ALMA array at night (time-lapse)

The ALMA array consists of 66 parabolic radio antennas located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. The array helps astronomers study some of the coldest objects in our Universe. The East Asian, North American and European partners of ALMA provided the antennas. The North American and European partners contributed 25 of the 12m diameter antennas each – this comprises the main bulk of ALMA. The East Asian countries each provided 16 antennas (four 12-metre diameter antennas and twelve 7-metre diameter antennas). ALMA operates at sub-millimeter and millimeter wavelengths, on the boundary between infrared and the longer radio waves.