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ALMA Little Universe - Trailer
ALMA Little Universe - A micro podcast about the world's largest ground-based astronomical observatory.
What is ALMA?
From the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile, we can observe the light of distant galaxies hidden behind stardust and images of the early origins of the Universe.All this...
What's So Special About This Telescope?
The human eye can only see a small portion of the light within the Universe. But the elements of the Cosmos emit in a wide range of wavelengths. Thus, it has been only...
Who uses ALMA for research?
Using ALMA to do research and explore the Universe has a worldwide benefit". Nevertheless, there is a limit to scientific projects that the observatory can be involved...
Who's paying for all this?
The construction cost of ALMA is estimated at over a billion US dollars, and every year of operation involves millions of dollars of investment and resources. Twenty-o...
Are all the Antennas the same?
Sixty-six antennas working together made possible the operation of ALMA Observatory.How can this telescope in the Atacama Desert see a whole part of the Cosmos that co...
How do they move the antennas?
The 66 antennas of the ALMA Observatory operate in different configurations of distance between each of them to help scientists from various fields observe and analyze...
What makes up the antennas?
What technologies have made it possible for the ALMA Observatory to observe and analyze with the accuracy of a human hair in distances of light-years? In this episode,...
What is interferometry?
We have already referred to the 66 antennas that make up ALMA, but how do they operate as one telescope? In this episode, Giorgio Siringo, Senior Radio-Frequency Engin...
What is the Correlator?
How does the supercomputer that translates to binary code all the information received by ALMA antennas operate? In this episode, Lorenzo MartÃnez-Conde, an engineer w...
Why are the Receiver Bands keep so cold?
As we have stated in our previous episode, ALMA's multiple receiver bands are used to detect signals from the sky. However, these receiver bands must be kept at very c...
Do the antennas ever break?
The antennas are located in the Atacama Desert at 5000 meters altitude and are constantly exposed to extreme weather conditions and temperatures. How much time will th...
Whats a shift at OSF?
On the Chajnantor Plateau, at 5000 meters altitude, there are the 66 antennas that constitute the ALMA radio telescope. 2 kilometers below is the Operation Support Fac...
Whats at OSF?
In this episode of ALMA's Little Universe, we will discuss how the Operation Support Facility is equipped to give their workers all the comforts and services needed, e...
Who keeps the residency running?
As we have known in our last episode of ALMA's Little Universe, OSF staff, during their shifts, are provided with many services that guarantee their comfort and proper...
Why are there medical tests before going to the high site?
ALMA's 66 antennas are located in the Array Operation Site (or AOS for short), a 40-minute drive from the observatory's camp. As AOS is 5,000 meters above sea level, a...
What happens in the Control Room?
Though most engineering and technical works of ALMA occur during the daytime, astronomical observations can run day and night since the telescope is sensible to radio ...
Where does the data go after observation?
How do the raw data collected from the antennas become images from distant galaxies? In this episode, Drew Brisbin and Chin-Shin Chang, two scientists from the Science...
What kind of data does ALMA produce?
In this episode of ALMA's Little Universe, we will deepen our knowledge about how the raw data collected through the telescope becomes images intelligible by the human...
What's an ALMA fellow?
In the previous episodes of ALMA's Little Universe, we have described the technologies and many of the processes and labors that made the observatory's operations poss...
Who works at ALMA?
We have discussed widely the technologies and processes that made ALMA possible. Nevertheless, there could be no observatory if there were not people from more than 20...
Did the Observatory shut down over the Pandemic?
Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 pandemic was a problem for all humankind, and its effects were seen in almost any imaginable aspect. Consequently, how did COVID-19 affect AL...
What are ALMA future science goals?
Nobody interested in science and the Universe could ignore the existence of black holes and protoplanetary discs. Do you know about these discs? In the last ten years,...