The world's largest telescope operates

ALMA, the world's largest radio telescope, began operating yesterday in the Atacama desert, Chile.

Launched in 2003, the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) project is one of the major scientific programs in the world; This is also the result of cooperation in many countries including the European Union, the US, Japan and Chile, with an estimated cost of over 1 billion euros.

The project aims to explore the most remote and mysterious areas in space, thereby finding the origin of the universe. ALMA is located at a height of 5,000m above sea level, is also the driest place in the world with the average frequency of rain every 14 years.

Alma telescope range.

Gianini Marconi, a scientist with the ALMA project, said: "This is really the largest telescope project in the world that we have never built before."

ALMA consists of 66 very large parabolic antennae (50 antennas were in operation on the inauguration), each about 12m high and weighing over 100 tons. When connected together, they form a giant radio telescope with a diameter of 16km.

At that size, telescopes can observe the most remote areas in space, helping us to understand the origin of the universe, the formation of the galaxy. In addition, ALMA can discover the origin of organic matter, an important element of life, creating a new step in the field of astronomical chemistry.

Mr. Massimo Tarengui, representative of the Southern European Observatory, a project partner, emphasized: "With ALMA, we can conduct observations with the best resolution and light sensitivity ever".

"This will help us completely change the notion of a certain part of the space. It is also an opportunity for us to find answers to what is still out of human reach , " he said. Massimo Tarengui said.

The pictures that ALMA took will be made by Corrélateur, one of the most powerful central computers in the world, designed specifically for this project.