A Telescope that Sees the Beginning of Time to Open in Chile

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) will officially open Wednesday, 13 March, according to media reports. The telescope is expected to give researchers vital information about the formation of stars.

ALMA is the world's largest ground-based astronomical project conducted by Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The giant telescope is built in Chile's Atacama Desert at Altiplano de Chajnantor which is located at an altitude of 5,000 meters above sea level. ALMA is expected to give researchers a view of our cosmic past.

"What is so very special about this place is that, right here above our heads, there is virtually no water vapor. There is just so little that whatever light is emitted from a heavenly body, galaxy or star, it gets here with no interference" explained Gianni Marconi, an astronomer with the Atacama Large Millimeter-submillimeter Array, better known as ALMA (Spanish for "soul"), reports AFP.

ALMA uses submillimeter wavelength, which is shorter than radio-wave, but longer than wavelength of visible light, allowing astronomers to look at the formation of planets, reports Space.com.

"It will have a view of the universe that we can't even imagine even now," Wolfgang Wild, ESO's European ALMA project manager, told SPACE.com from Munich, Germany.