Listening out

The giant dishes of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) swivel coordinately in this timelapse footage of a night of observations. The antennas, all either 12 or 7 metres in diameter, are listening out for signals from the distant Universe, to help astronomers learn about the formation of stars, planetary systems, galaxies and even life. ALMA is the most powerful astronomical observatory of its kind, and is therefore well placed to make the very most of the exceptional viewing conditions at its location 5000 metres above sea level on the Chajnantor Plateau. At 0:30 the bright band of the Milky Way begins to rotate into view from the upper left corner, and the Magellanic Clouds are visible below it.