About NAOJ Chile
Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is a giant radio telescope which was constructed in Chile in cooperation with the Republic of Chile, through the global partnership of East Asia (including Japan), North America, and the member states of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). ALMA is an array of 66 antennas (composed of 12-m and 7-m diameter antennas) designed to observe astronomical objects at millimeter/submillimeter wavelength, which is the shortest wavelength range in the radio wave spectrum. NAOJ Chile Observatory was established in April 2012 with the mission to complete the construction of ALMA and to support its science operations so that ALMA continuously produces significant scientific results. In January 2019, NAOJ Chile Observatory was reorganized into NAOJ ALMA Project and NAOJ Chile. The mission of NAOJ Chile is to manage and oversee the NAOJ researchers working for Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) and facilitate the operation of ASTE (Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment) in Chile.
Observed Image
ALMA image of the dust disk around a young star TW Hydrae. The image reveals a series of concentric bright rings and dark gaps, suggesting planets could be emerging from the dust and gas. In the center of the image, a gap roughly the same size as Earth’s orbit is visible, as well as a small radio wave source on the southwest side of the disk (lower right side of the image). (Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Tsukagoshi et al.)
Telescope
ALMA
Combining 66 parabolic antennas, ALMA can capture radio waves in overwhelming high-resolution equivalent to 240000/20 vision.
ASTE
The ASTE telescope is a 10-m diameter telescope built at 4800-m altitude in the Chilean Andes, located in the vicinity of ALMA. ASTE has produced various remarkable results in the observations of star-forming regions and distant galaxies as the first full-fledged submillimeter telescope in the southern hemisphere that started its science observation from 2004. Also, ASTE has been utilized by many researchers around the world as a base verification tool of newly developed observing instruments or observation methods.