateau some 16,400 feet (5,000 meters) above sea level at the northern portion of Chile’s Atacama Desert, ALMA uses 66 antennas — the last batch are currently in the testing phases. Even though it’s still early in the project, the array has logged many discoveries. Here are a few of the biggest finds so far this year.
ALMA discovers comet factory
Researchers found a cashew-nut-shaped region of dust particles around the star Oph-IRS 48. They think that large dust grains can collide and stick together, and perhaps grow to the size of comets, while hanging out in this region.
Learn more >>ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), J. Hodge, et al., A. Weiss, et al., NASA Spitzer Science Center
ALMA pinpoints early galaxies at record speed
ALMA observations spanning just a few hours helped astronomers find 122 early galaxies churning out new stars.
Learn more >>Yusef-Zadeh, et al., ALMA (ESO, NAOJ, NRAO), NRAO/AUI/NSF
ALMA detects signs of star formation near supermassive black hole
Astronomers found clumps of material with signs of massive star formation near our galaxy’s central supermassive black hole. This was a huge surprise because the environment that surrounds the black hole should be highly turbulent, and therefore not allow star formation.
Learn more >>ALMA (ESO/NRAO/NAOJ)/J. Vieira, et al.
ALMA rewrites history of universe's stellar baby boom
Using ALMA, astronomers pinpointed the distances to 23 galaxies that the South Pole Telescope (a cosmology instrument) detected as bright sources of intense star formation in the distant universe. ALMA scientists determined that one of those galaxies existed when the universe was just about 1 billion years ago.
Learn more >>ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. Kornmesser (ESO)
ALMA sheds light on planet-forming gas streams
A gas and dust disk surrounding the young star HD 142527 has a gap, and scientists observing this system with ALMA spied gas crossing that gap. They think the material is feeding gas-giant planet formation.
Learn more >>