From ALMA (CL): “Astronomers image for the first time a black hole’s shadow together with a powerful jet”

The European Southern Observatory [La Observatorio Europeo Austral] [Observatoire européen austral][Europäische Südsternwarte](EU)(CL)/National Radio Astronomy Observatory(US)/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan(JP) ALMA Observatory (CL).

From ALMA (CL)

Valeria Foncea
Education and Public Outreach Officer
Joint ALMA Observatory Santiago – Chile
Phone: +56 2 2467 6258
Cell phone: +56 9 7587 1963
Email: valeria.foncea@alma.cl

Naoko Inoue
EPO officer, ALMA Project
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ)
Email: naoko.inoue@nao.ac.jp

Juan Carlos Muñoz Mateos
ESO Media Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Phone: +49 89 3200 6176
Email: press@eso.org

Amy C. Oliver
Public Information & News Manager
National Radio Astronomical Observatory (NRAO), USA
Phone: +1 434 242 9584
Email: aoliver@nrao.edu

All general references:
ALMA Observatory (CL) http://www.almaobservatory.org/
European Southern Observatory(EU)(CL) http://www.eso.org/public/
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan(JP) http://www.nao.ac.jp/en/
National Radio Astronomy Observatory(US) https://public.nrao.edu/

4.26.23 [Just today in social media.]

This image shows the jet and shadow of the black hole at the centre of the Messier 87 galaxy together for the first time. The observations were obtained with telescopes from the Global Millimetre VLBI Array (GMVA), the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), and the Greenland Telescope.

Global 3 mm-VLBI Array.

The Greenland Telescope is an international collaboration between: The Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics(TW) (project leaders), The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory of the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , The National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and The Haystack Observatory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at an altitude of 3,210 meters (10,530 feet).

This image gives scientists the context needed to understand how the powerful jet is formed. The new observations also revealed that the black hole’s ring, shown here in the inset, is 50% larger than the ring observed at shorter radio wavelengths by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT).

The locations of the radio dishes of the Event Horizon Telescope array in 2019. Since then new telescopes have been added.

This suggests that in the new image we see more of the material that is falling towards the black hole than what we could see with the EHT. Credit: R.-S. Lu (SHAO), E. Ros (MPIfR), S. Dagnello (NRAO/AUI/NSF).

Scientists observing the compact radio core of Messier 87 have discovered new details about the galaxy’s supermassive black hole. In this artist’s conception, the black hole’s massive jet is seen rising up from the centre of the black hole. The observations on which this illustration is based represent the first time that the jet and the black hole shadow have been imaged together, giving scientists new insights into how black holes can launch these powerful jets. Credit: S. Dagnello (NRAO/AUI/NSF).

Messier 87 (M87) is an enormous elliptical galaxy located about 55 million light years from Earth, visible in the constellation Virgo. This image was captured by FORS2 on ESO’s Very Large Telescope as part of the Cosmic Gems programme, an outreach initiative that uses ESO telescopes to produce images of interesting, intriguing or visually attractive objects for the purposes of education and public outreach.

The European Southern Observatory [La Observatorio Europeo Austral][Observatoire européen austral][Europäische Südsternwarte](EU)(CL) FORS2 mounted on the VLT Telescope Unit 1 (Antu).

The European Southern Observatory [La Observatorio Europeo Austral][Observatoire européen austral][Europäische Südsternwarte](EU)(CL), Very Large Telescope at Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert •ANTU (UT1; The Sun ) •KUEYEN (UT2; The Moon ) •MELIPAL (UT3; The Southern Cross ), and •YEPUN (UT4; Venus – as evening star). Elevation 2,635 m (8,645 ft) from above Credit J.L. Dauvergne & G. Hüdepohl atacama photo.

The programme makes use of telescope time that cannot be used for science observations, and  produces breathtaking images of some of the most striking objects in the night sky. In case the data collected could be useful for future scientific purposes, these observations are saved and made available to astronomers through the ESO Science Archive. Credit: ESO.

This artist’s impression depicts a rapidly spinning supermassive black hole surrounded by an accretion disc. This thin disc of rotating material consists of the leftovers of a Sun-like star which was ripped apart by the tidal forces of the black hole. The black hole is labelled, showing the anatomy of this fascinating object. Credit: ESO.

Zooming in on the black hole and jet of Messier 87.
This zoom video starts with a view of ALMA and zooms in on the heart of the M87 galaxy, showing successively more detailed observations. The final image shows the shadow of the black hole and a powerful jet expelled from it, together for the first time in the same image. The observations were obtained with telescopes from the Global Millimetre VLBI Array (GMVA), ALMA, and the Greenland Telescope. Credit:ESO/L. Calçada, Digitized Sky Survey 2, ESA/Hubble, RadioAstron, De Gasperin et al., Kim et al., R.-S. Lu (SHAO), E. Ros (MPIfR), S. Dagnello (NRAO/AUI/NSF). Music: astral electronic.

First image of a black hole expelling a powerful jet (ESOcast 260 Light).
With the help of ALMA, astronomers have obtained a new image of the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Messier 87 galaxy. Credit:ESO Directed by: Angelos Tsaousis and Martin Wallner. Editing: Angelos Tsaousis. Web and technical support: Gurvan Bazin and Raquel Yumi Shida. Written by: Jonas Enander. Music: Stellardrone — Eternity. Footage and photos: ESO/L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser, Digitized Sky Survey 2, ESA/Hubble, RadioAstron, De Gasperin et al., Kim et al., S. Dagnello (NRAO/AUI/NSF), R.-S. Lu (SHAO), E. Ros & Helge Rottmann (MPIfR), Nicolle R. Fuller (NSF), A. Duro. Scientific consultants: Paola Amico and Mariya Lyubenova.

For the first time, astronomers have observed, in the same image, the shadow of the black hole at the center of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87) and the powerful jet expelled from it.

Messier 87*, The first image of the event horizon of a black hole. This is the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy Messier 87. Image via The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration released on 10 April 2019 via National Science Foundation.

Messier 87* Supermassive Black Hole Image Evolves.

The observations were done in 2018 with telescopes from the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (GMVA), the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), and the Greenland Telescope (GLT). Thanks to this new image, astronomers can better understand how black holes can launch such energetic jets.

“Previously we had seen both the black hole and the jet in separate images, but now we have taken a panoramic picture of the black hole together with its jet at a new wavelength”, says Ru-Sen Lu, from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory and leader of a Max Planck Research Group at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The surrounding material is thought to fall into the black hole in a process known as accretion. But no one has ever imaged it directly. “The ring that we have seen before is becoming larger and thicker at 3.5 mm observing wavelength. This shows that the material falling into the black hole produces additional emission that is now observed in the new image. This gives us a more complete view of the physical processes acting near the black hole”, he added.

The participation of ALMA and GLT in the GMVA observations and the resulting increase in resolution and sensitivity of this intercontinental network of telescopes has made it possible to image the ring-like structure in M87 for the first time at the wavelength of 3.5 mm. The diameter of the ring measured by the GMVA is 64 microarcseconds, which corresponds to the size of a small (5-inch/13-cm) selfie ring light as seen by an astronaut on the Moon looking back at Earth. This diameter is 50 percent larger than what was seen in observations by the Event Horizon Telescope at 1.3 mm, in accordance with the expectations for the emission from relativistic plasma in this region.

“With the greatly improved imaging capabilities by adding ALMA and GLT into GMVA observations, we have gained a new perspective. We do indeed see the triple-ridged jet that we knew about from earlier VLBI observations,” says Thomas Krichbaum from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn. “But now we can see how the jet emerges from the emission ring around the central supermassive black hole and we can measure the ring diameter also at another (longer) wavelength.”

“ALMA has once again showed to be a key player in mm-VLBI observations. Its size and geographical location have teamed with GMVA stations around the world to provide for the first time a glimpse of the jet and accretion flow in M87 in a single image” explains Hugo Messias, Lead Astronomer for VLBI observations at ALMA and coauthor of this research. “This has tremendous implications to our knowledge since the obtained information is more than just an image. It also allows us to infer the rate at which the black hole is growing and where the jet comes from. Nevertheless, other cases need to be observed and studied in order to obtain statistically representative conclusions about black holes and jets, hence the need for the yearly VLBI observations that ALMA joins.”

The light from M87 is produced by the interplay between highly energetic electrons and magnetic fields, a phenomenon called synchrotron radiation. The new observations, at a wavelength of 3.5 mm, reveal more details about the location and energy of these electrons. They also tell us something about the nature of the black hole itself: it is not very hungry. It consumes matter at a low rate, converting only a small fraction of it into radiation. Keiichi Asada of Academia Sinica, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics explains: “To understand the physical origin of the bigger and thicker ring, we had to use computer simulations to test different scenarios. As a result, we concluded that the larger extent of the ring is associated with the accretion flow.”

Kazuhiro Hada from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan adds: “We also find something surprising in our data: the radiation from the inner region close to the black hole is broader than we expected. This could mean that there is more than just gas falling in. There could also be a wind blowing out, causing turbulence and chaos around the black hole.”

The quest to learn more about M87 is not over, as further observations and a fleet of powerful telescopes continue to unlock its secrets. “Future observations at millimetre wavelengths will study the time evolution of the M87 black hole and provide a poly-chromatic view of the black hole with multiple color images in radio light,” says Jongho Park of the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute.

ALMA is participating in a new VLBI observation campaign from April 12 to May 10, 2023 to further study M87 and other sources.

Additional Information

This research was presented in a paper to appear in Nature [below]

The team is composed of Ru-Sen Lu (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, People’s Republic of China [Shanghai]; Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy, People’s Republic of China [KLoRA]; Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Germany [MPIfR]), Keiichi Asada (Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, ROC [IoAaA]), Thomas P. Krichbaum (MPIfR), Jongho Park (IoAaA; Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Republic of Korea [KAaSSI]), Fumie Tazaki (Simulation Technology Development Department, Tokyo Electron Technology Solutions Ltd., Japan; Mizusawa VLBI Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Japan [Mizusawa]), Hung-Yi Pu (Department of Physics, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan, ROC; IoAaA; Center of Astronomy and Gravitation, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan, ROC), Masanori Nakamura (National Institute of Technology, Hachinohe College, Japan; IoAaA), Andrei Lobanov (MPIfR), Kazuhiro Hada (Mizusawa; Department of Astronomical Science, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Japan), Kazunori Akiyama (Black Hole Initiative at Harvard University, USA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology Haystack Observatory, USA [Haystack]; National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Japan [NAOoJ]), Jae-Young Kim (Department of Astronomy and Atmospheric Sciences, Kyungpook National University, Republic of Korea; KAaSSI; MPIfR), Ivan Marti-Vidal (Departament d’Astronomia i Astrofísica, Universitat de València, Spain; Observatori Astronòmic, Universitat de València, Spain), Jose L. Gomez (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía-CSIC, Spain [IAA]), Tomohisa Kawashima (Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, The University of Tokyo, Japan), Feng Yuan (Shanghai; Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, People’s Republic of China; School of Astronomy and Space Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, People’s Republic of China [SoAaSS]), Eduardo Ros (MPIfR), Walter Alef (MPIfR), Silke Britzen (MPIfR), Michael Bremer (Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique, France [IRAMF]), Avery E. Broderick (Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Canada [Waterloo]; Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics, University of Waterloo, Canada; Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Canada), Akihiro Doi (The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Japan; Department of Space and Astronautical Science, SOKENDAI, Japan [SOKENDAI]), Gabriele Giovannini (Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Italy; Istituto di Radio Astronomia, INAF, Bologna, Italy [INAF]), Marcello Giroletti (INAF), Paul T. P. Ho (IoAaA), Mareki Honma (Mizusawa; Hachinohe; Department of Astronomy, The University of Tokyo, Japan), David H. Hughes (Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Mexico), Makoto Inoue (IoAaA), Wu Jiang (Shanghai), Motoki Kino (NAOoJ; Kogakuin University of Technology and Engineering, Japan), Shoko Koyama (Niigata University, Japan; IoAaA), Michael Lindqvist (Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden [Chalmers]), Jun Liu (MPIfR), Alan P. Marscher (Institute for Astrophysical Research, Boston University, USA), Satoki Matsushita (IoAaA), Hiroshi Nagai (NAOoJ; SOKENDAI), Helge Rottmann (MPIfR), Tuomas Savolainen (Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, Aalto University, Finland; Metsähovi Radio Observatory, Finland [Metsähovi]; MPIfR), Karl-Friedrich Schuster (IRAMF), Zhi-Qiang Shen (Shanghai; KLoRA), Pablo de Vicente (Observatorio de Yebes, Spain [Yebes]), R. Craig Walker (National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, USA), Hai Yang (Shanghai; SoAaSS), J. Anton Zensus (MPIfR), Juan Carlos Algaba (Department of Physics, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia), Alexander Allardi (University of Vermont, USA), Uwe Bach (MPIfR), Ryan Berthold (East Asian Observatory, USA [EAO]), Dan Bintley (EAO), Do-Young Byun (KAaSSI; University of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea), Carolina Casadio (Institute of Astrophysics, Heraklion, Greece; Department of Physics, University of Crete, Greece), Shu-Hao Chang (IoAaA), Chih-Cheng Chang (National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, Taiwan, ROC [Chung-Shan]), Song-Chu Chang (Chung-Shan), Chung-Chen Chen (IoAaA), Ming-Tang Chen (Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, USA [IAAAS]), Ryan Chilson (IAAAS), Tim C. Chuter (EAO), John Conway (Chalmers), Geoffrey B. Crew (Haystack), Jessica T. Dempsey (EAO; Astron, The Netherlands [Astron]), Sven Dornbusch (MPIfR), Aaron Faber (Western University, Canada), Per Friberg (EAO), Javier González García (Yebes), Miguel Gómez Garrido (Yebes), Chih-Chiang Han (IoAaA), Kuo-Chang Han (System Development Center, National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, Taiwan, ROC), Yutaka Hasegawa (Osaka Metropolitan University, Japan [Osaka]), Ruben Herrero-Illana (European Southern Observatory, Chile), Yau-De Huang (IoAaA), Chih-Wei L. Huang (IoAaA), Violette Impellizzeri (Leiden Observatory, the Netherlands; National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, USA [NRAOC]), Homin Jiang (IoAaA), Hao Jinchi (Electronic Systems Research Division, National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, Taiwan, ROC), Taehyun Jung (KAaSSI), Juha Kallunki (Metsähovi), Petri Kirves (Metsähovi), Kimihiro Kimura (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Japan), Jun Yi Koay (IoAaA), Patrick M. Koch (IoAaA), Carsten Kramer (IRAMF), Alex Kraus (MPIfR), Derek Kubo (IAAAS), Cheng-Yu Kuo (National Sun Yat-Sen University, Taiwan, ROC), Chao-Te Li (IoAaA), Lupin Chun-Che Lin (Department of Physics, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, ROC ), Ching-Tang Liu (IoAaA), Kuan-Yu Liu (IoAaA), Wen-Ping Lo (Department of Physics, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, ROC; IoAaA), Li-Ming Lu (Chung-Shan), Nicholas MacDonald (MPIfR), Pierre Martin-Cocher (IoAaA), Hugo Messias (Joint ALMA Observatory, Chile; Osaka), Zheng Meyer-Zhao (Astron; IoAaA), Anthony Minter (Green Bank Observatory, USA), Dhanya G. Nair (Astronomy Department, Universidad de Concepción, Chile), Hiroaki Nishioka (IoAaA), Timothy J. Norton (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, USA [CfA]), George Nystrom (IAAAS), Hideo Ogawa (Osaka), Peter Oshiro (IAAAS), Nimesh A. Patel (CfA), Ue-Li Pen (IoAaA), Yurii Pidopryhora (MPIfR; Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, Universität Bonn, Germany), Nicolas Pradel (IoAaA), Philippe A. Raffin (IAAAS), Ramprasad Rao (CfA), Ignacio Ruiz (Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique, Granada, Spain [IRAMS]), Salvador Sanchez (IRAMS), Paul Shaw (IoAaA), William Snow (IAAAS), T. K. Sridharan (NRAOC; CfA), Ranjani Srinivasan (CfA; IoAaA), Belén Tercero (Yebes), Pablo Torne (IRAMS), Thalia Traianou (IAA; MPIfR), Jan Wagner (MPIfR), Craig Walther (EAO), Ta-Shun Wei (IoAaA), Jun Yang (Chalmers), Chen-Yu Yu (IoAaA).

This research has made use of data obtained with the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (GMVA), which consists of telescopes operated by the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie (MPIfR), Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM), Onsala Space Observatory (OSO), Metsähovi Radio Observatory (MRO), Yebes, the Korean VLBI Network (KVN), the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA).

Nature
See the science paper for further instructive material with images.

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

five-ways-keep-your-child-safe-school-shootings

Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) (CL) , an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) (EU), in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) (CA) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and in East Asia by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan.

ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by European Southern Observatory(EU), on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (US) and on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

The antennas can be moved across the desert plateau over distances from 150 m to 16 km, which will give ALMA a powerful variable “zoom”, similar in its concept to that employed at the centimetre-wavelength Very Large Array (VLA) site in New Mexico, United States.

National Radio Astronomy Observatory(US)Karl G Jansky Very Large Array located in central New Mexico on the Plains of San Agustin, between the towns of Magdalena and Datil, ~50 miles (80 km) west of Socorro. The VLA comprises twenty-eight 25-meter radio telescopes.

The high sensitivity is mainly achieved through the large numbers of antenna dishes that will make up the array.

The telescopes were provided by the European, North American and East Asian partners of ALMA. The American and European partners each provided twenty-five 12-meter diameter antennas, that compose the main array. The participating East Asian countries are contributing 16 antennas (four 12-meter diameter and twelve 7-meter diameter antennas) in the form of the Atacama Compact Array (ACA), which is part of the enhanced ALMA.

By using smaller antennas than the main ALMA array, larger fields of view can be imaged at a given frequency using ACA. Placing the antennas closer together enables the imaging of sources of larger angular extent. The ACA works together with the main array in order to enhance the latter’s wide-field imaging capability.

ALMA has its conceptual roots in three astronomical projects — the Millimeter Array (MMA) of the United States, the Large Southern Array (LSA) of Europe, and the Large Millimeter Array (LMA) of Japan.

The first step toward the creation of what would become ALMA came in 1997, when the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO) agreed to pursue a common project that merged the MMA and LSA. The merged array combined the sensitivity of the LSA with the frequency coverage and superior site of the MMA. ESO and NRAO worked together in technical, science, and management groups to define and organize a joint project between the two observatories with participation by Canada and Spain (the latter became a member of ESO later).

A series of resolutions and agreements led to the choice of “Atacama Large Millimeter Array”, or ALMA, as the name of the new array in March 1999 and the signing of the ALMA Agreement on 25 February 2003, between the North American and European parties. (“Alma” means “soul” in Spanish and “learned” or “knowledgeable” in Arabic.) Following mutual discussions over several years, the ALMA Project received a proposal from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) whereby Japan would provide the ACA (Atacama Compact Array) and three additional receiver bands for the large array, to form Enhanced ALMA. Further discussions between ALMA and NAOJ led to the signing of a high-level agreement on 14 September 2004 that makes Japan an official participant in Enhanced ALMA, to be known as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on November 6, 2003 and the ALMA logo was unveiled.

During an early stage of the planning of ALMA, it was decided to employ ALMA antennas designed and constructed by known companies in North America, Europe, and Japan, rather than using one single design. This was mainly for political reasons. Although very different approaches have been chosen by the providers, each of the antenna designs appears to be able to meet ALMA’s stringent requirements. The components designed and manufactured across Europe were transported by specialist aerospace and astrospace logistics company Route To Space Alliance, 26 in total which were delivered to Antwerp for onward shipment to Chile.

Partners

European Southern Observatory (EU) and the European Regional Support Centre
National Science Foundation via the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the North American ALMA Science Center
National Research Council Canada [Conseil national de recherches Canada] (CA)
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (JP) under the National Institute of Natural Sciences (自然科学研究機構, Shizenkagaku kenkyuukikou) (JP)
ALMA-Taiwan at the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics [中央研究院天文及天文物理研究所](TW)
Republic of Chile

ALMA is a time machine!

ALMA-In Search of our Cosmic Origins

ALMA – The Rebirth of a Giant

ALMA and its Partners Celebrate 10 Years of Groundbreaking Science

From ALMA [The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array](CL) : “Atacama Makers – innovating from the schools of the desert”

The European Southern Observatory [La Observatorio Europeo Austral] [Observatoire européen austral][Europäische Südsternwarte](EU)(CL)/National Radio Astronomy Observatory(US)/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan(JP) ALMA Observatory (CL).

From ALMA [The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array](CL)

5.29.23
Nicolás Lira
Education and Public Outreach Coordinator
Joint ALMA Observatory, Santiago – Chile
Phone: +56 2 2467 6519
Cell phone: +56 9 9445 7726
Email: nicolas.lira@alma.cl

Valeria Foncea
Education and Public Outreach Officer
Joint ALMA Observatory Santiago – Chile
Phone: +56 2 2467 6258
Cell phone: +56 9 7587 1963
Email: valeria.foncea@alma.cl

Daisuke Iono
Interim EA ALMA EPO officer
Observatory, Tokyo – Japan
Email: d.iono@nao.ac.jp

Bárbara Ferreira
ESO Public Information Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Phone: +49 89 3200 6670
Email: pio@eso.org

Amy C. Oliver
Public Information & News Manager
National Radio Astronomical Observatory (NRAO), USA
Phone: +1 434 242 9584
Email: aoliver@nrao.edu

For the third consecutive year, the ALMA astronomical observatory is implementing the “Atacama Makers” workshop that seeks to promote creative thinking, innovation and entrepreneurship hand in hand with technology among its student neighbors from Toconao, San Pedro de Atacama and Calama.

“Atacama Makers seeks to transfer early-stage innovation and entrepreneurship skills to boys and girls in the region,” says Paulo Cisternas, one of the HUMM workshop leaders in charge of the program.

“They brought an Arduino and we were able to program. And that, for all of us who live here in the most remote locations, is new,” says Mateo Ramos, a student at the Likan Antai Agricultural High School in San Pedro de Atacama.

Through six modules with interactive technological experiences, students foster their critical thinking, identify problems or opportunities in their environment, and create solutions based on Arduino technology.

“Little by little we made progress until we managed to achieve something. The same feeling of having failed and then doing well, and failing again gives a sense of progress”, says Dylan Belen, a student at the Luis Cruz Martínez High School in Calama.

The teacher of the Toconao Educational Complex, Cristian Álvarez, sees a change among his students: “They are more methodical, more systematic, more aware of the stages and procedures, which is helping their own development.” That is precisely the objective of the ALMA observatory when implementing this educational project that unites technology and innovation. “They live between the ancestral and the modern, so it is logical to have come closer to be able to support them and share all”, concludes Danilo Vidal in charge of community relations at the observatory.

IMAGES

ALMA is implementing a program that seeks to promote creative thinking, innovation and entrepreneurship hand in hand with technology among its student neighbors from Toconao, San Pedro de Atacama and Calama.

See the full article here.

five-ways-keep-your-child-safe-school-shootings

Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) (CL), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and in East Asia by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan.

ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by ESO, on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) and on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

ALMA is a time machine!

ALMA-In Search of our Cosmic Origins

ALMA and its Partners Celebrate 10 Years of Groundbreaking Science

From The ALMA Observatory (CL): “Demand to Observe with ALMA remains very strong”

The European Southern Observatory [La Observatorio Europeo Austral] [Observatoire européen austral][Europäische Südsternwarte](EU)(CL)/National Radio Astronomy Observatory/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan(JP)
ALMA Observatory

From The ALMA Observatory (CL)

5.18.23
Valeria Foncea
Education and Public Outreach Manager
Joint ALMA Observatory Santiago – Chile
Phone: +56 2 2467 6258
Cell: +56 9 7587 1963
Email: valeria.foncea@alma.cl

ALMA- Another view

Preliminary results after closing the Cycle 10 Call for Proposals (CfP) shows continued strong demand for ALMA time. The community submitted 1680 proposals. Although this is a slight decrease from the most recent cycles, the amount of time requested on the 12-m array increased to over 29,000 hours, which is the most time ever requested in a single cycle. This implies an overall oversubscription rate of 6.9 on the 12-meter array. The amount of time requested on the 7-m and Total Power arrays also remains very robust, with approximately 15,000 hours requested on each array.

“We are delighted by the remarkable response that the community exhibits for ALMA year after year, and we look forward to see which proposals will be selected for Cycle 10.”, said the ALMA Director Sean Dougherty.

The community continues to exhibit strong interest in Large Programs. In Cycle 10, 44 Large Programs were submitted that requested nearly 5000 hours on the 12-meter array, which is a record number of Large Programs submitted in a single cycle.

Joint Proposals with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Very Large Array (VLA), and the Very Large Telescope (VLT) were offered for the first time in Cycle 10.

National Aeronautics Space Agency/European Space Agency [La Agencia Espacial Europea] [Agence spatiale européenne][Europäische Weltraumorganization](EU)/ Canadian Space Agency [Agence Spatiale Canadienne](CA) James Webb Infrared Space Telescope annotated, finally launched December 25, 2021, ten years late.

National Radio Astronomy Observatory Karl G Jansky Very Large Array located in central New Mexico on the Plains of San Agustin, between the towns of Magdalena and Datil, ~50 miles (80 km) west of Socorro. The VLA comprises twenty-eight 25-meter radio telescopes.

The European Southern Observatory [La Observatorio Europeo Austral][Observatoire européen austral][Europäische Südsternwarte](EU)(CL), Very Large Telescope at Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert •ANTU (UT1; The Sun ) •KUEYEN (UT2; The Moon ) •MELIPAL (UT3; The Southern Cross ), and •YEPUN (UT4; Venus – as evening star). Elevation 2,635 m (8,645 ft) from above Credit J.L. Dauvergne & G. Hüdepohl atacama photo.

The community responded enthusiastically to this new opportunity, as 42 Joint Proposals were submitted to request over 1200 hours on the 12-meter array. In total, 26 Joint Proposals requested time on JWST, 10 requested the VLA, and 10 requested the VLT.

Executing a Call for Proposals is a year-around effort, from developing new observing capabilities, updating and testing software, revising documentation, supporting the community, and running the proposal review process. This was a particularly challenging Cycle since the cyberattack from last year significantly reduced the amount of time available for these activities.

Next, all Cycle 10 proposals will be reviewed through a dual-anonymous procedure. “We are in the process of assigning proposals to individual reviewers, who will rank the proposals based on scientific merit to determine which proposals will be observed.”, says ALMA Observatory Scientist John Carpenter.

The results of the proposal review will be sent to proposers in August 2023, and Cycle 10 observations are anticipated to start on October 1st, 2023. More information can be found in the ALMA Science portal.

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

five-ways-keep-your-child-safe-school-shootings

Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) (CL) , an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and in East Asia by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan.

ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by ESO, on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) and on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

ALMA is a time machine!

ALMA-In Search of our Cosmic Origins

ALMA – The Rebirth of a Giant

ALMA and its Partners Celebrate 10 Years of Groundbreaking Science

From ALMA (CL): “Astronomers image for the first time a black hole’s shadow together with a powerful jet”

The European Southern Observatory [La Observatorio Europeo Austral] [Observatoire européen austral][Europäische Südsternwarte](EU)(CL)/National Radio Astronomy Observatory(US)/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan(JP) ALMA Observatory (CL).

From ALMA (CL)

4.26.23

Valeria Foncea
Education and Public Outreach Officer
Joint ALMA Observatory Santiago – Chile
Phone: +56 2 2467 6258
Cell phone: +56 9 7587 1963
Email: valeria.foncea@alma.cl

Naoko Inoue
EPO officer, ALMA Project
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ)
Email: naoko.inoue@nao.ac.jp

Juan Carlos Muñoz Mateos
ESO Media Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Phone: +49 89 3200 6176
Email: press@eso.org

Amy C. Oliver
Public Information & News Manager
National Radio Astronomical Observatory (NRAO), USA
Phone: +1 434 242 9584
Email: aoliver@nrao.edu

All general references:
ALMA Observatory (CL) http://www.almaobservatory.org/
European Southern Observatory(EU)(CL) http://www.eso.org/public/
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan(JP) http://www.nao.ac.jp/en/
National Radio Astronomy Observatory(US) https://public.nrao.edu/

This image shows the jet and shadow of the black hole at the centre of the M87 galaxy together for the first time. The observations were obtained with telescopes from the Global Millimetre VLBI Array (GMVA), the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), and the Greenland Telescope.

Global 3 mm-VLBI Array.

The Greenland Telescope is an international collaboration between: The Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics(TW) (project leaders), The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory of the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , The National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and The Haystack Observatory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at an altitude of 3,210 meters (10,530 feet).

This image gives scientists the context needed to understand how the powerful jet is formed. The new observations also revealed that the black hole’s ring, shown here in the inset, is 50% larger than the ring observed at shorter radio wavelengths by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). This suggests that in the new image we see more of the material that is falling towards the black hole than what we could see with the EHT. Credit: R.-S. Lu (SHAO), E. Ros (MPIfR), S. Dagnello (NRAO/AUI/NSF)

Scientists observing the compact radio core of M87* have discovered new details about the galaxy’s supermassive black hole. In this artist’s conception, the black hole’s massive jet is seen rising up from the centre of the black hole. The observations on which this illustration is based represent the first time that the jet and the black hole shadow have been imaged together, giving scientists new insights into how black holes can launch these powerful jets. Credit: S. Dagnello (NRAO/AUI/NSF)

This artist’s impression depicts a rapidly spinning supermassive black hole surrounded by an accretion disc. This thin disc of rotating material consists of the leftovers of a Sun-like star which was ripped apart by the tidal forces of the black hole. The black hole is labelled, showing the anatomy of this fascinating object. Credit: ESO.

Zooming in on the black hole and jet of Messier 87.

First image of a black hole expelling a powerful jet. (ESOcast 260 Light)

For the first time, astronomers have observed, in the same image, the shadow of the black hole at the center of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87) and the powerful jet expelled from it. The observations were done in 2018 with telescopes from the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (GMVA), the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), and the Greenland Telescope (GLT). Thanks to this new image, astronomers can better understand how black holes can launch such energetic jets.

“Previously we had seen both the black hole and the jet in separate images, but now we have taken a panoramic picture of the black hole together with its jet at a new wavelength”, says Ru-Sen Lu, from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory and leader of a Max Planck Research Group at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The surrounding material is thought to fall into the black hole in a process known as accretion. But no one has ever imaged it directly. “The ring that we have seen before is becoming larger and thicker at 3.5 mm observing wavelength. This shows that the material falling into the black hole produces additional emission that is now observed in the new image. This gives us a more complete view of the physical processes acting near the black hole”, he added.

The participation of ALMA and GLT in the GMVA observations and the resulting increase in resolution and sensitivity of this intercontinental network of telescopes has made it possible to image the ring-like structure in Messier 87* for the first time at the wavelength of 3.5 mm. The diameter of the ring measured by the GMVA is 64 microarcseconds, which corresponds to the size of a small (5-inch/13-cm) selfie ring light as seen by an astronaut on the Moon looking back at Earth. This diameter is 50 percent larger than what was seen in observations by the Event Horizon Telescope at 1.3 mm, in accordance with the expectations for the emission from relativistic plasma in this region.

The locations of the radio dishes of the Event Horizon Telescope array in 2019. Since then new telescopes have been added.

“With the greatly improved imaging capabilities by adding ALMA and GLT into GMVA observations, we have gained a new perspective. We do indeed see the triple-ridged jet that we knew about from earlier VLBI observations,” says Thomas Krichbaum from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn. “But now we can see how the jet emerges from the emission ring around the central supermassive black hole and we can measure the ring diameter also at another (longer) wavelength.”

“ALMA has once again showed to be a key player in mm-VLBI observations. Its size and geographical location have teamed with GMVA stations around the world to provide for the first time a glimpse of the jet and accretion flow in M87* in a single image” explains Hugo Messias, Lead Astronomer for VLBI observations at ALMA and coauthor of this research. “This has tremendous implications to our knowledge since the obtained information is more than just an image. It also allows us to infer the rate at which the black hole is growing and where the jet comes from. Nevertheless, other cases need to be observed and studied in order to obtain statistically representative conclusions about black holes and jets, hence the need for the yearly VLBI observations that ALMA joins.”

The light from M87* is produced by the interplay between highly energetic electrons and magnetic fields, a phenomenon called synchrotron radiation. The new observations, at a wavelength of 3.5 mm, reveal more details about the location and energy of these electrons. They also tell us something about the nature of the black hole itself: it is not very hungry. It consumes matter at a low rate, converting only a small fraction of it into radiation. Keiichi Asada of Academia Sinica, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics explains: “To understand the physical origin of the bigger and thicker ring, we had to use computer simulations to test different scenarios. As a result, we concluded that the larger extent of the ring is associated with the accretion flow.”

Kazuhiro Hada from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan adds: “We also find something surprising in our data: the radiation from the inner region close to the black hole is broader than we expected. This could mean that there is more than just gas falling in. There could also be a wind blowing out, causing turbulence and chaos around the black hole.”

The quest to learn more about M87* is not over, as further observations and a fleet of powerful telescopes continue to unlock its secrets. “Future observations at millimetre wavelengths will study the time evolution of the M87 black hole and provide a poly-chromatic view of the black hole with multiple color images in radio light,” says Jongho Park of the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute.

ALMA is participating in a new VLBI observation campaign from April 12 to May 10, 2023 to further study M87 and other sources.

Additional Information
This research was presented in the paper to appear in Nature
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05843-w

The team is composed of Ru-Sen Lu (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, People’s Republic of China [Shanghai]; Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy, People’s Republic of China [KLoRA]; Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Germany [MPIfR]), Keiichi Asada (Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, ROC [IoAaA]), Thomas P. Krichbaum (MPIfR), Jongho Park (IoAaA; Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Republic of Korea [KAaSSI]), Fumie Tazaki (Simulation Technology Development Department, Tokyo Electron Technology Solutions Ltd., Japan; Mizusawa VLBI Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Japan [Mizusawa]), Hung-Yi Pu (Department of Physics, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan, ROC; IoAaA; Center of Astronomy and Gravitation, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan, ROC), Masanori Nakamura (National Institute of Technology, Hachinohe College, Japan; IoAaA), Andrei Lobanov (MPIfR), Kazuhiro Hada (Mizusawa; Department of Astronomical Science, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Japan), Kazunori Akiyama (Black Hole Initiative at Harvard University, USA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology Haystack Observatory, USA [Haystack]; National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Japan [NAOoJ]), Jae-Young Kim (Department of Astronomy and Atmospheric Sciences, Kyungpook National University, Republic of Korea; KAaSSI; MPIfR), Ivan Marti-Vidal (Departament d’Astronomia i Astrofísica, Universitat de València, Spain; Observatori Astronòmic, Universitat de València, Spain), Jose L. Gomez (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía-CSIC, Spain [IAA]), Tomohisa Kawashima (Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, The University of Tokyo, Japan), Feng Yuan (Shanghai; Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, People’s Republic of China; School of Astronomy and Space Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, People’s Republic of China [SoAaSS]), Eduardo Ros (MPIfR), Walter Alef (MPIfR), Silke Britzen (MPIfR), Michael Bremer (Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique, France [IRAMF]), Avery E. Broderick (Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Canada [Waterloo]; Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics, University of Waterloo, Canada; Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Canada), Akihiro Doi (The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Japan; Department of Space and Astronautical Science, SOKENDAI, Japan [SOKENDAI]), Gabriele Giovannini (Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Italy; Istituto di Radio Astronomia, INAF, Bologna, Italy [INAF]), Marcello Giroletti (INAF), Paul T. P. Ho (IoAaA), Mareki Honma (Mizusawa; Hachinohe; Department of Astronomy, The University of Tokyo, Japan), David H. Hughes (Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Mexico), Makoto Inoue (IoAaA), Wu Jiang (Shanghai), Motoki Kino (NAOoJ; Kogakuin University of Technology and Engineering, Japan), Shoko Koyama (Niigata University, Japan; IoAaA), Michael Lindqvist (Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden [Chalmers]), Jun Liu (MPIfR), Alan P. Marscher (Institute for Astrophysical Research, Boston University, USA), Satoki Matsushita (IoAaA), Hiroshi Nagai (NAOoJ; SOKENDAI), Helge Rottmann (MPIfR), Tuomas Savolainen (Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, Aalto University, Finland; Metsähovi Radio Observatory, Finland [Metsähovi]; MPIfR), Karl-Friedrich Schuster (IRAMF), Zhi-Qiang Shen (Shanghai; KLoRA), Pablo de Vicente (Observatorio de Yebes, Spain [Yebes]), R. Craig Walker (National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, USA), Hai Yang (Shanghai; SoAaSS), J. Anton Zensus (MPIfR), Juan Carlos Algaba (Department of Physics, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia), Alexander Allardi (University of Vermont, USA), Uwe Bach (MPIfR), Ryan Berthold (East Asian Observatory, USA [EAO]), Dan Bintley (EAO), Do-Young Byun (KAaSSI; University of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea), Carolina Casadio (Institute of Astrophysics, Heraklion, Greece; Department of Physics, University of Crete, Greece), Shu-Hao Chang (IoAaA), Chih-Cheng Chang (National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, Taiwan, ROC [Chung-Shan]), Song-Chu Chang (Chung-Shan), Chung-Chen Chen (IoAaA), Ming-Tang Chen (Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, USA [IAAAS]), Ryan Chilson (IAAAS), Tim C. Chuter (EAO), John Conway (Chalmers), Geoffrey B. Crew (Haystack), Jessica T. Dempsey (EAO; Astron, The Netherlands [Astron]), Sven Dornbusch (MPIfR), Aaron Faber (Western University, Canada), Per Friberg (EAO), Javier González García (Yebes), Miguel Gómez Garrido (Yebes), Chih-Chiang Han (IoAaA), Kuo-Chang Han (System Development Center, National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, Taiwan, ROC), Yutaka Hasegawa (Osaka Metropolitan University, Japan [Osaka]), Ruben Herrero-Illana (European Southern Observatory, Chile), Yau-De Huang (IoAaA), Chih-Wei L. Huang (IoAaA), Violette Impellizzeri (Leiden Observatory, the Netherlands; National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, USA [NRAOC]), Homin Jiang (IoAaA), Hao Jinchi (Electronic Systems Research Division, National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, Taiwan, ROC), Taehyun Jung (KAaSSI), Juha Kallunki (Metsähovi), Petri Kirves (Metsähovi), Kimihiro Kimura (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Japan), Jun Yi Koay (IoAaA), Patrick M. Koch (IoAaA), Carsten Kramer (IRAMF), Alex Kraus (MPIfR), Derek Kubo (IAAAS), Cheng-Yu Kuo (National Sun Yat-Sen University, Taiwan, ROC), Chao-Te Li (IoAaA), Lupin Chun-Che Lin (Department of Physics, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, ROC ), Ching-Tang Liu (IoAaA), Kuan-Yu Liu (IoAaA), Wen-Ping Lo (Department of Physics, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, ROC; IoAaA), Li-Ming Lu (Chung-Shan), Nicholas MacDonald (MPIfR), Pierre Martin-Cocher (IoAaA), Hugo Messias (Joint ALMA Observatory, Chile; Osaka), Zheng Meyer-Zhao (Astron; IoAaA), Anthony Minter (Green Bank Observatory, USA), Dhanya G. Nair (Astronomy Department, Universidad de Concepción, Chile), Hiroaki Nishioka (IoAaA), Timothy J. Norton (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, USA [CfA]), George Nystrom (IAAAS), Hideo Ogawa (Osaka), Peter Oshiro (IAAAS), Nimesh A. Patel (CfA), Ue-Li Pen (IoAaA), Yurii Pidopryhora (MPIfR; Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, Universität Bonn, Germany), Nicolas Pradel (IoAaA), Philippe A. Raffin (IAAAS), Ramprasad Rao (CfA), Ignacio Ruiz (Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique, Granada, Spain [IRAMS]), Salvador Sanchez (IRAMS), Paul Shaw (IoAaA), William Snow (IAAAS), T. K. Sridharan (NRAOC; CfA), Ranjani Srinivasan (CfA; IoAaA), Belén Tercero (Yebes), Pablo Torne (IRAMS), Thalia Traianou (IAA; MPIfR), Jan Wagner (MPIfR), Craig Walther (EAO), Ta-Shun Wei (IoAaA), Jun Yang (Chalmers), Chen-Yu Yu (IoAaA).

This research has made use of data obtained with the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (GMVA), which consists of telescopes operated by the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie (MPIfR), Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM), Onsala Space Observatory (OSO), Metsähovi Radio Observatory (MRO), Yebes, the Korean VLBI Network (KVN), the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA).

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

five-ways-keep-your-child-safe-school-shootings

Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) (CL) , an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) (EU), in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) (CA) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and in East Asia by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan.

ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by European Southern Observatory(EU), on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (US) and on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

The antennas can be moved across the desert plateau over distances from 150 m to 16 km, which will give ALMA a powerful variable “zoom”, similar in its concept to that employed at the centimetre-wavelength Very Large Array (VLA) site in New Mexico, United States.

National Radio Astronomy Observatory(US)Karl G Jansky Very Large Array located in central New Mexico on the Plains of San Agustin, between the towns of Magdalena and Datil, ~50 miles (80 km) west of Socorro. The VLA comprises twenty-eight 25-meter radio telescopes.

The high sensitivity is mainly achieved through the large numbers of antenna dishes that will make up the array.

The telescopes were provided by the European, North American and East Asian partners of ALMA. The American and European partners each provided twenty-five 12-meter diameter antennas, that compose the main array. The participating East Asian countries are contributing 16 antennas (four 12-meter diameter and twelve 7-meter diameter antennas) in the form of the Atacama Compact Array (ACA), which is part of the enhanced ALMA.

By using smaller antennas than the main ALMA array, larger fields of view can be imaged at a given frequency using ACA. Placing the antennas closer together enables the imaging of sources of larger angular extent. The ACA works together with the main array in order to enhance the latter’s wide-field imaging capability.

ALMA has its conceptual roots in three astronomical projects — the Millimeter Array (MMA) of the United States, the Large Southern Array (LSA) of Europe, and the Large Millimeter Array (LMA) of Japan.

The first step toward the creation of what would become ALMA came in 1997, when the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO) agreed to pursue a common project that merged the MMA and LSA. The merged array combined the sensitivity of the LSA with the frequency coverage and superior site of the MMA. ESO and NRAO worked together in technical, science, and management groups to define and organize a joint project between the two observatories with participation by Canada and Spain (the latter became a member of ESO later).

A series of resolutions and agreements led to the choice of “Atacama Large Millimeter Array”, or ALMA, as the name of the new array in March 1999 and the signing of the ALMA Agreement on 25 February 2003, between the North American and European parties. (“Alma” means “soul” in Spanish and “learned” or “knowledgeable” in Arabic.) Following mutual discussions over several years, the ALMA Project received a proposal from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) whereby Japan would provide the ACA (Atacama Compact Array) and three additional receiver bands for the large array, to form Enhanced ALMA. Further discussions between ALMA and NAOJ led to the signing of a high-level agreement on 14 September 2004 that makes Japan an official participant in Enhanced ALMA, to be known as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on November 6, 2003 and the ALMA logo was unveiled.

During an early stage of the planning of ALMA, it was decided to employ ALMA antennas designed and constructed by known companies in North America, Europe, and Japan, rather than using one single design. This was mainly for political reasons. Although very different approaches have been chosen by the providers, each of the antenna designs appears to be able to meet ALMA’s stringent requirements. The components designed and manufactured across Europe were transported by specialist aerospace and astrospace logistics company Route To Space Alliance, 26 in total which were delivered to Antwerp for onward shipment to Chile.

Partners

European Southern Observatory (EU) and the European Regional Support Centre
National Science Foundation via the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the North American ALMA Science Center
National Research Council Canada [Conseil national de recherches Canada] (CA)
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (JP) under the National Institute of Natural Sciences (自然科学研究機構, Shizenkagaku kenkyuukikou) (JP)
ALMA-Taiwan at the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics [中央研究院天文及天文物理研究所](TW)
Republic of Chile

ALMA is a time machine!

ALMA-In Search of our Cosmic Origins

ALMA – The Rebirth of a Giant

ALMA and its Partners Celebrate 10 Years of Groundbreaking Science

From The ALMA Observatory (CL) Via “Science Alert (AU)” : “Giant ‘Dragon Cloud’ May Solve Mystery of How Massive Stars Form”

The European Southern Observatory [La Observatorio Europeo Austral] [Observatoire européen austral][Europäische Südsternwarte](EU)(CL)/National Radio Astronomy Observatory/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan(JP)

From The ALMA Observatory (CL)

Via

“Science Alert (AU)”

4.13.23
Paul M. Sutter

The inner core of the ‘Dragon cloud’ complex. (Barnes et al., Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2023)

How did the most massive stars form? Astronomers have debated their origins for decades.

One of the biggest problems facing these theories is the lack of observations. Massive stars are relatively rare, and so it’s hard to catch them in the act of formation. But new observations of the so-called Dragon cloud may hold the clue to answering this mystery.

A team of astronomers used the ALMA telescope in the Atacama desert of Northern Chile to study the Dragon cloud, a dense cloud of molecular hydrogen that serves as the site of star formation throughout its complex.

The astronomers specifically were looking for dust, which in addition to the gas that makes up the bulk of the complex collapses to form stars.

The ‘Dragon cloud’. (Barnes et al., Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2023)

The astronomers found several regions of active star formation, but also a strange dense clump lacking any newborn stars at all. Upon further investigation, the team discovered that the central clump was actually composed of two separate regions.

One of the regions contained over 30 solar masses worth of material, while the other contained just two solar masses worth of material.

According to their observations those clumps were very dense and actively collapsing, implying that those clumps were going to soon start forming stars.

Most importantly, the astronomers found that the clumps themselves were not appearing to fragment into smaller clumps as they collapsed. This leads credence to the “core accretion” model of star formation.

In this model, the most massive stars collapse from single units of gas clouds and start their lives already with incredibly high masses. The observations support this idea because for the first time we have been able to observe a giant cloud of gas undergoing direct collapse without splitting apart.

The astronomers have called for more detailed observations of the complex to further untangle the mystery of the formation of massive stars.

Astronomy & Astrophysics

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

five-ways-keep-your-child-safe-school-shootings

Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) (CL) , an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and in East Asia by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan.

ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by ESO, on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) and on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

ALMA is a time machine!

ALMA-In Search of our Cosmic Origins

ALMA – The Rebirth of a Giant

ALMA and its Partners Celebrate 10 Years of Groundbreaking Science

From “Science News” : “A stream of cold gas is unexpectedly feeding the far-off Anthill Galaxy”

From “Science News”

4.5.23
Lisa Grossman

The stream could keep the galaxy supplied with star-forming fuel for a billion years.

A telescope image of a long stream of cold cosmic gas seen as a blue line coming off a big purple circle on a dark background.
A long stream of cold cosmic gas, highlighted in light blue, flows into the Anthill Galaxy in this image from the ALMA telescope array. A large reservoir of gas inside the galaxy is shown in purple and dark blue. Credit: B. Emonts/NRAO/AUI/NSF.

The European Southern Observatory [La Observatorio Europeo Austral] [Observatoire européen austral][Europäische Südsternwarte](EU)(CL)/National Radio Astronomy Observatory/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan(JP) ALMA Observatory (CL).

A long, cold stream of gas is feeding a very distant galaxy like a vast bendy straw. The finding suggests a new way for galaxies to grow in the early universe, researchers report in the March 31 Science [below].

Computer simulations predicted that streams of gas should connect galaxies to the cosmic web (SN: 3/6/23). But astronomers expected that gas to be warm, making it unsuitable for star-forming fuel and galaxy growth.

So astronomer Bjorn Emonts and his colleagues were surprised to see a stream of cold, star-forming gas leading into the Anthill Galaxy, a massive galaxy whose light takes 12 billion years to reach Earth.

The team spotted the stream while mapping cold gas in the galaxy’s neighborhood using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA, in Chile. Emonts was particularly interested in radio wavelengths of light that carbon atoms emit when the temperature is between about -260° and -160° Celsius.

“People didn’t think that these streams could get so cold,” says Emonts, of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Va.

But there, in the data, a frigid stream stretched at least 325,000 light-years away from the galaxy. The stream carries the mass of 70 billion suns and deposits the equivalent of about 450 suns in cold gas onto the galaxy every year, the team calculated. That’s enough to double the galaxy’s mass within a billion years.

Emonts thinks that no one had seen such a stream before because his team used ALMA in an unusual configuration, with its telescopes arranged as close together as possible. That gave the observatory lower resolution, but a wider field of view.

“People don’t normally do that,” Emonts says. “We basically defocused ALMA to the worst possible extent.”

If other galaxies are fed by similar structures, it could mean that early galaxies grew mostly by drinking directly from the cosmic streams, rather than by the leading hypothesis — violent galaxy mergers (SN: 6/28/19).

Science

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

five-ways-keep-your-child-safe-school-shootings

Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

From The University of Arizona Via “phys.org” : “Large double-ring disk detected around the star 2MASS J04124068+2438157”

From The University of Arizona

Via

“phys.org”

4.4.23

Continuum emission image of the 2M041240 disk at 1.3 mm. Credit: Long et al, 2023

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international team of astronomers has performed high-resolution observations of an M-dwarf star known as 2MASS J04124068+2438157.

The European Southern Observatory [La Observatorio Europeo Austral] [Observatoire européen austral][Europäische Südsternwarte](EU)(CL)/National Radio Astronomy Observatory/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan(JP) ALMA Observatory (CL).

Results of the observational campaign, published March 25 for The Astrophysical Journal [below], indicate that the star hosts a large double-ring dust disk.

At a distance of some 485 light years away from the Earth, 2MASS J04124068+2438157 (or 2M041240 for short) is an M dwarf of spectral type M3.5, estimated to be 4.7 million years old. The star has a radius of 1.2 solar radii, mass of about 0.42 solar masses, and its effective temperature is approximately 3,300 K.

Previous observations have found that 2M041240 hosts a very extended dust disk. Therefore, a group of astronomers led by Feng Long of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, decided to observe this star with ALMA, hoping to get more insights into the properties of the disk surrounding it.

“This paper presented new ALMA Band 6 observations of the disk around a low mass star 2MASS J04124068+2438157. We applied parametric Gaussian models to characterize the dust emission morphology in the visibility plane and performed Keck AO [adaptive optics] observations to explore the cause of the observed disk substructures,” the researchers wrote.

Keck Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics on two 10 meter Keck Observatory telescopes, at Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawai’i, altitude 4,207 m (13,802 ft).

ALMA observations found that the dust disk around 2M041240 consists only of two narrow rings at distances of 70 and 116 AU. Both rings appear to be quite narrow, with gaussian widths of 5.6 and 8.5 AU, respectively. The outer ring turned out to be narrower than the local pressure scale height, which suggest the presence of pressure bump that traps dust particles.

The size of the whole disk was estimated to be around 126 AU which is much larger than disks with similar millimeter luminosity. According to the astronomers, this suggests that the disk of 2M041240 likely formed large and built the pressure bump at early times that sustained millimeter-sized grains at large radii.

The authors of the paper assume that planet–disk interactions are the most likely explanation for the observed gaps and rings in the disk of 2M041240. They added that the properties of the gap between the two rings may indicate the presence of a Saturn-mass planet at about 90 AU from the star.

“Analyses of the gap/ring properties suggest a Saturn mass planet at ∼90 AU is likely responsible for the formation of the outer ring,” the researchers concluded.

However, further observations are required in order to confirm this assumption. The authors of the study propose using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in order to verify whether or not the predicted Saturn-mass planet is orbiting 2M041240 in its outer disk.

The Astrophysical Journal
See the science paper for instructive material with images.

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

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Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

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As of 2019, the The University of Arizona enrolled 45,918 students in 19 separate colleges/schools, including The University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson and Phoenix and the James E. Rogers College of Law, and is affiliated with two academic medical centers (Banner – University Medical Center Tucson and Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix). The University of Arizona is one of three universities governed by the Arizona Board of Regents. The university is part of the Association of American Universities and is the only member from Arizona, and also part of the Universities Research Association. The university is classified among “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity”.

Known as the Arizona Wildcats (often shortened to “Cats”), The University of Arizona’s intercollegiate athletic teams are members of the Pac-12 Conference of the NCAA. The University of Arizona athletes have won national titles in several sports, most notably men’s basketball, baseball, and softball. The official colors of the university and its athletic teams are cardinal red and navy blue.

After the passage of the Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862, the push for a university in Arizona grew. The Arizona Territory’s “Thieving Thirteenth” Legislature approved The University of Arizona in 1885 and selected the city of Tucson to receive the appropriation to build the university. Tucson hoped to receive the appropriation for the territory’s mental hospital, which carried a $100,000 allocation instead of the $25,000 allotted to the territory’s only university (Arizona State University was also chartered in 1885, but it was created as Arizona’s normal school, and not a university). Flooding on the Salt River delayed Tucson’s legislators, and by the time they reached Prescott, back-room deals allocating the most desirable territorial institutions had been made. Tucson was largely disappointed with receiving what was viewed as an inferior prize.

With no parties willing to provide land for the new institution, the citizens of Tucson prepared to return the money to the Territorial Legislature until two gamblers and a saloon keeper decided to donate the land to build the school. Construction of Old Main, the first building on campus, began on October 27, 1887, and classes met for the first time in 1891 with 32 students in Old Main, which is still in use today. Because there were no high schools in Arizona Territory, the university maintained separate preparatory classes for the first 23 years of operation.

Research

The University of Arizona is classified among “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity”. UArizona is the fourth most awarded public university by National Aeronautics and Space Administration for research. The University of Arizona was awarded over $325 million for its Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) to lead NASA’s 2007–08 mission to Mars to explore the Martian Arctic, and $800 million for its OSIRIS-REx mission, the first in U.S. history to sample an asteroid.

National Aeronautics Space Agency OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft.

The LPL’s work in the Cassini spacecraft orbit around Saturn is larger than any other university globally.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration/European Space Agency [La Agencia Espacial Europea][Agence spatiale européenne][Europäische Weltraumorganization](EU)/ASI Italian Space Agency [Agenzia Spaziale Italiana](IT) Cassini Spacecraft.

The University of Arizona laboratory designed and operated the atmospheric radiation investigations and imaging on the probe. The University of Arizona operates the HiRISE camera, a part of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

U Arizona NASA Mars Reconnaisance HiRISE Camera.

NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

While using the HiRISE camera in 2011, University of Arizona alumnus Lujendra Ojha and his team discovered proof of liquid water on the surface of Mars—a discovery confirmed by NASA in 2015. The University of Arizona receives more NASA grants annually than the next nine top NASA/JPL-Caltech-funded universities combined. As of March 2016, The University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory is actively involved in ten spacecraft missions: Cassini VIMS; Grail; the HiRISE camera orbiting Mars; the Juno mission orbiting Jupiter; Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO); Maven, which will explore Mars’ upper atmosphere and interactions with the sun; Solar Probe Plus, a historic mission into the Sun’s atmosphere for the first time; Rosetta’s VIRTIS; WISE; and OSIRIS-REx, the first U.S. sample-return mission to a near-earth asteroid, which launched on September 8, 2016.

NASA – GRAIL Flying in Formation. Artist’s Concept. Credit: NASA.
National Aeronautics Space Agency Juno at Jupiter.

NASA/Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

NASA/Mars MAVEN

NASA Parker Solar Probe Plus named to honor Pioneering Physicist Eugene Parker. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration Wise/NEOWISE Telescope.

The University of Arizona students have been selected as Truman, Rhodes, Goldwater, and Fulbright Scholars. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, UArizona is among the top 25 producers of Fulbright awards in the U.S.

The University of Arizona is a member of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, a consortium of institutions pursuing research in astronomy. The association operates observatories and telescopes, notably Kitt Peak National Observatory just outside Tucson.

National Science Foundation NOIRLab National Optical Astronomy Observatory Kitt Peak National Observatory on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono O’odham Nation, 88 kilometers (55 mi) west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona, Altitude 2,096 m (6,877 ft). annotated.

Led by Roger Angel, researchers in the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab at The University of Arizona are working in concert to build the world’s most advanced telescope. Known as the Giant Magellan Telescope (CL), it will produce images 10 times sharper than those from the Earth-orbiting Hubble Telescope.

Giant Magellan Telescope(CL) 21 meters, to be at the Carnegie Institution for Science’s(US) NOIRLab NOAO Las Campanas Observatory(CL), some 115 km (71 mi) north-northeast of La Serena, Chile, over 2,500 m (8,200 ft) high.

GMT will ultimately cost $1 billion. Researchers from at least nine institutions are working to secure the funding for the project. The telescope will include seven 18-ton mirrors capable of providing clear images of volcanoes and riverbeds on Mars and mountains on the moon at a rate 40 times faster than the world’s current large telescopes. The mirrors of the Giant Magellan Telescope will be built at The University of Arizona and transported to a permanent mountaintop site in the Chilean Andes where the telescope will be constructed.

Reaching Mars in March 2006, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter contained the HiRISE camera, with Principal Investigator Alfred McEwen as the lead on the project. This National Aeronautics and Space Agency mission to Mars carrying the UArizona-designed camera is capturing the highest-resolution images of the planet ever seen. The journey of the orbiter was 300 million miles. In August 2007, The University of Arizona, under the charge of Scientist Peter Smith, led the Phoenix Mars Mission, the first mission completely controlled by a university. Reaching the planet’s surface in May 2008, the mission’s purpose was to improve knowledge of the Martian Arctic. The Arizona Radio Observatory, a part of The University of Arizona Department of Astronomy Steward Observatory, operates the Submillimeter Telescope on Mount Graham.

University of Arizona Radio Observatory at NOAO Kitt Peak National Observatory, AZ , U Arizona Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory at altitude 2,096 m (6,877 ft).

U Arizona Steward Observatory at NSF’s NOIRLab NOAO Kitt Peak National Observatory in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert 88 kilometers 55 mi west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona in the Quinlan Mountains of the Tohono O’odham Nation, altitude 2,096 m (6,877 ft).

The National Science Foundation funded the iPlant Collaborative in 2008 with a $50 million grant. In 2013, iPlant Collaborative received a $50 million renewal grant. Rebranded in late 2015 as “CyVerse”, the collaborative cloud-based data management platform is moving beyond life sciences to provide cloud-computing access across all scientific disciplines.

In June 2011, the university announced it would assume full ownership of the Biosphere 2 scientific research facility in Oracle, Arizona, north of Tucson, effective July 1. Biosphere 2 was constructed by private developers (funded mainly by Texas businessman and philanthropist Ed Bass) with its first closed system experiment commencing in 1991. The university had been the official management partner of the facility for research purposes since 2007.

U Arizona mirror lab-Where else in the world can you find an astronomical observatory mirror lab under a football stadium?

University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2, located in the Sonoran desert. An entire ecosystem under a glass dome? Visit our campus, just once, and you’ll quickly understand why The University of Arizona is a university unlike any other.

University of Arizona Landscape Evolution Observatory at Biosphere 2.

From ALMA (CL): “Astronomers witness the birth of a very distant cluster of galaxies from the early Universe”

The European Southern Observatory [La Observatorio Europeo Austral] [Observatoire européen austral][Europäische Südsternwarte](EU)(CL)/National Radio Astronomy Observatory(US)/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan(JP) ALMA Observatory (CL).

From ALMA (CL)

Valeria Foncea
Education and Public Outreach Officer
Joint ALMA Observatory Santiago – Chile
Phone: +56 2 2467 6258
Cell phone: +56 9 7587 1963
Email: valeria.foncea@alma.cl

Naoko Inoue
EPO officer, ALMA Project
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ)
Email: naoko.inoue@nao.ac.jp

Juan Carlos Muñoz Mateos
ESO Media Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Phone: +49 89 3200 6176
Email: press@eso.org

Amy C. Oliver
Public Information & News Manager
National Radio Astronomical Observatory (NRAO), USA
Phone: +1 434 242 9584
Email: aoliver@nrao.edu

All general references:
ALMA Observatory (CL) http://www.almaobservatory.org/
European Southern Observatory(EU)(CL) http://www.eso.org/public/
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan(JP) http://www.nao.ac.jp/en/
National Radio Astronomy Observatory(US) https://public.nrao.edu/

3.29.23

This image shows the protocluster around the Spiderweb galaxy (formally known as MRC 1138-262), seen at a time when the Universe was only 3 billion years old. Most of the mass in the protocluster does not reside in the galaxies that can be seen in the centre of the image, but in the gas known as the intracluster medium (ICM). The hot gas in the ICM is shown as an overlaid blue cloud. The hot gas was detected with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), of which ESO is a partner. As light from the cosmic microwave background –– the relic radiation from the Big Bang –– travels through the ICM, it gains energy when it interacts with the electrons in the hot gas. This is known as the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect. By studying this effect, astronomers can infer how much hot gas resides in the ICM, and show that the Spiderweb protocluster is in the process of becoming a massive cluster held together by its own gravity. Credit: ESO/Di Mascolo et al.; HST: H. Ford.

This image shows the protocluster around the Spiderweb galaxy (formally known as MRC 1138-262). The light that we see in the image shows galaxies at a time when the Universe was only 3 billion years old. Most of the mass in the protocluster does not reside in the galaxies, but in the gas known as the intracluster medium. Because of the mass in the gas, the protocluster is in the process of becoming a massive cluster held together by its own gravity. Credit: ESO/H. Ford.

This image is a colour composite made from exposures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2). The field of view is 2.8 x 2.9 degrees. Credit: Digitized Sky Survey 2 and ESA/Hubble. ESA/Hubble and Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have discovered a large reservoir of hot gas in the still-forming galaxy cluster around the Spiderweb galaxy — the most distant detection of such hot gas yet. Galaxy clusters are some of the largest objects known in the Universe and this result, published today in Nature [below], further reveals just how early these structures begin to form.

Galaxy clusters, as the name suggests, host a large number of galaxies — sometimes even thousands. They also contain a vast “intracluster medium” (ICM) of gas that permeates the space between the galaxies in the cluster. This gas in fact considerably outweighs the galaxies themselves. Much of the physics of galaxy clusters is well understood; however, observations of the earliest phases of formation of the ICM remain scarce.

Previously, the ICM had only been studied in fully-formed nearby galaxy clusters. Detecting the ICM in distant protoclusters — that is, still-forming galaxy clusters – would allow astronomers to catch these clusters in the early stages of formation. A team led by Luca Di Mascolo, first author of the study and researcher at the University of Trieste, Italy, were keen to detect the ICM in a protocluster from the early stages of the Universe.

Galaxy clusters are so massive that they can bring together gas that heats up as it falls towards the cluster. “Cosmological simulations have predicted the presence of hot gas in protoclusters for over a decade, but observational confirmations have been missing,” explains Elena Rasia, researcher at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) in Trieste, Italy, and co-author of the study. “Pursuing such key observational confirmation led us to carefully select one of the most promising candidate-protoclusters.” That was the Spiderweb protocluster, located at an epoch when the Universe was only 3 billion years old. Despite being the most intensively studied protocluster, the presence of the ICM has remained elusive. Finding a large reservoir of hot gas in the Spiderweb protocluster would indicate that the system is on its way to becoming a proper, long-lasting galaxy cluster rather than dispersing.

Di Mascolo’s team detected the ICM of the Spiderweb protocluster through what’s known as the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect. This effect happens when light from the cosmic microwave background — the relic radiation from the Big Bang — passes through the ICM. When this light interacts with the fast-moving electrons in the hot gas it gains a bit of energy and its color, or wavelength, changes slightly. “At the right wavelengths, the SZ effect thus appears as a shadowing effect of a galaxy cluster on the cosmic microwave background,” explains Di Mascolo.

By measuring these shadows on the cosmic microwave background, astronomers can therefore infer the existence of the hot gas, estimate its mass and map its shape. “Thanks to its unparalleled resolution and sensitivity, ALMA is the only facility currently capable of performing such a measurement for the distant progenitors of massive clusters,” says Di Mascolo.

They determined that the Spiderweb protocluster contains a vast reservoir of hot gas at a temperature of a few tens of millions of degrees Celsius. Previously, cold gas had been detected in this protocluster, but the mass of the hot gas found in this new study outweighs it by thousands of times. This finding shows that the Spiderweb protocluster is indeed expected to turn into a massive galaxy cluster in around 10 billion years, growing its mass by at least a factor of ten.

Tony Mroczkowski, co-author of the paper and researcher at ESO, explains that “this system exhibits huge contrasts. The hot thermal component will destroy much of the cold component as the system evolves, and we are witnessing a delicate transition.” He concludes that “it provides observational confirmation of long-standing theoretical predictions about the formation of the largest gravitationally bound objects in the Universe.”

These results help to set the groundwork for synergies between ALMA and ESO’s upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), which “will revolutionize the study of structures like the Spiderweb,” says Mario Nonino, a co-author of the study and researcher at the Astronomical Observatory of Trieste. The ELT and its state-of-the-art instruments, such as HARMONI and MICADO, will be able to peer into protoclusters and tell us about the galaxies in them in great detail. Together with ALMA’s capabilities to trace the forming ICM, this will provide a crucial glimpse into the assembly of some of the largest structures in the early Universe.

Additional information

This research was presented in Nature [below].

The team is composed of Luca Di Mascolo (Astronomy Unit, University of Trieste, Italy [UT]; INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Trieste, Italy [INAF Trieste]; IFPU – Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe, Italy [IFPU]), Alexandro Saro (UT; INAF Trieste; IFPU; INFN – Sezione di Trieste, Italy [INFN]), Tony Mroczkowski (European Southern Observatory, Germany [ESO]), Stefano Borgani (UT; INAF Trieste; IFPU; INFN), Eugene Churazov (Max-Planck-Institute für Astrophysik, Germany; Space Research Institute, Russia), Elena Rasia (INAF Trieste; IFPU), Paolo Tozzi (INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Italy), Helmut Dannerbauer (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Spain; Universidad de La Laguna, Spain), Kaustuv Basu (Argel ander Institute for Astronomy, University of Bonn, Germany), Christopher L. Carilli (National Radio Astronomy Observatory, USA), Michele Ginolfi (ESO; Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, University of Florence, Italy), George Miley (Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Netherlands), Mario Nonino (UT), Maurilio Pannella (UT; INAF Trieste; IFPU), Laura Pentericci (INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Italy), Francesca Rizzo (Cosmic Dawn Center, Denmark; Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark)

Nature
See the science paper for instructive material with images.

See the full article here .

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Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) (CL) , an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) (EU), in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) (CA) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and in East Asia by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan.

ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by European Southern Observatory(EU), on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (US) and on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

The antennas can be moved across the desert plateau over distances from 150 m to 16 km, which will give ALMA a powerful variable “zoom”, similar in its concept to that employed at the centimetre-wavelength Very Large Array (VLA) site in New Mexico, United States.

National Radio Astronomy Observatory(US)Karl G Jansky Very Large Array located in central New Mexico on the Plains of San Agustin, between the towns of Magdalena and Datil, ~50 miles (80 km) west of Socorro. The VLA comprises twenty-eight 25-meter radio telescopes.

The high sensitivity is mainly achieved through the large numbers of antenna dishes that will make up the array.

The telescopes were provided by the European, North American and East Asian partners of ALMA. The American and European partners each provided twenty-five 12-meter diameter antennas, that compose the main array. The participating East Asian countries are contributing 16 antennas (four 12-meter diameter and twelve 7-meter diameter antennas) in the form of the Atacama Compact Array (ACA), which is part of the enhanced ALMA.

By using smaller antennas than the main ALMA array, larger fields of view can be imaged at a given frequency using ACA. Placing the antennas closer together enables the imaging of sources of larger angular extent. The ACA works together with the main array in order to enhance the latter’s wide-field imaging capability.

ALMA has its conceptual roots in three astronomical projects — the Millimeter Array (MMA) of the United States, the Large Southern Array (LSA) of Europe, and the Large Millimeter Array (LMA) of Japan.

The first step toward the creation of what would become ALMA came in 1997, when the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO) agreed to pursue a common project that merged the MMA and LSA. The merged array combined the sensitivity of the LSA with the frequency coverage and superior site of the MMA. ESO and NRAO worked together in technical, science, and management groups to define and organize a joint project between the two observatories with participation by Canada and Spain (the latter became a member of ESO later).

A series of resolutions and agreements led to the choice of “Atacama Large Millimeter Array”, or ALMA, as the name of the new array in March 1999 and the signing of the ALMA Agreement on 25 February 2003, between the North American and European parties. (“Alma” means “soul” in Spanish and “learned” or “knowledgeable” in Arabic.) Following mutual discussions over several years, the ALMA Project received a proposal from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) whereby Japan would provide the ACA (Atacama Compact Array) and three additional receiver bands for the large array, to form Enhanced ALMA. Further discussions between ALMA and NAOJ led to the signing of a high-level agreement on 14 September 2004 that makes Japan an official participant in Enhanced ALMA, to be known as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on November 6, 2003 and the ALMA logo was unveiled.

During an early stage of the planning of ALMA, it was decided to employ ALMA antennas designed and constructed by known companies in North America, Europe, and Japan, rather than using one single design. This was mainly for political reasons. Although very different approaches have been chosen by the providers, each of the antenna designs appears to be able to meet ALMA’s stringent requirements. The components designed and manufactured across Europe were transported by specialist aerospace and astrospace logistics company Route To Space Alliance, 26 in total which were delivered to Antwerp for onward shipment to Chile.

Partners

European Southern Observatory (EU) and the European Regional Support Centre
National Science Foundation via the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the North American ALMA Science Center
National Research Council Canada [Conseil national de recherches Canada] (CA)
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (JP) under the National Institute of Natural Sciences (自然科学研究機構, Shizenkagaku kenkyuukikou) (JP)
ALMA-Taiwan at the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics [中央研究院天文及天文物理研究所](TW)
Republic of Chile

ALMA is a time machine!

ALMA-In Search of our Cosmic Origins

ALMA – The Rebirth of a Giant

ALMA and its Partners Celebrate 10 Years of Groundbreaking Science

From The National Astronomical Observatory of Japan [国立天文台] (JP) For The ALMA Observatory (CL): “Upgrade of ALMA Data Transmission System Led by Japan Starts”

From The National Astronomical Observatory of Japan [国立天文台] (JP)

3.13.23

In 2018, ALMA [below] published the strategic vision for development towards enhancing the telescope capabilities in the 2030s as the ALMA Development Roadmap. The main priority identified in this vision is to broaden the receiver IF (Intermediate Frequency) bandwidth by at least a factor two and to upgrade the associated electronics and correlator. This upgrade is now known as the ALMA2030 Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade (WSU). In November 2022, the ALMA Board approved project proposals for the development of a second-generation correlator led by the United States, and a new data transmission system (DTS) led by Japan.

The implementation of the ALMA2030 WSU will enable new astronomical research with ALMA thanks to the increased performance of the telescope. In addition, the increase of IF bandwidth will translate in a dramatic increase of the amount of scientific data obtained in a given observation time, contributing to the efficient progress of research.

However, the great amount of data will pose a challenge on the data transmission system (DTS), which transmits the obtained data from each antenna, the eyes of the array, to the correlator and total-power spectrometer, the brains to analyze it. In order to proceed with the ALMA2030 WSU, the DTS needs to be upgraded.

This upgrade will be carried out by NAOJ in Japan in cooperation with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in the United States.

In today’s advanced information society, Ethernet is one of the digital communication standards that we often hear about in our daily lives. So far ALMA has used proprietary communication systems different than those used in everyday life, but this causes inconveniences such as not being able to easily obtain replacement components when a problem occurs. To avoid this, this DTS upgrade will be based on Ethernet. In particular, it will rely on the most advanced readily commercially available standard, 400 GbE (Giga bit per second Ethernet).

Combining multiple 400 Gbps (Giga bit per second) high-speed Ethernet lines, a high-speed transmission system will be designed which will be able to transmit up to 1200 Gbps data from each antenna to the correlator. Using 400 GbE long-range option will also allow to transmit the data over distances in the order of 80 kilometers, which would allow the increase of the longest distance between antennas in the future, increasing the angular resolution of ALMA and making it a sharper more powerful telescope yet.

What does this upgrade bring?

Celestial bodies consist of various atoms and molecules, each of which emits radio waves at different frequencies. For example, carbon monoxide molecules, which emit radio waves at 115 GHz, are indicative of rarefied gases with low temperatures and densities that float throughout space. Conversely, hydrogen cyanide, which emits radio waves at 89 GHz, is known as an indicator of a relatively hot and dense gas. By comparing the distribution of these two molecules, we can explore how stars are born from environments with rarefied gas. In this way, by observing many kinds of molecules at the same time, various astronomical phenomena are revealed. Simultaneous observation of many kinds of molecules means simultaneous observation of radio waves in a wide frequency band. However, it is technically difficult to observe a wide frequency band at once. Currently, to cover a wide frequency band, observations are carried out many times, divided into narrow frequency bands, which requires much observation time.

By improving receivers to observe a wide frequency band at once and having an improved DTS to transmit all that data at once, it will be possible to observe and analyze radio waves in a wider frequency band with high sensitivity with the same observation time as before. New discoveries that have never been captured before are expected.

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) (CL) , an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and in East Asia by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan.

ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by ESO, on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) and on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

ALMA is a time machine!

ALMA-In Search of our Cosmic Origins

ALMA – The Rebirth of a Giant

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

five-ways-keep-your-child-safe-school-shootings

Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) [国立天文台] (JP) is an astronomical research organization comprising several facilities in Japan, as well as an observatory in Hawaii. It was established in 1988 as an amalgamation of three existing research organizations – the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory of The University of Tokyo [東京大学](JP), International Latitude Observatory of Mizusawa, and a part of Research Institute of Atmospherics of Nagoya University [名古屋大学](JP).

In the 2004 reform of national research organizations, NAOJ became a division of the National Institutes of Natural Sciences .

NAOJ Subaru Telescope at Mauna Kea Hawaii, USA,4,207 m (13,802 ft) above sea level.

European Southern Observatory [Observatoire européen austral][Europäische Südsternwarte] (EU)/National Radio Astronomy Observatory/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan(JP) ALMA Array in Chile in the Atacama at Chajnantor plateau, at 5,000 metres.

Solar Flare Telescope.

Nobeyama Millimeter Array Radioheliograph, located near Minamimaki, Nagano at an elevation of 1350m.

Mizusawa VERA Observatory.

Okayama Astrophysical Observatory.

NAOJ Kyoto U 3.8m SEMEI Telescope.

From The European Southern Observatory (EU) (CL) : “ALMA and its Partners Celebrate 10 Years of Groundbreaking Science”

From The European Southern Observatory (EU) (CL)

3.13.23
Juan Carlos Muñoz Mateos
ESO Media Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6176
Email: press@eso.org

The European Southern Observatory [La Observatorio Europeo Austral] [Observatoire européen austral][Europäische Südsternwarte](EU)(CL)/National Radio Astronomy Observatory/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan(JP) ALMA Observatory (CL).

13 March 2023 marks the tenth anniversary of the world’s largest radio telescope—the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner. Over the past decade, ALMA has revolutionized our understanding of the Universe by revealing new insights into the formation of planets, stars, and galaxies; deciphering the chemistry of the Cosmos; and has been a crucial component in obtaining the first images of black holes.

To mark this milestone, ALMA celebrates today with Chilean authorities, ambassadors, representatives of the scientific community and local communities at the observatory site near San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. The ceremony and an accompanying art performance will be live streamed through ALMA Social Networks and website.

“ALMA has transformed our understanding of the Universe and opened new research frontiers,” said Dr Sean Dougherty, Director of ALMA. “We are very proud of the accomplishments of the past decade and excited about the discoveries over the next ten years.”

Since its inauguration in 2013, the astronomical community has produced more than 3000 scientific publications using ALMA data, with groundbreaking discoveries ranging from forming planets and stars to detecting complex organic molecules in the Universe’s early years. One of ALMA’s best-known achievements was its contribution to the Event Horizon Telescope project, which captured the first image of a black hole in the centre of the Messier 87 galaxy and also the one in the centre of the Milky Way.

Messier 87*, The first image of the event horizon of a black hole. This is the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy Messier 87. Image via The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration released on 10 April 2019 via National Science Foundation.

This is the first image of Sagittarius A* – [SGR A*] the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Credit: The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration.

ALMA’s success is due to its cutting-edge technology developed through an international collaboration of 21 countries from North America, Europe, and East Asia. The telescope consists of 66 antennas, spread over 16 kilometres on the Chajnantor plateau of the Chilean Andes, 5,000 metres above sea level. A partnership of ESO, NAOJ, and NRAO operates ALMA, whose observations have provided valuable data to astronomers worldwide to answer some of the most fundamental questions about the Universe.

ESO has been a key stakeholder in the planning and development of ALMA since its inception, most notably providing 25 of the 66 antennas. One of the reasons why ALMA is such a powerful telescope is its ability to change, repositioning its antennas to carry out different astronomical observations. Each antenna weighs over 100 tonnes, and they are relocated with two enormous transporters provided by ESO, each 20 metres long, 10 metres wide and 6 metres high. Various European institutions collaborated to develop several of ALMA’s 10 receivers — the detectors that capture radio waves from space. ESO also provided the ALMA residencia, which offers pleasant living conditions for the staff working temporarily on site in the harsh Atacama Desert. Finally, ESO contributes to the joint operations of the facility with the other partners and acts as the focal point for liaison with the European science community.

“ALMA is an integral part of ESO’s suite of world-leading observatories,” said Xaiver Barcons, ESO Director General. “It complements the Very Large Telescope [below], one of the most powerful and productive telescopes in the optical range since 25 years, by delivering fantastic science at sub/millimetre wavelengths. ALMA is an excellent example of what we can achieve with international collaboration in science. An endeavour like ALMA would have simply not been possible for one country alone. The many scientific successes ALMA achieved in its first ten years of operation show us that working together is the best way to drive scientific progress worldwide.”

To mark this milestone, ALMA is hosting a series of events during 2023, which kick off today at the observatory site. The participants will renew the “Tribute to Mother Earth” ceremony, performed by a local community leader, and tour the observatory facilities accompanied by scientists and engineers. The day will close with an immersive artistic performance of light and sound. The ceremony and the art performance will be live streamed through ALMA Social Networks and website. A complete list of activities celebrating the first decade can be found on the ALMA website.

ALMA is a time machine!

ALMA-In Search of our Cosmic Origins

ALMA – The Rebirth of a Giant

See the full article here .

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The European Southern Observatory [La Observatorio Europeo Austral][Observatoire européen austral][Europäische Südsternwarte](EU)(CL) is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organization in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organizing cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the The Very Large Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world’s largest survey telescope and the The VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre European Extremely Large Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.

The ESO (EU)(CL) La Silla Observatory 600 km north of Santiago de Chile at an altitude of 2400 metres.

The ESO (EU)(CL) New Technology Telescope at Cerro La Silla, Chile, at an altitude of 2400 metres.

The ESO(EU)(CL) , Very Large Telescope at Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert •ANTU (UT1; The Sun ) •KUEYEN (UT2; The Moon ) •MELIPAL (UT3; The Southern Cross ), and •YEPUN (UT4; Venus – as evening star). Elevation 2,635 m (8,645 ft) from above Credit J.L. Dauvergne & G. Hüdepohl atacama photo.

Glistening against the awesome backdrop of the night sky above ESO’s Paranal Observatory, four laser beams project out into the darkness from Unit Telescope 4 UT4 of the VLT, a major asset of the Adaptive Optics system.

The European Southern Observatory [La Observatorio Europeo Austral] [Observatoire européen austral][Europäische Südsternwarte] (EU)/ The National Radio Astronomy Observatory/The National Astronomical Observatory of Japan(JP) ALMA Array in Chile in the Atacama Desert at Chajnantor plateau, at 5,000 metres.

The ESO (EU)(CL) ELT 39 meter telescope to be on top of Cerro Armazones in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. located at the summit of the mountain at an altitude of 3,060 metres (10,040 ft) .

The ESO (EU)(CL) MPG Institute for Radio Astronomy [MPG Institut für Radioastronomie](DE) Atacama Pathfinder Experiment(CL) high on the Chajnantor plateau in Chile’s Atacama region, at an altitude of over 4,800 m (15,700 ft).

A novel gamma ray telescope under construction on Mount Hopkins, Arizona. A large project known as the Čerenkov Telescope Array composed of hundreds of similar telescopes to be situated in the Canary Islands and Chile at ESO Cerro Paranal site. The telescope on Mount Hopkins will be fitted with a prototype high-speed camera, assembled at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and capable of taking pictures at a billion frames per second. Credit: Vladimir Vassiliev.