Diagonal galactic streak

In total, 66 separate antennas combine to form ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array. Located around 5000 metres up in the Chilean mountains, ALMA is the largest ground-based astronomical project in existence. The antennas are provided by North America, Europe and East Asia — a mix of each country's is shown here, next to the lightning bolt of our home galaxy, the Milky Way.

The telescope scours the Universe in the radio range, studying the stunning, varied phenomena it has to offer.