Pressemitteilungen

21. März 2010: Dank einer Zufallsentdeckung haben Astronomen mit dem APEX-Teleskop erstmalig Ausmaße und Helligkeiten von Sternentstehungsregionen in einer sehr weit entfernten Galaxie bestimmen können. Das Licht dieser Galaxie benötigt 10 Milliarden Jahre, um uns zu erreichen; dementsprechend sehen die Galaxie heute so, wie sie vor 10 Milliarden Jahren war. Eine kosmische “Gravitationslinse” vergrößert das Bild der Galaxie am Nachthimmel und verschafft uns damit eine Nahansicht, die weit jenseits des Leistungsvermögens heutiger Teleskope liegt. Dieser glückliche Zufall erlaubt es den Astronomen, zu zeigen, dass die Galaxien des frühen Universums Stätten äußerst aktiver, geradezu hektischer Sternentstehung waren.. Die Sternkinderstuben von damals bildeten mehr als einhundert mal so schnell neue Sterne wie heutzutage. Diese Untersuchungsergebnisse erscheinen heute in der Online-Version der Fachzeitschrift Nature.

4. Januar 2010: Meilenstein für das revolutionäre neue Observatorium ALMA: Erstmals ist es Astronomen und Ingenieuren gelungen, drei der ALMA-Antennen an ihrem Beobachtungsstandort in Nordchile zusammenzuschalten. Damit rücken extrem detailscharfe Beobachtungen der kühlen Regionen des Weltalls, wie sie ALMA ermöglichen soll, einen wichtigen Schritt näher.

30. November 2009: Was ist zuerst da: die supermassereichen Schwarzen Löcher, die im Inneren von Galaxienkernen sitzen, oder die riesigen Galaxien, die sie beherbergen? Neue Beobachtungen eines scheinbar heimatlosen Schwarzen Lochs deuten auf ein neuartiges Szenario hin, in dem Schwarze Löcher sich die sie umgebenden Galaxien aktiv “zusammenbauen”. Das Szenario könnte erklären, warum die Massen solcher Schwarzen Löcher umso größer sind, je mehr Sterne ihre Heimatgalaxie enthält.

23. September 2009: Mit dem Aufbau des Teleskopfeldes ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) geht es voran – und aufwärts. Zum ersten Mal wurde jetzt eine der neuartigen, extra für ALMA gebauten Antennen auf die Chajnantor-Hochebene in den chilenischen Anden transportiert, 5000 Meter über dem Meeresspiegel. Die Antenne, die rund 100 Tonnen wiegt und deren Schüssel einen Durchmesser von 12 Metern hat, wurde von einem Spezialtransporter an den für das ALMA-Antennenfeld vorgesehenen Standort transportiert, dessen Klima mit dünner und extrem trockener Luft ideale Beobachtungsbedingungen für das neuartige Observatorium bietet.

1. Juli 2009: Astronomen haben einen neuartigen Atlas der inneren Regionen unserer Heimatgalaxie, der Milchstraße, vorgestellt, der tausende bis dahin unentdeckter dichter Gebiete kosmischen Staubs zeigt – Gebiete, in denen neue Sterne entstehen können. Die Durchmusterung wurde mit dem APEX-Teleskop in Chile vorgenommen, stellt die bislang vollständigste Kartierung galaktischen Staubs dar und liefert wichtige Daten für Beobachtungen mit dem im Bau befindlichen Verbundteleskop ALMA und dem jüngst gestarteten ESA-Weltraumteleskop Herschel.

6. Mai 2009: Scientists and engineers working on the world's largest ground-based astronomical project, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), have achieved another milestone — the successful linking of two ALMA astronomical antennas, synchronised with a precision of one millionth of a millionth of a second — to observe the planet Mars. ALMA is under construction by an international partnership in the Chilean Andes.

9. März 2009: As part of a wide range of education and public outreach activities for the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009), ESO, together with the Association of French Language Planetariums (APLF), has produced a 30-minute planetarium show, In Search of our Cosmic Origins. It is centred on the global ground-based astronomical Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) project and represents a unique chance for planetariums to be associated with the IYA2009.

28. Januar 2009: Astronomers have a new insight into the active galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128), as the jets and lobes emanating from the central black hole have been imaged at submillimetre wavelengths for the first time. The new data, from the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope in Chile, which is operated by ESO, have been combined with visible and X-ray wavelengths to produce this striking new image.

18. Dezember 2008: High in the Atacama region in northern Chile, one of the world's most advanced telescopes has just passed a major milestone. The first of many state-of-the-art antennas has just been handed over to the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) project. ALMA is under construction on the plateau of Chajnantor, at an altitude of 5000 m. The telescope is being built by a global partnership, including ESO as the European partner.

11. November 2008: Illustrating the power of submillimetre-wavelength astronomy, an APEX image reveals how an expanding bubble of ionised gas about ten light-years across is causing the surrounding material to collapse into dense clumps that are the birthplaces of new stars. Submillimetre light is the key to revealing some of the coldest material in the Universe, such as these cold, dense clouds.

22. November 2007: Today, a new ALMA outreach and educational book was publicly presented to city officials of San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, as part of the celebrations of the anniversary of the Andean village.

5. Oktober 2007: ESO and the European Association for Astronomy Education have just launched the 2008 edition of 'Catch a Star', their international astronomy competition for school students. Now in its sixth year, the competition offers students the chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime trip to ESO's flagship observatory in Chile, as well as many other prizes.

5. Oktober 2007: Today, the first of the two ALMA antenna transporters was given its name at a ceremony on the compounds of the manufacturer, the heavy-vehicle specialist Scheuerle Fahrzeugfabrik GmbH, in Baden-Württemberg. The colossus, 10 metres wide, 20 metres long and 6 metres high, will be shipped to Chile by the end of the month. The second one will follow in a few weeks.

30. Juli 2007: The first of two spectacular vehicles for the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) Observatory rolled out of its hangar and passed successfully a series of tests. This vehicle, the ALMA antenna transporter, is a rather exceptional 'lorry' driving on 28 tyres. It is 10m wide, 20m long and 6m high, weighs 130 tons and has as much power as two Formula 1 engines. This colossus will be able to transport a 115-ton antenna and set it down on a concrete pad within millimetres of a prescribed position.

31. Mai 2007: Using ESO's VLTI on Cerro Paranal and the VLBA facility operated by NRAO, an international team of astronomers has made what is arguably the most detailed study of the environment of a pulsating red giant star. They performed, for the first time, a series of coordinated observations of three separate layers within the star's tenuous outer envelope: the molecular shell, the dust shell, and the maser shell, leading to significant progress in our understanding of the mechanism of how, before dying, evolved stars lose mass and return it to the interstellar medium.

3. April 2007: The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) astronomical project will not only enlarge our knowledge of the vast Universe beyond the imaginable. It will also help scientists learn more about the human body.

14. März 2007: On 10 March, an official ceremony took place on the 2,900m high site of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Operations Support Facility, from where the ALMA antennas will be remotely controlled. The ceremony marked the completion of the structural works, while the building itself will be finished by the end of the year. This will become the operational centre of one of the most important ground-based astronomical facilities on Earth.

7. März 2007: The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international telescope project, reached a major milestone on 2 March, when two 12-m ALMA prototype antennas were first linked together as an integrated system to observe an astronomical object.

22. Dezember 2005: Only two weeks after awarding its largest-ever contract for the procurement of antennas for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array project (ALMA), ESO has signed a contract with Scheuerle Fahrzeugfabrik GmbH, a world-leader in the design and production of custom-built heavy-duty transporters, for the provision of two antenna transporting vehicles. These vehicles are of crucial importance for ALMA.

7. Dezember 2005: ESO, the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, announced today that it has signed a contract with the consortium led by Alcatel Alenia Space and composed also of European Industrial Engineering (Italy) and MT Aerospace (Germany), to supply 25 antennas for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) project, along with an option for another seven antennas. The contract, worth 147 million euros, covers the design, manufacture, transport and on-site integration of the antennas. It is the largest contract ever signed in ground-based astronomy in Europe.