Announcements 2013

8 January 2013: ALMA (the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) has begun a new and more advanced phase of science observations. This phase is known as Early Science Cycle 1, and will last until October 2013. The telescope’s power has been greatly increased: it will make observations with more antennas, spread over a greater distance, than ever before, and will use antennas from the Atacama Compact Array (ACA) for the first time. Although ALMA is still under construction, its first scientific operations began in 2011. This phase was known as Early Science Cycle 0. ALMA has already outperformed all other telescopes of its kind, and the unprecedented capabilities of the telescope have brought a first wave of exciting scientific results over the last year (see for example ann12101, eso1216, eso1239, and eso1248). The Cycle 0 observations started with just 16 of the telescope’s final complement of 66 antennas (which will be composed of a ...

4 January 2013: With Prof. Dr. Andreas Burkert (Universe Cluster) A gas cloud identified as G2 is rapidly moving toward the centre of the Milky Way. In 2013, it will make its closest approach to the supermassive black hole that is lurking there. The cloud has a mass a few times that of the Earth, and it is observable with the ESO Very Large Telescope in Chile. Such an observation will be extraordinary for several reasons: first, the passage of a gas cloud near — or into — a black hole has never been observed before. Also, the evolution of the cloud is expected to be very fast. Theoreticians will therefore be able to check the predictions of their models very quickly. Prof. Dr. Andreas Burkert, from the Excellence Cluster Universe, will discuss the possible fate of this cloud with the guests of the next Café & Kosmos, on 8 January 2013. Please ...