The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA)

The ALMA observatory is a millimetre/sub-millimetre telescope array composed of 66 antennas that is currently being constructed at an altitude of 5000m on the Chajnantor plain of the Chilean Andes. ALMA will operate at frequencies between 84 to 950 GHz (corresponding to wavelengths between 0.3 and 3.5 millimetre), where the atmosphere above the Chajnantor plain is largely transparent. ALMA will provide unprecedented sensitivity and resolution, down to 0.005 arcsec at the highest frequencies. The ALMA observatory is expected to be fully operational by 2012. Read more about ALMA at ESO/about.

The ALMA project is an international collaboration between Europe, East Asia (Japan & Taiwan), North America (US & Canada) and the Republic of Chile. Each of the partners hosts an ALMA Regional Centre (ARC) with the responsibility of providing the core scientific support for their own users. The European ARC is further comprised of 'nodes' which are situated throughout Europe: Bonn-Bochum-Cologne (Germany), IRAM Grenoble (France), IRA/INAF Bologna (Italy), Onsala (Denmark, Sweden, Finland) Leiden (The Netherlands), Manchester (United Kingdom). Read more about the ALMA Regional Centre at ESO/arc.

An ALMA Regional Centre Node in the Netherlands

The ARC-node in the Netherlands, referred to as the ALMA Local Expertise Group (Allegro), is funded by the Dutch universities working cooperatively under the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA), in collaboration with the Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy (ASTRON), the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON) and the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE). Allegro integrates the expertise relevant for ALMA within these astronomical institutions.