ALMA - ATACAMA LARGE MILLIMETER/SUBMILLIMETER ARRAY

Under this quite barbaric name of Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array is hidden the largest network of radio telescopes in the world. Implanted on the plateau of Chajnantor, at 5,100 m altitude at about fifty kilometers south of San Pedro de Atacama, the 66 radio antennas that compose it operate in interferometry, i. e. they are capable of pointing together the same object in the sky in order to achieve a precision d extreme observation. In order to make this possible, they must be displaced and removed from one another over fifteen kilometers of distance. Due to the extreme altitude of the site, it is not possible to visit the plateau of Chajnantor but only the site where staff work (at 2,900 m above all), the control room, and the maintenance areas of the antennas (which measure up to 17 m in diameter!)… What astronomers call: Operations Support Facility (OSF). It can also generally be seen on this site the impressive transport trucks of antennas, built in particular by the German company Scheuerle, with equally different dimensions (length 20 m, width 10 m, height 6 m, 130 tons on the balance), capable of softly moving the 115 tons represented by each antenna and depositing it with it. the accuracy of a few millimeters on the reception rings 2,200 m higher.