Alma telescope, Atacama Desert, Chile

The Atacama large milllimetre/submillimetre array (Alma) in Chile's Atacama Desert has been under construction since 2003 and has been up and running since the end of July this year when the 16th of its giant antenna dishes was put into place and connected up.   66 dishes will be installed when the overall project is complete and when they are all in place, views of and insights into space, galaxies and the Universe that were never thought possible even just 50 years ago will start to emerge.  However, earlier this week it officially opened to the world with the release of its first image: http://www.almaobservatory.org/en/press-room/press-releases/297-alma-opens-its-eyes....and there's quite rightly been a flurry of publicity, of which this is just one little bit:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15107254

I was lucky enough to be in northern Chile earlier this year and passed close by the site of the Alma. The small, hazy, light coloured dots in the middle of the red hillside is the hub of the telescope and project complex.  Located in Chile's Atacama Desert, close to the small oasis town of San Pedro de Atacama, this photo was taken from the road just outside of San Pedro en route to Purmarmaca in Argentina's north western province of Jujuy, via the Jama Pass. I didn't take the photo for its quality, rather just because I wanted to record being so close to such an incredibly ambitious and promising piece of engineering and science in action. 


The landscapes you pass through on the road from Chile to Argentina by the way are simply gorgeous....the dry climate, altitude and lack of air pollution mean that the clean and clear air (one of the major reasons the Alma is located where it is), coupled with the region's geology, produce incredibly vibrant colours that you just can't take your eyes off......