Factsheet
24 April, 2017 / Read time: 4 minutes
ALMA, the largest radio telescope in the world
21
|
Countries participate in the project, in Europe, North America, East Asia and Chile |
2003
|
The year construction began |
1400
|
Million dollars was the total cost to build ALMA |
2900
|
Meters above sea level is the altitude where the ALMA Operations Support Facilities (OSF or camp) are located |
40
|
Minutes by car separate ALMA from the city of San Pedro de Atacama |
250
|
People work at ALMA in Chile, with a similar number of people working in the rest of the world |
17
|
Different nationalities just among ALMA staff in Chile |
100
|
Million US dollars are the average annual operating costs of ALMA on a global level |
37.5%
|
Is the investment from partners ESO and NRAO in ALMA, and 25% is from NAOJ |
176,000,000
|
M2 is the total surface area in concession from the Chilean government to ALMA for a 50-year period |
250,000
|
US dollars is approximately what ALMA provides each year to the Chilean Ministry of National Heritage as lease for the concession |
9
|
MW total installed capacity (turbines running with butane gas or diesel ) |
1.4
|
MW average consumption in the AOS (Chajnantor) and 1.2 MW in the OSF (camp) |
15 - 20
|
KVA is the average electricity consumption of each antenna |
11,000
|
Liters is the average monthly consumption of bottled water (in gallon containers) |
2,042
|
M3 is the average monthly consumption of potable water purchased in San Pedro de Atacama |
Astronomic Observations
¼
|
Of its total capacity was what ALMA operated with when it started its scientific observations in September 2011 (a year and a half before its inauguration on March 13, 2013) |
10
|
Times more details than the Hubble space telescope images can be seen in ALMA images |
10
|
Milliarcseconds maximum angular resolution (equivalent to see a common whale on the Moon) |
1 TB
|
Of scientific data produced daily |
+1500
|
Scientific publications |
1800
|
Proposals for observations with ALMA are received on average each year |
500
|
Projects observed each year |
4000
|
Average observations hours in every cycle (a 1/3 part of what is requested) |
43
|
Is the minimum number of antennas used for each baseline or main array observation |
Antennas
66
|
Antennas (54 with 12 meter diameters and 12 with 7 meter diameters) |
6569
|
M2 total surface area of radio wave data collection (each 12-m antenna has 113 m2 and each 7-m antenna has 38.5 m2) |
10
|
Receiver bands |
16
|
Kilometers of maximum baseline (separation) between antennas |
0.6
|
Arcseconds of angular precision, like aiming at a golf ball from 15 kilometers away |
25
|
Micrometers is the precision of the reflector surface (thinner than a sheet of paper) |
-269
|
ºC is the temperature that the receivers must be kept at (only 4 ºC above absolute zero) to ensure the greatest sensitivity of all of these types of receivers |
4 + 12
|
Antennas make up the Morita Array, also known as the Atacama Compact Array (ACA). It is comprised of four antennas with 12 meter diameters and twelve antennas with 7 meter diameters |
100
|
Tons are how much each antenna weighs and 135 tons the transporters that move them |
8
|
Hours are how many it takes to move an antenna from the OSF to the AOS: 1.5 to load, 5 to transport and 1.5 to unload |
10
|
Million US dollars was the average production cost for each antenna |
Chajnantor
5000
|
Meters above sea level is the altitude of the Chajnantor —‘take-off site’ in the Atacameño language Ckunza— plateau, where ALMA is located. The highest astronomic site for a project of this size and one of the driest in the world |
40
|
ºC difference between the maximum daytime and nighttime temperatures |
160
|
Km/h maximum wind speed |
50
|
Years land concession granted for the area where ALMA is located |
197
|
Bases are on the Chajnantor Plateau for repositioning the 66 ALMA antennas based on observation needs |
The Correlator
1
|
The supercomputer operating at the highest altitude in the world |
200
|
Kilometers of fiber opticconnect ALMA to the city of Calama, where it connects to Antofagasta, Santiago and the rest of the world |
17
|
PetaOperations (17 trillion operations per second), equivalent to billions of dollars in personal computers to make the necessary calculations. This is the fastest computer ever used in an astronomical site |
134
|
Million processors |
2912
|
Printed circuits |
5200
|
Cables of interface |
20
|
Million welding points |
2016
|
Antenna pairings which make the correlator capable of simultaneously running the interferometry |
1
|
Second every three million years is the possible delay in the atomic watch (hydrogen maser) that allows ALMA to observe in synchronization with other telescopes |
Transporters
700
|
Horsepower (500 kW) in the two diesel engines in each transporter |
1800
|
Liters of diesel is consumed approximately when transporting an antenna from the OSF to the AOS |
3000
|
Liter tank capacity |
20
|
Km/h is the maximum speed of transporters and this is reduced to 12 km/h when transporting an antenna up to 5000 m |
4
|
Operators are trained to handle the transporter |
6
|
Months minimum is the time required to train operators to drive them |
