Exploring the Cool Universe from the Andes with the ALMA Telescope

The Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-mm Array (ALMA) telescope is a revolutionary array telescope located 5000m above sea-level in the Atacama Desert of Chile. Comprising 66 individual dishes spread out over 14 kilometres, ALMA observes the Universe at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths. This allows astronomers to study molecular gas and dust in objects from within our own Solar System all the way out to some of the earliest galaxies ever formed, at incredibly high resolution.

In this talk Adam will show some of the amazing science ALMA has done in its first few years of operation; from dust lanes carved out of disks by forming planets to a near perfect Einstein ring from a gravitationally lensed distant galaxy. He will also show off the technical wonder that is the ALMA telescope itself.

This talk is hosted by Adam Avison

Image courtesy ESO/C. Malin

Dot Talks, Star Pavilion Sunday 2017

Recommended Artists