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2\25 ESO and NSF Sign Agreement on ALMA (ESO Press Release 04/03)
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             Information from the European Southern Observatory

 ESO Press Release 04/03

 25 February 2003                                         [ESO Logo]

 Embargoed until Tuesday, February 25, 2003, at 20:00 hrs CET
 (19:00 hrs UT - 2:00 pm EST)
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ESO and NSF Sign Agreement on ALMA
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Green Light for World's Most Powerful Radio Observatory
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On February 25, 2003, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the 
US National Science Foundation (NSF) are signing a historic agreement 
to construct and operate the world's largest and most powerful radio 
telescope, operating at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelength. The 
Director General of ESO, Dr. Catherine Cesarsky, and the Director of 
the NSF, Dr. Rita Colwell, act for their respective organizations.

Known as the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), the future 
facility will encompass sixty-four interconnected 12-meter antennae at 
a unique, high-altitude site at Chajnantor in the Atacama region of 
northern Chile.

ALMA is a joint project between Europe and North America. In Europe, 
ESO is leading on behalf of its ten member countries and Spain. In 
North America, the NSF also acts for the National Research Council of 
Canada and executes the project through the National Radio Astronomy 
Observatory (NRAO) operated by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI).

The conclusion of the ESO-NSF Agreement now gives the final green 
light for the ALMA project. The total cost of approximately 650 
million Euro (or US Dollars) is shared equally between the two 
partners.

Dr. Cesarsky is excited: "This agreement signifies the start of a 
great project of contemporary astronomy and astrophysics. Representing 
Europe, and in collaboration with many laboratories and institutes on 
this continent, we together look forward towards wonderful research 
projects. With ALMA we may learn how the earliest galaxies in the 
Universe really looked like, to mention but one of the many eagerly 
awaited opportunities with this marvellous facility".

"With this agreement, we usher in a new age of research in astronomy" 
says Dr. Colwell. "By working together in this truly global 
partnership, the international astronomy community will be able to 
ensure the research capabilities needed to meet the long-term demands 
of our scientific enterprise, and that we will be able to study and 
understand our universe in ways that have previously been beyond our 
vision".

The recent Presidential decree from Chile for AUI and the agreement 
signed in late 2002 between ESO and the Government of the Republic of 
Chile (cf.  ESO PR 18/02) recognize the interest that the ALMA Project 
has for Chile, as it will deepen and strengthen the cooperation in 
scientific and technological matters between the parties.

A joint ALMA Board has been established which oversees the realisation 
of the ALMA project via the management structure. This Board meets for 
the first time on February 24-25, 2003, at NSF in Washington and will 
witness this historic event.

ALMA: Imaging the Light from Cosmic Dawn

ESO PR Photo 06a/03             ESO PR Photo 06b/03
[Preview - JPEG: 588 x 400 pix  [Preview - JPEG: 502 x 400 pix
 -  52k]                         - 82k]
[Normal - JPEG: 1176 x 800 pix  [Normal - JPEG: 1003 x 800 pix
 - 192k]                         - 392k]
[Hi-Res - JPEG: 3300 x 2244 pix [Hi-Res - JPEG: 2222 x 1773 pix
 - 2.0M]                          - 3.0M]


ESO PR Photo 06c/03             ESO PR Photo 06d/03
[Preview - JPEG: 474 x 400 pix  [Preview - JPEG: 414 x 400 pix
 - 84k]                          - 69k
[Normal - JPEG: 947 x 800 pix   [Normal - JPEG: 828 x 800 pix
 - 344k]                         - 336k]
[Hi-Res - JPEG: 2272 x 1920 pix [HiRes - JPEG: 2935 x 2835 pix
 - 2.0M]                         - 7.4k]

 Captions: PR Photo 06a/03 shows an artist's view of the Atacama Large
 Millimeter Array (ALMA), with 64 12-m antennae. PR Photo 06b/03 is 
 another such view, with the array arranged in a compact configuration 
 at the high-altitude Chajnantor site. The ALMA VertexRSI prototype 
 antennae is shown in PR Photo 06c/03 on the Antenna Test Facility 
 (ATF) site at the NRAO Very Large Array (VLA) site near Socorro (New 
 Mexico, USA). The future ALMA site at Llano de Chajnantor at 5000 
 metre altitude, some 40 km East of the village of San Pedro de 
 Atacama (Chile) is seen in PR Photo 06d/03 - this view was obtained 
 at 11 hrs in the morning on a crisp and clear autumn day (more views 
 of this site are available at the Chajnantor Photo Gallery).

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) will be one of astronomy's 
most powerful telescopes - providing unprecedented imaging 
capabilities and sensitivity in the corresponding wavelength range, 
many orders of magnitude greater than anything of its kind today.

ALMA will be an array of 64 antennae that will work together as one
telescope to study millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelength radiation 
from space. This radiation crosses the critical boundary between 
infrared and microwave radiation and holds the key to understanding 
such processes as planet and star formation, the formation of early 
galaxies and galaxy clusters, and the formation of organic and other 
molecules in space.

"ALMA will be one of astronomy's premier tools for studying the 
universe" says Nobel Laureate Riccardo Giacconi, President of AUI (and 
former ESO Director General (1993-1999)). "The entire astronomical 
community is anxious to have the unprecedented power and resolution 
that ALMA will provide".

The President of the ESO Council, Professor Piet van der Kruit, 
agrees:  "ALMA heralds a break-through in sub-millimeter and 
millimeter astronomy, allowing some of the most penetrating studies 
the Universe ever made. It is safe to predict that there will be 
exciting scientific surprises when ALMA enters into operation".


What is millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelength astronomy?
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Astronomers learn about objects in space by studying the energy 
emitted by those objects. Our Sun and the other stars throughout the 
Universe emit visible light. But these objects also emit other kinds 
of light waves, such as X-rays, infrared radiation, and radio waves. 
Some objects emit very little or no visible light, yet are strong 
sources at other wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Much of the energy in the Universe is present in the sub-millimeter 
and millimeter portion of the spectrum. This energy comes from the 
cold dust mixed with gas in interstellar space. It also comes from 
distant galaxies that formed many billions of years ago at the edges 
of the known universe.

With ALMA, astronomers will have a uniquely powerful facility with 
access to this remarkable portion of the spectrum and hence, new and 
wonderful opportunities to learn more about those objects.

(continued)

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