User:Marshallsumter/Radiation astronomy1/Millimeters

The red galaxies at the center of the image make up the heart of the galaxy cluster.

This color image is constructed from multi-wavelength observations: Infrared observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope are shown in red; near-infrared and visible light captured by the Gemini Observatory atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii is green and blue; and radio light from the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA), near Owens Valley in California, is purple.

In addition to galaxies, clusters also contain a reservoir of hot gas with temperatures in the tens of millions of degrees Celsius/Kelvin. CARMA was used to detect this gas, and to determine the mass of this cluster.

Millimeter waves
Extremely high frequency (EHF) is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) designation for the band of radio frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 to 300 gigahertz (GHz), lying between the super high frequency band and the far infrared band, the lower part of which is the terahertz band with wavelengths from ten to one millimeter, so it is also called the millimeter band and radiation in this band is called millimetre waves, sometimes abbreviated MMW or mmWave.

DR 21 molecular clouds
This image is a large-scale mosaic assembled from individual photographs obtained with the InfraRed Array Camera (IRAC) aboard Spitzer. The image covers an area about two times that of a full moon. The mosaic is a composite of images obtained at mid-infrared wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8 microns (red). The brightest infrared in the center corresponds to DR21, which presumably contains a cluster of newly forming stars at a distance of 10,000 light-years.

Protruding out from DR21 toward the bottom left of the image is a gaseous outflow (green), containing both carbon monoxide and molecular hydrogen. Data from the Spitzer spectrograph, which breaks light into its constituent individual wavelengths, indicate the presence of hot steam formed as the outflow heats the surrounding molecular gas. Outflows are physical signatures of processes that create supersonic beams, or jets, of gas. They are usually accompanied by discs of material around the new star, which likely contain the materials from which future planetary systems are formed. Additional newborn stars, depicted in green, can be seen surrounding the DR21 region.

DR 21 is a large molecular cloud located in the constellation Cygnus, discovered in 1966 as a radio continuum source.

A number of different molecules have been detected in the region by their radio emission, including formaldehyde, ammonia, water and carbon monoxide.

Orion Molecular Clouds
Yellow dots are the locations of the observed protostars on a blue background image made by Herschel. Side panels show nine young protostars imaged by ALMA (blue) and the VLA (orange).

A "survey of 328 protostars in the Orion molecular clouds with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array at 0.87 mm at a resolution of ∼0.1" (40 au), including observations with the Very Large Array at 9 mm toward 148 protostars at a resolution of ∼0.08" (32 au) [was conducted]. This is the largest multiwavelength survey of protostars at this resolution by an order of magnitude. We use the dust continuum emission at 0.87 and 9 mm to measure the dust disk radii and masses toward the Class 0, Class I, and flat-spectrum protostars, characterizing the evolution of these disk properties in the protostellar phase. The mean dust disk radii for the Class 0, Class I, and flat-spectrum protostars are 44.9, 37.0, and 28.5 au, respectively, and the mean protostellar dust disk masses are 25.9, 14.9, 11.6 M⊙, respectively."

A number of detections have been made towards the end of confirming the temperature dependence of the abundance ratio of [HNC]/[HCN]. A strong fit between temperature and the abundance ratio would allow observers to spectroscopically detect the ratio and then extrapolate the temperature of the environment, thus gaining great insight into the environment of the species. The abundance ratio of rare isotopes of HNC and HCN along the OMC-1 varies by more than an order of magnitude in warm regions versus cold regions. In 1992, the abundances of HNC, HCN, and deuterated analogs along the OMC-1 ridge and core were measured and the temperature dependence of the abundance ratio was confirmed. A survey of the W 3 Giant Molecular Cloud in 1997 showed over 24 different molecular isotopes, comprising over 14 distinct chemical species, including HNC, HN13C, and H15NC. This survey further confirmed the temperature dependence of the abundance ratio, [HNC]/[HCN], this time ever confirming the dependence of the isotopomers.

Absorptions
Absorption by atmospheric gases is a significant factor throughout the millimeter band and increases with frequency, where this absorption is maximum at a few specific absorption lines, mainly those of oxygen at 60 GHz and water vapor at 24 GHz and 184 GHz.

Sagittarius A*
The image on the right is the first direct visual evidence of the presence of this black hole. It was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), an array which linked together eight existing radio observatories across the planet to form a single “Earth-sized” virtual telescope. The telescope is named after the event horizon, the boundary of the black hole beyond which no light can escape. Although we cannot see the event horizon itself, because it cannot emit light, glowing gas orbiting around the black hole reveals a telltale signature: a dark central region (called a shadow) surrounded by a bright ring-like structure. The new view captures light bent by the powerful gravity of the black hole, which is four million times more massive than our Sun. The image of the Sgr A* black hole is an average of the different images the EHT Collaboration has extracted from its 2017 observations. In addition to other facilities, the EHT network of radio observatories that made this image possible includes the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX) in the Atacama Desert in Chile, co-owned and co-operated by ESO is a partner on behalf of its member states in Europe.

Millimeter wavelength: 1.3 mm, telescope: Event Horizon Telescope.

Lensings
The surrounding lower-resolution portions of the ring trace the millimetre-wavelength light emitted by carbon dioxide and water molecules in galaxy SDP.81.

Carbon monoxide bands
NGC 1087 is a spiral galaxy located approximately 80 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Cetus. The image is a combination of observations conducted at different wavelengths of light to map stellar populations and gas. ALMA’s observations are represented in brownish-orange tones and highlight the clouds of cold molecular gas that provide the raw material from which stars form. The MUSE data show up mainly in gold and blue. The bright golden glows map warm clouds of mainly ionised hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur gas, marking the presence of newly born stars, while the bluish regions reveal the distribution of slightly older stars.

CL J1001+0220
This composite shows CL J1001+0220 in X-rays from Chandra (purple), infrared data from the UltraVISTA telescope (red, green, and blue), and radio waves from ALMA (green).

"This overdensity includes 11 DRGs and 2 blue galaxies within a 10” radius, or 80 kpc at z = 2.5. The photometric redshift distribution of these 13 galaxies shows a prominent peak at z ∼ 2.5 with one of them identified as a Lyman-α emitter at z ∼ 2.5±0.1 based on intermediate-band data (IA427 filter) in the Subaru COSMOS 20 survey (Taniguchi et al. 2015)."

"The same overdensity also corresponds to the brightest Herschel/SPIRE source (unresolved) in the region covered by the CANDELS-Herschel survey [...] in the COSMOS field [...], with flux densities of ∼ 61, 77, and 66 mJy at SPIRE 250, 350, and 500 μm, respectively. With a peak at 350 μm, the far-infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) of this over-density provides further evidence that most of its member galaxies are likely at z ∼ 2.5. This overdensity was also detected at 850 μm with SCUBA-2 (Casey et al. 2013) and 1.1 mm with Aztec (Aretxaga et al. 2011) with flux densities 14.8 and 8.9 mJy, respectively. The same region was also observed as a candidate of lensed sources with ALMA at band-7 (870 μm) as described in Bussmann et al. (2015). ALMA resolves 5 out of the 11 DRGs in the core down to S870 μm > 1.6 mJy [...]."

Active galactic nuclei
Spectacular streamers of gas surround the two nuclei and eye-catching blue spiral trails indicate recent star formation. The shape of the object is highly disturbed and observations in various wavelength regimes — infrared, millimeter-wave and radio — provide additional evidence for a starburst in this system. NGC 5256 is located in the constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear, some 350 million light-years from Earth. Each galaxy also contains an active galactic nucleus, evidence that the chaos is allowing gas to fall into the regions around central black holes as well as feeding starbursts. Recent observations from the Chandra X-ray Observatory show that both nuclei, as well as a region of hot gas in between them, have been heated by the shock waves driven as gas clouds at high velocities collide.

Coordinates Position (RA): 	2 46 25.16 Position (Dec): 	0° 29' 56.26" Field of view: 	2.95 x 1.99 arcminutes Orientation:    	North is 90.0° left of vertical

Colours & filters     Band	Telescope Optical OIII      	499 nm	Very Large Telescope MUSE Optical G          	475 nm	Very Large Telescope MUSE Optical H-alpha    	656 nm	Very Large Telescope MUSE Optical R          	630 nm	Very Large Telescope MUSE Optical SII        	673 nm	Very Large Telescope MUSE Optical I          	775 nm	Very Large Telescope MOSAIC Millimeter CO [2–1] 	12 mm	Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Band 6

Electrons
The events surrounding the Big Bang were so cataclysmic that they left an indelible imprint on the fabric of the cosmos. We can detect these scars today by observing the oldest light in the Universe. As it was created nearly 14 billion years ago, this light — which exists now as weak microwave radiation and is thus named the cosmic microwave background (CMB) — has now expanded to permeate the entire cosmos, filling it with detectable photons. The CMB can be used to probe the cosmos via something known as the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (SZ) effect, which was first observed over 30 years ago. We detect the CMB here on Earth when its constituent microwave photons travel to us through space. On their journey to us, they can pass through galaxy clusters that contain high-energy electrons. These electrons give the photons a tiny boost of energy. Detecting these boosted photons through our telescopes is challenging but important — they can help astronomers to understand some of the fundamental properties of the Universe, such as the location and distribution of dense galaxy clusters. This image shows the first measurements of the thermal Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile (in blue). Astronomers combined data from ALMA’s 7- and 12-metre antennas to produce the sharpest possible image. The target was one of the most massive known galaxy clusters, RX J1347.5–1145, the centre of which shows up here in the dark “hole” in the ALMA observations. The energy distribution of the CMB photons shifts and appears as a temperature decrease at the wavelength observed by ALMA, hence a dark patch is observed in this image at the location of the cluster.

"Radio observations at 210 GHz taken by the Bernese Multibeam Radiometer for KOSMA (BEMRAK) [of] high-energy particle acceleration during the energetic solar flare of 2003 October 28 [...] at submillimeter wavelengths [reveal] a gradual, long-lasting (>30 minutes) component with large apparent source sizes (~60"). Its spectrum below ~200 GHz is consistent with synchrotron emission from flare-accelerated electrons producing hard X-ray and γ-ray bremsstrahlung assuming a magnetic field strength of ≥200 G in the radio source and a confinement time of the radio-emitting electrons in the source of less than 30 s. [... There is a] close correlation in time and space of radio emission with the production of pions".

RA 13 47 30.65, Dec -11° 45' 18.95", Band: Millimeter (blue) 3.258613 mm using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

Positronium atoms
The "millimeter-wavelength range presented a number of advantages (minimum background noise temperature, high antenna directivity, etc.). [In] the millimetric range, a natural frequency standard could be the hyperfine-structure transition 13S1 - 11S0 of the positronium (PS) atom, which is a short-lived system consisting of an electron and a positron. This line at 203.385 GHz is analogous to the 21-cm line of neutral hydrogen."

Synchrotron radiation
"Gamma-ray blazars have been identified as a distinct class of object through observations of the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (von Montigny et al. 1995a). Their properties include intense and variable emission at energies exceeding 100 MeV, a variable flat radio spectrum, superluminal motion in the radio core, and optical polarization."

"Millimeter wavelength very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) provides a unique tool for probing the dynamics and physical conditions of these jets. The superior resolution at short wavelengths allows precise imaging of an active nucleus rapidly following the creation of new components in the jet. Furthermore, synchrotron radiation, the emission from relativistic electrons in a magnetic field and the source of the radio emission in blazars, becomes optically thin in blazars at wavelengths between 1 cm and 1 mm (Stevens et al. 1994). The low opacity permits a deeper view into the radio core. Marscher (1995), for example, has shown that sensitive imaging at optically thin wavelengths is capable of discriminating between a variety of models for gamma-ray emission. Finally, the shorter lifetime of synchrotron sources at millimeter wavelengths allows improved temporal resolution of flares."

An "intimate connection appears to exist between millimeter VLBI and EGRET sources. Nine of the 30 blazars detected with 3 mm wavelength VLBI (Rogers 1994), including five of the 10 brightest, are also EGRET sources (Thompson et al. 1995). This is in contrast to the EGRET detection of 51 sources from the 518 in the Kühr et al. (1981) all-sky S(5 GHz) ≥ 1 Jy catalog. This is an expected consequence of the flat-spectrum character of EGRET sources (e.g., von Montigny et al. 1995a)."

"VLBI observations during the flare show the creation of new components in a bent jet on subparsec scales. The components move at an apparent velocity of 7c. The observations also imply expansion in a separate component with a speed greater than 26c."

"Studies have found mixed evidence for correlated activity in radio through optical wavelengths (e.g., Tornikoski et al. 1994 ; Stevens et al. 1994). Gamma-ray activity was found to be correlated with infrared to X-ray activity in 3C 279 (Maraschi et al. 1994) and to occur before or during a rise in radio and millimeter flux in many sources (Reich et al. 1993 ; Valtaoja & Teräsranta 1995)."

GRB 21106A
The millimeter light seen here pinpoints the location of the event to a distant host galaxy in images captured using the Hubble Space Telescope. The evolution of the millimeter light’s brightness provides information on the energy and geometry of the jets produced in the explosion.

"Due to nγ collisions of the ultrarelativistic neutrons with the submillimeter-IR photons, the neutrons with Lorentz factors Γ > Γesc [...] should degrade in the region r ≤ rmx responsible for the low-frequency radiation of [active galactic nuclei] AGN."

Visuals
"This image composite shows a warped and magnified view of a galaxy discovered by the Herschel Space Observatory, one of five such galaxies uncovered by the infrared telescope. The galaxy -- referred to as "SDP 81" -- is the yellow dot in the left image taken by Herschel. It can also be seen as the pink smudges in the right image, a composite of ground-based observations showing more detail."

"Herschel was able to find the galaxy, which is buried in dust, because it happens to be positioned behind another galaxy (blue blob at right), which is acting like a cosmic lens to make it appear brighter. The gravity of the foreground galaxy is distorting and magnifying the distant galaxy's light, causing it to appear in multiple places, as seen as the pink smudges. The distant galaxy is so far away that its light took about 11 billion years to reach us."

"Herschel couldn't detect the foreground galaxy, but astronomers were able to spot it in visible light using the W.M. Keck Observatory. Several follow-up observations by ground telescopes helped to get a better view of the distant galaxy. For example, the pink smudges at the right show wavelengths that are even longer than what Herschel sees in the submillimeter portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Those observations were made by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Submillimeter Array in Hawaii."

Sunspots
Sunspots are transient features that occur in regions where the Sun’s magnetic field is extremely concentrated and powerful. They have lower temperatures than their surrounding regions, which is why they appear relatively dark. These observations are the first ever made of the Sun with a facility where ESO is a partner. They are an important expansion of the range of observations that can be used to probe the mysterious physics of our nearest star.

"The Sun has long been known to go through eleven-year cycles of high and low activity, including sunspots, which have been likened to solar volcanoes. Times of high activity are also the most likely time for coronal mass ejections, which often emanate from sunspot regions. On rare occasions these eruptions of plasma may hit the Earth's magnetic field, setting it oscillating. It then releases previously trapped particles as the Aurora Borealis and Australis. Occasionally, the effects are so intense that these charged particles and magnetic effects can ding the performance of satellites and power grids. The poles flip at the time of high activity, and the intensity of the magnetic field peaks when the Sun is least active. A hypothetical heat-proof compass on the surface of the Sun would point toward one pole during one eleven-year period but toward the other during the next."

The activity of all stars in the system was found to be driven by their luminosity, their rotation, and nothing else. The luminosity and rotation are used together to determine a star's Rossby number, which is related to plasma flow. The smaller the Rossby number, the less active the star with respect to magnetic reversals.

Comet 46P/Wirtanen
This close pass of comet 46P/Wirtanen gave astronomers the chance to observe the comet in detail, and ALMA (the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) took full advantage. ALMA’s speciality is observing the cooler components of the Universe, such as gas and dust, and the array often focuses on specific molecules. This image is no exception, as it highlights one key thing: the hydrogen cyanide gas in the coma around the comet’s nucleus.

Band: Millimeter HCN, wavelength: 845 μm, telescope: Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

C/2012 F6 (Lemmon)
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array for the first time, detailed distributions of hydrogen cyanide (HCN), HNC, formaldehyde (H2CO), and dust inside the comae of comets C/2012 F6 (Lemmon) and C/2012 S1 (ISON) were made.

C/2012 S1 (ISON)
Particles of Comet ISON, which likely sublimated at perihelion, entered Earth's atmosphere as meteor particles. 43 meteor events were recorded after analyzing 54,000 images from 10–17 January 2014.

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) for the first time, that detailed the distribution of, , , and dust inside the comae of comets C/2012 F6 (Lemmon) and C/2012 S1 (ISON).

Titan
NASA-led Study Sees Titan Glowing at Dusk and Dawn. Data map of gas clouds are over a linear sketch of the moon. High in the atmosphere of Titan, large patches of two trace gases glow near the north pole, on the dusk side of the moon, and near the south pole, on the dawn side. Brighter colors indicate stronger signals from the two gases, HNC (wavelength: 9 mm, left) and HC3N (right); red hues indicate less pronounced signals.

New maps of Saturn’s moon Titan reveal large patches of trace gases shining brightly near the north and south poles. These regions are curiously shifted off the poles, to the east or west, so that dawn is breaking over the southern region while dusk is falling over the northern one.

The mapping comes from observations made by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a network of high-precision antennas in Chile. At the wavelengths used by these antennas, the gas-rich areas in Titan’s atmosphere glowed brightly. And because of ALMA’s sensitivity, the researchers were able to obtain spatial maps of chemicals in Titan’s atmosphere from a “snapshot” observation that lasted less than three minutes.

At the highest altitudes, the gas pockets appeared to be shifted away from the poles. These off-pole locations are unexpected because the fast-moving winds in Titan’s middle atmosphere move in an east–west direction, forming zones similar to Jupiter’s bands, though much less pronounced. Within each zone, the atmospheric gases should, for the most part, be thoroughly mixed.

"A three-color (850 [0.353 mm], 650 [0.462 mm], and 350 GHz [0.857 mm]) single-pixel bolometer system has been installed [on the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE)] and several massive star forming regions were mapped to derive submillimeter SEDs of these sources."

DeeDee
"At about three times the current distance of Pluto from the Sun, DeeDee is the second most distant known trans-Neptunian object (TNO) with a confirmed orbit, surpassed only by the dwarf planet Eris. Astronomers estimate that there are tens-of-thousands of these icy bodies in the outer solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune."

"The new ALMA data reveal, for the first time, that DeeDee is roughly 635 kilometers across, or about two-thirds the diameter of the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest member of our asteroid belt. At this size, DeeDee should have enough mass to be spherical, the criterion necessary for astronomers to consider it a dwarf planet, though it has yet to receive that official designation."

“Far beyond Pluto is a region surprisingly rich with planetary bodies. Some are quite small but others have sizes to rival Pluto, and could possibly be much larger. Because these objects are so distant and dim, it’s incredibly difficult to even detect them, let alone study them in any detail. ALMA, however, has unique capabilities that enabled us to learn exciting details about these distant worlds.”

"Currently, DeeDee [short for Distant Dwarf] is about 92 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun. An astronomical unit is the average distance from the Earth to the Sun, or about 150 million kilometers. At this tremendous distance, it takes DeeDee more than 1,100 years to complete one orbit. Light from DeeDee takes nearly 13 hours to reach Earth."

"DeeDee [was found] in the fall of 2016 [...] using the 4-meter Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile".

"Since ALMA observes the cold, dark universe, it is able to detect the heat – in the form of millimeter-wavelength light – emitted naturally by cold objects in space. The heat signature from a distant solar system object would be directly proportional to its size."

“We calculated that this object would be incredibly cold, only about 30 degrees Kelvin, just a little above absolute zero.”

DeeDee "reflects only about 13 percent of the sunlight that hits it. That is about the same reflectivity of the dry dirt found on a baseball infield."

“There are still new worlds to discover in our own cosmic backyard. The solar system is a rich and complicated place.”

Interstellar medium
HCN (not HNC) was first detected using the 36-foot radio telescope of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. The main molecular isotope, H12C14N, was observed via its J = 1→0 transition at 88.6 GHz (about 9 mm) in six different sources: W3 (OH), Orion A, Sgr A(NH3A), W49, W51, DR 21(OH).

Boomerang nebula
The background purple structure (on the left), as seen in visible light with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a classic double-lobe shape with a very narrow central region. ALMA’s ability to see the cold molecular gas reveals the nebula’s more elongated shape, in orange.

Since 2003 the nebula, located about 5000 light-years from Earth, has held the record for the coldest known object in the Universe. The nebula is thought to have formed from the envelope of a star in its later stages of life which engulfed a smaller, binary companion. It is possible that this is the cause of the ultra-cold outflows, which are illuminated by the light of the central, dying star.

ALMA looked at the nebula’s central dusty disc and the outflows further out, which span a distance of almost four light-years across the sky. These outflows are even colder than the cosmic microwave background, reaching temperatures below –270 °C. The outflows are also expanding at a speed of 590 000 kilometres per hour.

"The differential 850-μm counts are well described by the function


 * $$n(S) = N_0/(a + S^{3.2}),$$

where $$S$$ is the flux in mJy, $$N_0$$ = 3.0 × 104 per square degree per mJy, and $$a$$ = 0.4 − 1.0 is chosen to match the 850-μm extragalactic background light."

The "absorption and reradiation of light by dust in the history of galaxy formation and evolution is [...] the submillimeter extragalactic background light [(EBL). It] has approximately the same integrated energy density as the optical EBL."

Orion Nebula stellar explosions
These dramatic images of the remains of a 500-year-old explosion as they explored the firework-like debris from the birth of a group of massive stars, demonstrates that star formation can be a violent and explosive process too.

The colours in the ALMA data represent the relative Doppler shifting of the millimetre-wavelength light emitted by carbon monoxide gas. The blue colour in the ALMA data represents gas approaching at the highest speeds; the red colour is from gas moving toward us more slowly.

The background image includes optical and near-infrared imaging from both the Gemini South and ESO Very Large Telescope. The famous Trapezium Cluster of hot young stars appears towards the bottom of this image. The ALMA data do not cover the full image shown here.

RA 5 35 14.08 Dec -5° 22' 2.33".

Bands:

Infrared Fe II Blue	1.64 μm	   Gemini Observatory GSAOI

Infrared J	 Blue  1.25 μm	    Very Large Telescope ISAAC

Infrared H	 Green  1.65 μm	    Very Large Telescope ISAAC

Infrared H2	 Orange  2.12 μm	    Gemini Observatory GSAOI

Infrared Ks	 Red  2.2 μm	    Very Large Telescope ISAAC

Millimeter  Gray	1.3 mm	    Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array

SDC 335.579-0.292
A stellar womb with over 500 times the mass than the Sun has been found and appears as the yellow blob near the centre of this picture. This is the largest ever seen in the Milky Way — and it is still growing. The embryonic star within is hungrily feeding on the material that is racing inwards. It is expected to give birth to a very brilliant star with up to 100 times the mass of the Sun. This image combines data from ALMA and NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.

RA 16 31 1.43, Dec -48° 42' 32.98".

Snake Nebula
"Stretching across almost 100 light-years of space, the Snake nebula is located about 11,700 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus."

"In images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, which observes infrared light, it appears as a sinuous, dark tendril against the starry background. It was targeted because it shows the potential to form many massive stars (stars with more than 8 times the mass of our Sun). SMA was used to observe sub-millimetre radiation from the nebula, radiation emitted between the infrared and radio parts of the electromagnetic spectrum."

"The two panels [at right] show the Snake nebula as photographed by the Spitzer and Herschel space telescopes. At mid-infrared wavelengths (the upper panel taken by Spitzer), the thick nebular material blocks light from more distant stars. At far-infrared wavelengths, however (the lower panel taken by Herschel), the nebula glows due to emission from cold dust. The two boxed regions, P1 and P6, were examined in more detail by the Submillimeter Array."

"To learn how stars form, we have to catch them in their earliest phases, while they're still deeply embedded in clouds of gas and dust, and the SMA is an excellent telescope to do so."

Two "specific spots within the Snake nebula, designated P1 and P6 [were studied]. Within those two regions they detected a total of 23 cosmic "seeds" -- faintly glowing spots that will eventually give birth to between one and a few stars. The seeds generally weigh between 5 and 25 times the mass of the Sun, and each spans a few hundred billion kilometres (for comparison the average Earth-Sun distance is 150 million km). The sensitive, high-resolution SMA images not only unveil the small seeds, but also differentiate them in age."

"The left panel [for P1] shows a far-infrared view from the Herschel space telescope. Submillimeter views from the SMA are at center and right. The sensitive, high-resolution SMA images reveal small cosmic “seeds” spanning less than a tenth of a light-year, which will form one or a few massive stars."

The left panel [for p6] shows a far-infrared view from the Herschel space telescope. Submillimeter views from the SMA are at center and right. The sensitive, high-resolution SMA images reveal small cosmic “seeds” scattered in the shape of a question mark. Each seed will form one or a few massive stars."

"Previous theories proposed that high-mass stars form within very massive, isolated "cores" weighing at least 100 times the mass of the Sun. These new results show that that is not the case. The data also demonstrate that massive stars aren't born alone but in groups."

Tarantula Nebula
The background image, taken in the infrared, is itself a composite: it was captured by the HAWK-I instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), shows bright stars and light, pinkish clouds of hot gas. The bright red-yellow streaks that have been superimposed on the image come from radio observations taken by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), revealing regions of cold, dense gas which have the potential to collapse and form stars. The unique web-like structure of the gas clouds led astronomers to the nebula’s spidery nickname.

RA 5 38 45.17, Dec -69° 4' 37.05"

Betelgeuse
This is the first time that ALMA has ever observed the surface of a star and this first attempt has resulted in the highest-resolution image of Betelgeuse available. Betelgeuse is one of the largest stars currently known — with a radius around 1400 times larger than the Sun’s in the millimeter continuum. About 600 light-years away in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter), the red supergiant burns brightly, causing it to have only a short life expectancy. The star is just about eight million years old, but is already on the verge of becoming a supernova. When that happens, the resulting explosion will be visible from Earth, even in broad daylight. The star has been observed in many other wavelengths, particularly in the visible, infrared, and ultraviolet. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope astronomers discovered a vast plume of gas almost as large as our Solar System. Astronomers have also found a gigantic bubble that boils away on Betelgeuse’s surface. These features help to explain how the star is shedding gas and dust at tremendous rates (eso0927, eso1121). In this picture, ALMA observes the hot gas of the photosphere of Betelgeuse at sub-millimeter wavelengths — where localised increased temperatures explain why it is not symmetric. Scientifically, ALMA can help us to understand the extended atmospheres of these hot, blazing stars.

RA 5 55 10.31 Dec 7° 24' 25.43", Millimeter 890 µm wavelength, Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

CARMA-7
At their origin lies an extremely young star — called a protostar — that is beginning the long journey to becoming a star much like the Sun.

The infant star, known as CARMA-7, and its jets are located approximately 1400 light-years from Earth within the Serpens South star cluster. This dense cluster, predictably found in the constellation of Serpens (The Serpent), is home to at least 30 more protostars that are sparking into existence in close proximity, providing astronomers with a perfect laboratory in which to study the interactions between stars and their environment.

The first steps of a star’s life are still poorly understood, but astronomers concluded that these knotted, smoky jets are caused by periodic outbursts of gas, ejected at tremendous speeds from CARMA-7 into its surroundings. These outbursts are triggered by material infalling onto the protostar from an orbiting disc. As the jets speed away from their infant star, they collide with interstellar material causing them to slow and spread out. One day, that material may collapse and form yet another generation of stars.

Band: Millimeter wavelength: 1.31 mm, telecope: Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

CI Tauri
The image is High-resolution Millimeter imaging of CI Tauri's Protoplanetary Disk: A Massive Ensemble of Protoplanets from 0.1 to 100 AU.

CK Vulpeculae
CK Vulpeculae was first spotted on 20 June 1670 by French monk and astronomer Père Dom Anthelme. When it first appeared it was easily visible with the naked eye; over the subsequent two years the flare varied in brightness and disappeared and reappeared twice, before finally vanishing from view for good.

Band: Millimeter, wavelength 1.324534 mm, Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

Elias 2-27
ALMA has discovered and observed plenty of protoplanetary discs, but this disc is special as it shows two distinct spiral arms, almost like a tiny version of a spiral galaxy.

Previously, astronomers noted compelling spiral features on the surfaces of protoplanetary discs, but it was unknown if these same spiral patterns also emerged deep within the disc where planet formation takes place. ALMA, for the first time, was able to peer deep into the mid-plane of a disk and discovered the clear signature of spiral density waves.

Nearest to the star, ALMA found a flat disc of dust, which extends to what would approximately be the orbit of Neptune in our own Solar System. Beyond that point, in the region analogous to our Kuiper Belt, ALMA detected a narrow band with significantly less dust, which may be an indication for planet in formation. Springing from the outer edge of this gap are the two sweeping spiral arms that extend more than 10 billion kilometers away from their host star. The discovery of spiral waves at these extreme distances may have implications on the theory of planet formation.

Notation: let the symbol JCMT stand for the 15 m James Clerk Maxwell Telescope.

Notation: let the symbol IRAM stand for the 30 m Institute for Radio Astronomy in the Millimeter Range  telescope.

The "submillimeter continuum emission from the rich star-forming core, ρ Oph A, at 350, 450, 800, and 1300 μm using the JCMT and IRAM 30 m telescopes [has been mapped]."

Band: Millimeter, frequency: 231.2 GHZ, wavelength: 1.3 mm, telescope: Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

Fomalhaut
The underlying blue image shows an earlier picture obtained by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The new ALMA image has given astronomers a major breakthrough in understanding a nearby planetary system and provided valuable clues about how such systems form and evolve. Note that ALMA has so far only observed a part of the ring.

Fomalhaut is in the constellation Piscis Austrinus, a star 25 light years away at RA 22 57 39.04, Dec -29° 37' 19.83". The dust ring around Fomalhaut imaged by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array was imaged in the Millimeter range (orange).

Acknowledgements for the image: A.C. Boley (University of Florida, Sagan Fellow), M.J. Payne, E.B. Ford, M. Shabran (University of Florida), S. Corder (North American ALMA Science Center, National Radio Astronomy Observatory), and W. Dent (ALMA, Chile), P. Kalas, J. Graham, E. Chiang, E. Kite (University of California, Berkeley), M. Clampin (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), M. Fitzgerald (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), and K. Stapelfeldt and J. Krist (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory).

RA 22 57 39.05, Dec -29° 37' 18.51", Band: Millimeter, 1.3 mm wavelength, Telescope: Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

Fomalhaut is known to be surrounded by several discs of debris — the one visible in this ALMA image is the outermost one. The ring is approximately 20 billion kilometers from the central star and about 2 billion kilometers wide. Such a relative narrow, eccentric disc can only be produced by the gravitational influence of planets in the system, like Jupiter’s gravitational influence on our asteroid belt. In 2008 the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope discovered the famous exoplanet Fomalhaut b orbiting within this belt, but the planet is not visible in this ALMA image.

HD 36112
This image from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) shows MWC 758, a young star that is approaching adulthood and surrounded by knotty, irregular rings of cosmic dust, three of which can be seen here. Unusually, these rings are elliptical in shape rather than being perfectly circular — making this the first discovery of an intrinsically elliptical protoplanetary disc with ALMA!

The outer and inner rings each contain one particularly bright clump, visible as arcs of yellow. Additionally there appear to be spiral arms traced out within the dust, as well as a core dust-free cavity that is slightly off-centre. These are all features that hint at the presence of unseen planets. As planets form, they gravitationally interact with the disc and create various telltale features and structures. Astronomers can thus observe a system like MWC 758 and not only infer the existence of potential hidden planets, but also estimate their masses, locations, and orbits.

RA 5 30 27.53, Dec 25° 19' 56.61", Band: Millimeter 870 µm wavelength.

HD 163296
RA 17 56 21.17, Dec -21° 57' 20.44", Band: Millimeter, Telescope: Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

Using a novel planet-finding technique, astronomers have identified three discrete disturbances in the young star’s gas-filled disc: the strongest evidence yet that newly formed planets are in orbit there. These are considered the first planets discovered with ALMA. This image shows part of the ALMA data set at one wavelength and reveals a clear “kink” in the material, which indicates unambiguously the presence of one of the planets.

HD 169142
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) imaged this disc in high resolution by picking up faint signals from its constituent millimetre-sized dust grains. The vivid rings are thick bands of dust, separated by deep gaps.

Band: Millimeter, 230 GHz, wavelength: 1.3 mm, telescope: Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

HD 181327
Using 39 of the 66 antennas of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), located 5000 metres up on the Chajnantor plateau in the Chilean Andes, astronomers have been able to detect carbon monoxide (CO) in the disc of debris around an F-type star. Although carbon monoxide is the second most common molecule in the interstellar medium, after molecular hydrogen, this is the first time that CO has been detected around a star of this type. The star, named HD 181327, is a member of the Beta Pictoris moving group, located almost 170 light-years from Earth.

Until now, the presence of CO has been detected only around a few A-type stars, substantially more massive and luminous than HD 181327. Using the superb spatial resolution and sensitivity offered by the ALMA observatory astronomers were now able to capture this stunning ring of smoke and map the density of the CO within the disc.

The study of debris discs is one way to characterize planetary systems and the results of planet formation. The CO gas is found to be co-located with the dust grains in the ring of debris and to have been produced recently. Destructive collisions of icy planetesimals in the disc are possible sources for the continuous replenishment of the CO gas. Collisions in debris discs typically require the icy bodies to be gravitationally perturbed by larger objects in order to reach sufficient collisional velocities. Moreover, the derived CO composition of the icy planetesimals in the disc is consistent with the comets in our Solar System. This possible secondary origin for the CO gas suggests that icy comets could be common around stars similar to our Sun which has strong implications for life suitability in terrestrial exoplanets.

Millimeter, frequency: 220 GHz, telescope: Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

Herbig-Haro object HH 46/47
The ALMA observations (orange and green, lower right) of the newborn star reveal a large energetic jet moving away from us, which in the visible is hidden by dust and gas. To the left (in pink and purple) the visible part of the jet is seen, streaming partly towards us.

Band: Millimeter CO	wavelength 2.6 mm, Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

HL Tauri
HL Tauri (abbreviated HL Tau) is a very young T Tauri star in the constellation Taurus, approximately 450 ly from Earth in the Taurus Molecular Cloud. The luminosity and effective temperature of HL Tauri imply that its age is less than 100,000 years. At apparent magnitude 15.1, it is too faint to be seen with the unaided eye. It is surrounded by a protoplanetary disk marked by dark bands visible in submillimeter radiation that may indicate a number of planets in the process of formation. It is accompanied by the Herbig–Haro object HH 150, a jet of gas emitted along the rotational axis of the disk that is colliding with nearby interstellar dust and gas.

A gas disk was discovered by interferometric observation of carbon monoxide (CO) emissions in 1986. Based on observation data in 1985 and 1986 from the Millimeter Wave Interferometer of the Owens Valley Radio Observatory, the circumstellar disk was estimated to have a mass between M⨀ = 0.01 and M⨀ = 0.5, with a best fit of M⨀ = 0.1, and a radius of about 200 AU. The temperature of the gas and grains of the disk are probably of the order of a few tens of K. The gas was found to be bound to and in Keplerian rotation around a star with a mass of about M⨀ = 1. Bipolar outflow of molecules such as carbon monoxide (CO) and diatomic hydrogen (H2) have been observed. The element iron has also been noted in the outflow in its Fe(II) oxidation state, also called Fe2+ or ferrous iron.

An image of the protoplanetary disk made at submillimeter wavelengths by the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) was made public in 2014, showing a series of concentric bright rings separated by gaps. The disk appeared much more evolved than would have been expected from the age of the system, which suggests that the planetary formation process may be faster than previously thought. ALMA's Catherine Vlahakis said, "When we first saw this image we were astounded at the spectacular level of detail. HL Tauri is no more than a million years old, yet already its disc appears to be full of forming planets. This one image alone will revolutionize theories of planet formation."

L1448 IRS3B
For the first time, astronomers have seen a dusty disc of material around a young star fragmenting into a multiple star system. This image comprises new observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), Chile, and reveals the process in action!

Stars form in cosmic clouds of gas and dust, when the thin material in the clouds collapses gravitationally into denser cores that in turn draw additional material inward. The infalling material forms a rotating disc around the young star, and is slowly consumed. Eventually, the young star gathers enough mass to create the necessary temperatures and pressures at its centre to trigger nuclear fusion.

Stars that have no companion — such as the Sun — are not as common as we once thought. In fact, almost half of the stars in our galaxy have at least one companion, and some are more sociable still! Previous studies have indicated that the stars in multiple systems tend to be either relatively close to each other, within about 500 times the Earth-Sun distance (known as an Astronomical Unit or AU), or significantly further apart, at over 1000 AU.

Given these wildly different distances, scientists concluded that there were two main mechanisms producing multiple star systems — either the original cloud collapsed unstably and fragmented, each subsequent fragment crumpling to form a new star, or the rotating disc around an existing star fragmented, with the same result. Systems with larger separations likely formed via the former process (as recent observational studies have suggested), and closer-knit stellar families via the latter (although there was limited evidence of this process).

New data from ALMA have now offered observational evidence of this conclusion. This image shows the second process in action, as seen in the young triple star system L1448 IRS3B. The trio are still deeply embedded within their parent cloud in the constellation of Perseus, some 750 light-years from Earth, and are hungrily feeding from material in the surrounding disc. ALMA has revealed this disc to have a spiral structure, a feature that indicates gravitational instability.

Millimeter	1.5 mm	Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

LL Pegasi
The old star LL Pegasi is continuously losing gaseous material as it evolves into a planetary nebula, and the distinct spiral shape is the imprint made by the stars orbiting in this gas.

RA 23 19 12.61, Dec 17° 11' 33.07".

Mira A
One of the most famous red giants in the sky is called Mira A, part of the binary system Mira which lies about 400 light-years from Earth. In this image ALMA reveals Mira’s secret life. Mira A is an old star, already starting to throw out the products of its life’s work into space for recycling. Mira A’s companion, known as Mira B, orbits it at twice the distance from the Sun to Neptune. Mira A is known to have a slow wind which gently moulds the surrounding material. ALMA has now confirmed that Mira’s companion is a very different kind of star, with a very different wind. Mira B is a hot, dense white dwarf with a fierce and fast stellar wind. New observations show how the winds from the two stars have created a fascinating, beautiful and complex nebula. The remarkable heart-shaped bubble at the centre is created by Mira B’s energetic wind inside Mira A’s more relaxed outflow. The heart, which formed some time in the last 400 years or so, and the rest of the gas surrounding the pair show that they have long been building this strange and beautiful environment together. By looking at stars like Mira A and Mira B scientists hope to discover how our galaxy’s double stars differ from single stars in how they give back what they have created to the Milky Way’s stellar ecosystem. Despite their distance from one another, Mira A and its companion have had a strongeffect on one another and demonstrate how double stars can influence their environments and leave clues for scientists to decipher. Other old and dying stars also have bizarre surroundings, as astronomers have seen using both ALMA and other telescopes. But it’s not always clear whether the stars are single, like the Sun, or double, like Mira. Mira A, its mysterious partner and their heart-shaped bubble are all part of this story.

Band: Millimeter wavelength: 900 μm, telescope: Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

PDS 70C
The image shows this planet and its disc centre-front, with the larger circumstellar ring-like disc taking up most of the right-hand side of the image. The dusty circumplanetary disc is as large as the Sun-Earth distance and has enough mass to form up to three satellites the size of the Moon.

The PDS 70 system is located nearly 400 light-years away and still in the process of being formed. The system features a star at its centre and at least two planets orbiting it, PDS 70b (not visible in the image) and PDS 70c, surrounded by a circumplanetary disc (the dot to the right of the star). The planets have carved a cavity in the circumstellar disc (the ring-like structure that dominates the image) as they gobbled up material from the disc itself, growing in size. It was during this process that PDS 70c acquired its own circumplanetary disc, which contributes to the growth of the planet and where moons can form.

Millimeter 350 GHz, wavelength: 855 μm, telescope: Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

R Sculptoris
"Observations using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have revealed an unexpected spiral structure in the material around the old star R Sculptoris. This feature has never been seen before and is probably caused by a hidden companion star orbiting the star. This slice through the new ALMA data reveals the shell around the star, which shows up as the outer circular ring, as well as a very clear spiral structure in the inner material." The image band is centered at 870 µm which is regarded as in the millimeter.

TW Hydrae
In the image on the right, the upper panels have a contour spacing of 5 Jy beam-1 together with lower panel images from a simulated observation using model parameters and a contour spacing of 3 Jy beam-1. The small cross indicates the position of the continuum source.

Observations "of the circumstellar disk surrounding the nearby young star TW Hya in the CO J = 2–1 and J = 3–2 lines and associated dust continuum obtained with the partially completed Submillimeter Array [are reported]. The extent and peak flux of the 230 [1.30 mm] and 345 GHz [0.870 mm] dust emission follow closely the predictions of the irradiated accretion disk model of Calvet et al. The resolved molecular line emission extends to a radius of at least 200 AU, the full extent of the disk visible in scattered light, and shows a clear pattern of Keplerian rotation. Comparison of the images with two-dimensional Monte Carlo models constrains the disk inclination angle to 7°􏰁 ± 1􏰁°. The CO emission is optically thick in both lines, and the kinetic temperature in the line formation region is ∼20 K."

V1247 Orionis
"This disc can be seen here in two parts: a clearly defined central ring of matter and a more delicate crescent structure located further out."

RA 5 38 5.25, Dec -1° 15' 21.70", Millimeter 870 μm wavelength at Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

"The region between the ring and crescent, visible as a dark strip, is thought to be caused by a young planet carving its way through the disc. As the planet orbits around its parent star, its motion creates areas of high pressure on either side of its path, similar to how a ship creates bow waves as it cuts through water. These areas of high pressure could become protective barriers around sites of planet formation; dust particles are trapped within them for millions of years, allowing them the time and space to clump together and grow."

"The image reveals not only the crescent-shaped dust trap at the outer edge of the dark strip, but also regions of excess dust within the ring, possibly indicating a second dust trap that formed inside of the potential planet’s orbit."

SS 433 microquasar
This image on the right, captured for the very first time at submillimeter wavelengths by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), is special because it shows the jets emitted by a hot, swirling disc of material encircling the black hole at SS 433’s centre. Owing to its relative proximity, SS 433 is a particularly useful object for researchers looking to learn more about microquasars and the jets they emit.

The corkscrew shape visible here is created by a phenomenon known as precession; as they move outwards through space, these two jets are slowly tumbling around an axis in a similar way to the motion of a gyroscope or a spinning top slowing down, the orientation of their rotational axes changing as they do so. The scale of this corkscrew is enormous, at 5000 times the size of the Solar System.

One remarkable aspect of this observation is that its detailed shape was entirely predicted from spectroscopic measurements by the Global Jet Watch telescopes in the preceding year before the ALMA observations were made. The sequence of these observations allowed researchers to make and test predictions about the paths the jets would take, representing a new milestone in the study of microquasars. The observations have also resolved the question of why the jets are still hot at such great distances from their origin — ALMA’s sensitivity enabled researchers to identify that reheating of the plasma occurs when successive jet surges expand and collide with one another.

Supernova 1987A
ALMA data (in red) shows newly formed dust in the centre of the remnant. Hubble (in green) and Chandra (in blue) data show the expanding shock wave.

RA 5 35 27.60, Dec -69° 16' 7.93".

Bands:

X-ray Blue Chandra X-ray Observatory

Optical Green Hubble Space Telescope

Millimeter Red Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

Andromeda galaxy
The glow seen here comes from the longer-wavelength, or far, end of the infrared spectrum, giving astronomers the chance to identify the very coldest dust in our galactic neighbor. These light wavelengths span from 250 to 500 microns, which are a quarter to half of a millimeter in size. Herschel's ability to detect the light allows astronomers to see clouds of dust at temperatures of only a few tens of degrees above absolute zero. These clouds are dark and opaque at shorter wavelengths. The Herschel view also highlights spokes of dust between the concentric rings. The colors in this image have been enhanced to make them easier to see, but they do reflect real variations in the data. The very coldest clouds are brightest in the longest wavelengths, and colored red here, while the warmer ones take on a bluish tinge. These data, together with those from other observatories, reveal that other dust properties, beyond just temperature, are affecting the infrared color of the image. Clumping of dust grains, or growth of icy mantles on the grains towards the outskirts of the galaxy, appear to contribute to these subtle color variations.

These observations were made by Herschel's spectral and photometric imaging receiver (SPIRE) instrument. The data were processed as part of a project to improve methods for assembling mosaics from SPIRE observations. Light with a wavelength of 250 microns is rendered as blue, 350-micron is green, and 500-micron light is red. Color saturation has been enhanced to bring out the small differences at these wavelengths.

Antennae Galaxies
In this composite image of the merging cores of the Antennae Galaxies, optical (white and pink), radio (blue) and millimeter/submillimeter (orange and gold) images are combined to show the history and future of star formation. The optical image represents stars that are shining now. The radio image highlights gas that is probably too thin to become a star, and at the mm/submm wavelengths we can see the areas where new stars will likely form.

Arp 220
The compound view shows a new ALMA Band 5 image of the colliding galaxy system Arp 220 (in red) on top of an image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (blue/green). With the newly installed Band 5 receivers, ALMA has now opened its eyes to a whole new section of this radio spectrum, creating exciting new observational possibilities and improving the telescope’s ability to search for water in the Universe. In the Hubble image, most of the light from this dramatic merging galaxy pair is hidden behind dark clouds of dust. ALMA's observations in Band 5 show a completely different view. Here, Arp 220's famous double nucleus, invisible for Hubble, is by far the brightest feature in the whole galaxy complex. In this dense, double centre, the bright emission from water and other molecules revealed by the new Band 5 receivers will give astronomers new insights into star formation and other processes in this extreme environment. This image is one of the first taken using Band 5 and was intended to verify the scientific capability of the new receivers. The ALMA image includes data recording emission from water, CS and HCN in the galaxies.

RA: 15 34 57.37, Dec: 23° 30' 10.70", Millimeter wavelength: 2.6 mm, telescope: Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, Band 5.

BDF 3299
The central object is a very distant galaxy, labelled BDF 3299, which is seen when the Universe was less than 800 million years old. The bright red cloud just to the lower left is the ALMA detection of a vast cloud of material that is in the process of assembling the very young galaxy.

Distance: z = 7.1 (redshift)

Bands:

Optical Very Large Telescope FORS2

Infrared Z Very Large Telescope HAWK-I

Infrared Y Very Large Telescope HAWK-I

Millimeter Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array

NGC 1087
The image on the right was taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner, shows the distribution of cold clouds of molecular gas, which provide the raw material from which stars form.

NGC 1087 (on the right) is a spiral galaxy located approximately 80 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cetus.

Millimeter CO [2–1]	wavelength: 1.2 cm, telescopeL Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

NGC 5643
This galaxy is located 55 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Lupus (The Wolf), and is known as a Seyfert galaxy. Seyfert galaxies have very luminous centres — thought to be powered by material being accreted onto a supermassive black hole lurking within — that can also be shrouded and obscured by clouds of dust and intergalactic material.

As a result, it can be difficult to observe the active centre of a Seyfert galaxy. NGC 5643 poses a further challenge; it is viewed at a high inclination, making it even trickier to view its inner workings. However, scientists have used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) together with archival data from the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope to reveal this view of NGC 5643 — complete with energetic outflowing ionised gas pouring out into space.

These impressive outflows stretch out on either side of the galaxy, and are caused by matter being ejected from the accretion disc of the supermassive black hole at NGC 5643’s core. Combined, the ALMA and VLT data show the galaxy’s central region to have two distinct components: a spiraling, rotating disc (visible in red) consisting of cold molecular gas traced by carbon monoxide, and the outflowing gas, traced by ionised oxygen and hydrogen (in blue-orange hues) perpendicular to the inner nuclear disc.

Millimeter CO(2-1), wavelength: 1.292208 mm, telescope: Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

NGC 253
This comparison picture of the nearby bright spiral galaxy NGC 253, also known as the Sculptor Galaxy, shows the infrared view from ESO’s VISTA Telescope (left) and a detailed new view of the cool gas outflows at millimetre wavelengths from ALMA (right).

The vertical axis in the left image shows velocity and the horizontal axis the position across the central part of the galaxy. The colours represent the intensity of the emission detected by ALMA, with pink being the strongest and red the weakest. These data have been used to show that huge amounts of cool gas are being ejected from the central parts of this galaxy. This will make it more difficult for the next generation of stars to form.

Interacting galaxies
While galaxy collisions of this type are not uncommon, only a few galaxies with eye-like, or ocular, structures have been observed. The paucity of these features is likely due to their very ephemeral nature — ocular structures like these tend to only last for several tens of millions of years, which is merely the blink of an eye in a galactic lifetime.

These two galaxies are named IC 2163 (left) and NGC 2207 (right) — IC 2163 displays the ocular structure in this image. The duo lies approximately 114 million light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation of Canis Major (The Greater Dog).

The galaxies have brushed past each other — scraping the outer edges of their spiral arms —with IC 2163 passing behind NGC 2207. This glancing collision triggered a tsunami of stars and gas in IC 2163, with material in the outer portions of the disc of the galaxy travelling inwards This colossal wave of material decelerated rapidly moving from the outer to the inner edge of the eyelids and crashed midway through the galaxy’s disc, producing dazzling ribbons of intense star formation and compressed ridges of gas and dust that resemble a pair of cosmic “eyelids”.

Millimeter CO, telescope: Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

SDP.81
ALMA’s Long Baseline Campaign has produced a spectacularly detailed image of a distant galaxy being gravitationally lensed, revealing star-forming regions — something that has never been seen before at this level of detail in a galaxy so remote. The new observations are far more detailed than any previously made of such a distant galaxy, including those made using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and reveal clumps of star formation in the galaxy equivalent to giant versions of the Orion Nebula. The left panel shows the foreground lensing galaxy (observed with Hubble), and the gravitationally lensed galaxy SDP.81, which forms an almost perfect Einstein Ring, is hardly visible. The middle image shows the sharp ALMA image of the Einstein ring, with the foreground lensing galaxy being invisible to ALMA. The resulting reconstructed image of the distant galaxy (right) using sophisticated models of the magnifying gravitational lens, reveal fine structures within the ring that have never been seen before: Several dust clouds within the galaxy, which are thought to be giant cold molecular clouds, the birthplaces of stars and planets.

Band: Millimeter, telescope: Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

Extragalactic medium
A secondary molecular isotope, H13C14N, was observed via its J = 1→0 transition at 86.3 GHz in only two of these sources: Orion A and Sgr A(NH3A). HCN was then later detected extragalactically using the IRAM 30-m telescope at the Pico de Veleta in Spain. It was observed via its J = 1→0 transition at 90.7 GHz (~ 8 mm) toward IC 342.

MACS J1149.5+2223
The inset image is the very distant galaxy MACS1149-JD1, seen as it was 13.3 billion years ago and observed with ALMA. Here, the oxygen distribution detected with ALMA is depicted in red.

Merging galaxies
The contours in the individual galaxies show the signal strength from carbon monoxide while the colour represents the motion of gas. Gas that is moving away from us appears red while the blue colour shows gas that is approaching. The contours together with the transition from red to blue indicate a gaseous disc that is rotating about the centre of the galaxy.

Millimeter CO(2-1), wavelength: 1.292208 mm, telescope: Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

Hubble Ultra Deep Field
All the objects that ALMA sees appear to be massive star-forming galaxies.

Bands: Optical (blue) 435 nm Hubble Space Telescope ACS.
 * Optical (red) 606 nm Hubble Space Telescope ACS.
 * Optical (cyan) 775 nm Hubble Space Telescope ACS.
 * Optical (cyan) 814 nm Hubble Space Telescope ACS.
 * Optical (cyan) 850 nm Hubble Space Telescope ACS.
 * Radio (Z) 1.05 µm Hubble Space Telescope WFC3.
 * Radio (J) 1.25 µm Hubble Space Telescope WFC3.
 * Radio (H) 1.6 µm Hubble Space Telescope WFC3.
 * Millimeter (orange) 1.3 mm Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

Atacama Large Millimeter Array
The Llano de Chajnantor Observatory site hosts the world's largest ground based astronomy project, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) shown in the image on the right.

Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder
ASKAP consists of 36 identical parabolic antennas, each 12 metres in diameter, working together as a single astronomical interferometer with a total collecting area of approximately 4,000 square metres. Each antenna is equipped with a phased-array feed (PAF), significantly increasing the field of view. This design provides both fast survey speed and high sensitivity.

BIMA radio telescope array
The Universities of California, Illinois, and Maryland built and operated the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association (BIMA) radio telescope array. The premier imaging instrument in the world at millimeter wavelengths (1986) was located at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory (HCRO).

Principal wavelength: 100 GHz (3.0 mm).

Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy
The Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) was an astronomical instrument comprising 23 radio telescopes, dedicated in 2006. These telescopes formed an astronomical interferometer where all the signals are combined in a purpose-built computer (a correlator) to produce high-resolution astronomical images. The telescopes ceased operation in April 2015 and were relocated to the Owens Valley Radio Observatory for storage.

Degree Angular Scale Interferometers
The Degree Angular Scale Interferometer (DASI) was a telescope installed at the U.S. National Science Foundation's Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica, with a 13-element interferometer operating between 26 and 36 GHz (Ka band) in ten bands, similar in design to the Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) and the Very Small Array (VSA).

The DASI team announced the most detailed measurements of the temperature, or power spectrum of the Cosmic microwave background (CMB), which contained the first detection of the 2nd and 3rd baryon acoustic oscillations in the CMB, done in conjunction with the BOOMERanG and Millimeter Anisotropy eXperiment IMaging Array (MAXIMA) experiment. The first detection of polarization anisotropy in the CMB has been reported.

The QUaD experiment, another CMB imager focussed on the E-mode spectrum.

The DASI mount was again repurposed for the Keck Array, which also measures CMB polarization anisotropy.

Wavelength: 8.3 mm (36 GHz)–12 mm (25 GHz).

Event Horizon Telescope
The effort includes development and deployment of submillimeter dual polarization receivers, highly stable frequency standards to enable very-long-baseline interferometry at 230 [1.30 mm]–450 [0.698 mm] GHz, higher-bandwidth VLBI backends and recorders, as well as commissioning of new submillimeter VLBI sites.

The first image of a black hole is at the center of galaxy Messier 87. The array made this observation at a wavelength of 1.3 mm and with a theoretical diffraction-limited resolution of 25 microarcseconds.

Galenki RT-70 radio telescope
RT-70 telescopes, all have similar specifications: 70 m dishes and an operating range of 5–300 GHz (60 mm to 1 mm).

Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array
Usually the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) is a centimeter-wavelength radio astronomy observatory. The telescopes can operate over the wavelength range: 0.6 cm (50 GHz)–410 cm (73 MHz), or 6 mm (50 GHz)–4100 mm (73 MHz). The frequency coverage is 50 GHz to 74 MHz (7 mm to 4000 mm).

Gorgergrat
The Kulmhotel Gornergrat, atop Gorgergrat, which is both mountain and ski slope, is also home to two observatories. The Kölner Observatorium für SubMillimeter Astronomie (KOSMA) [at right] is a 3-m radio telescope located at 3,135 m on Gornergrat near Zermatt (Switzerland) in the southern tower (nearest to the camera).

"Because of the good climatic conditions at the altitude of 3135 m (10285 ft), astronomical observatories have been located in both towers of the “Kulmhotel” at Gornergrat since 1967. In 1985, the KOSMA telescope was installed in the southern tower by the Universität zu Köln and, in the course of 1995, replaced by a new dish and mount."

"The KOSMA telescope with its receivers and spectrometers was dedicated to observe interstellar and atmospheric molecular lines in the millimeter and submillimeter wavelength range. After 25 years of a successful era came to an end (June 2nd, 2010). The 3m KOSMA Radio Telescope left the Gornergrat and joined his long journey to Yangbajing / Lhasa / Tibet."

"Chinese and German scientists are establishing an astronomical observatory in a Tibetan county 4,300 meters above sea level."

"Tibet is an ideal location because the water deficit in its air ensures superb atmospheric transparency and creates a comparatively stable environment for research in the areas of astrophysics, high-energy and atmospheric physics."

"The observatory would house a KOSMA 3-meter sub-millimeter-wave telescope, the first of its kind to be used in general astronomical observation in China."

Large Millimeter Telescope
The Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) (Gran Telescopio Milimétrico, or GTM) -officially Large Millimeter Telescope Alfonso Serrano (Gran Telescopio Milimétrico Alfonso Serrano)- is the world's largest single-aperture telescope in its frequency range, built for observing radio waves in the wave lengths from approximately 0.85 to 4 mm, with an active surface, a diameter of 50 m and 1960 m2 of collecting area.

Millimetre wavelength observations using the LMT yield a view of regions which are obscured by dust in the interstellar medium, thus increasing information about star formation, particularly fitted for observing solar system planetesimals and planets and extra-solar protoplanetary disks which are relatively cold and emit most of their radiation at millimetre wavelengths.

The first observations were taken in June 2011 at 1.1 and 3 mm using the AzTEC camera and Redshift Search Receiver (RSR), respectively.

MeerKAT
Wavelength:	30 mm (10.0 GHz)–300 mm (1,000 MHz), or a centimeter to decameter telescope.

Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory
The Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) was established by CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) in 2009. It lies in a designated radio quiet zone located near Boolardy Station in the Murchison Shire of Western Australia, about 800 kilometres (500 mi) north of Perth on the traditional lands of the Wajarri peoples.

Murchison Widefield Array
The radio telescopes are known as the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), a low-frequency array operating in the frequency range 80–300 MHz and the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP).

The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is a joint project between an international consortium of organisations to construct and operate a low-frequency radio array. 'Widefield' refers to its very large field of view (on the order of 30 degrees across). Operating in the frequency range 70–300 MHz, the main scientific goals of the MWA are to detect neutral atomic Hydrogen emission from the cosmological Epoch of Reionization (EoR), to study the sun, the heliosphere, the Earth's ionosphere, and radio transient phenomena, as well as map the extragalactic radio sky.

Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope
The Green Bank Telescope operates at meter to millimeter wavelengths.

The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in Green Bank, West Virginia, USA, is the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope, surpassing the Effelsberg 100-m Radio Telescope in Germany. The Green Bank site was part of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) until September 30, 2016. Since October 1, 2016, the telescope has been operated by the independent Green Bank Observatory.

Unusual for a radio telescope, the primary reflector is an off-axis segment of a paraboloid. This is the same design used in familiar home satellite television (e.g., DirecTV) dishes. The asymmetric reflector allows the telescope's focal point and feed horn to be located at the side of the dish, so that it and its retractable support boom do not obstruct the incoming radio waves, as occurs in conventional radio telescope designs with the feed located on the telescope's beam axis.

South Pole Telescope
The South Pole Telescope (SPT) is a 10 m diameter telescope located at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica, designed for observations in the microwave, millimeter-wave, and submillimeter-wave regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, with the particular design goal of measuring the faint, diffuse emission from the cosmic microwave background (CMB).

The South Pole region is the premier observing site in the world for millimeter-wavelength observations. The Pole's high altitude of 2.8 km above sea level means the atmosphere is thin, and the extreme cold keeps the amount of water vapor in the air low.

Smithsonian Submillimeter Array
The Smithsonian Submillimeter Array (SMA) consists of eight 6 m diameter radio telescopes arranged as an interferometer for millimeter-submillimeter wavelength observations using the first purpose-built submillimeter interferometer, constructed after successful interferometry experiments using the pre-existing 15 m James Clerk Maxwell Telescope and 10.4 m Caltech Submillimeter Observatory as an interferometer, where all three of these observatories are located at Mauna Kea Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and are operated together as a ten element interferometer in the 230 and 345 GHz bands (eSMA, for extended Submillimeter Array). The radio frequencies accessible to this telescope range from 194-408 GHz which includes rotational transitions of dozens of molecular species as well as continuum emission from interstellar dust grains. The baseline lengths presently in use range from 16 to 508 m. Although the array is capable of operating both day and night, most of the observations take place at nighttime when the atmospheric phase stability is best.

Square Kilometre Array
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is an intergovernmental radio telescope project being planned to be built in Australia (low-frequency) and South Africa (mid-frequency). The combining infrastructure, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) is located in the United Kingdom.

It will have a total collecting area of approximately one square kilometre. It will operate over a wide range of frequencies and its size will make it 50 times more sensitive than any other radio instrument. It will require very high performance central computing engines and long-haul links with a capacity greater than the global Internet traffic as of 2013. If built as planned, it should be able to survey the sky more than ten thousand times faster than before.

Suffa RT-70 radio telescope
The Suffa RT-70 radio telescope, 70 m dish and an operating range of 5–300 GHz (60 mm to 1 mm), is at the Suffa Radio Observatory on the Suffa plateau, Uzbekistan.

As of 2008, the Russian government had resumed the construction of the site, with an updated emphasis on millimeter-wave band observations at 100–300 GHz. As of 2014, construction was reported to be 50% complete.

With its 70m antenna diameter, this third unit of the RT-70 telescope was designed to be one of three similar radio telescopes.

Two completed RT-70 telescopes are:
 * Yevpatoria RT-70 radio telescope – at the Center for Deep Space Communications, Yevpatoria, Crimea
 * Galenki RT-70 radio telescope – at the Ussuriysk Astrophysical Observatory, Russia.

Sunyaev–Zel'dovich Array
The Sunyaev–Zel'dovich Array is an array of eight 6.1 meter radio telescopes operating as part of the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA), now used primarily to characterize clusters via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect.

The eight telescopes from the University of Chicago Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Array (SZA) operate at a wavelength of 3.5 millimeters.

From 2005 to 2007, SZA undertook a deep 31 GHz (9.68 mm) survey of several patches of sky.

Surface Water Ocean Topography
KaRIn takes measurements over ocean and surface water. The Nadir module includes an altimeter that collects data in between the KaRIn swaths, the DORIS Antenna communicates with ground-based radio beacons, a microwave radiometer for measuring water vapor, an X-band antenna for data downlink and a Laser Reflector Assembly.

Yevpatoria RT-70 radio telescope
Yevpatoria RT-70 radio telescope has 70 m dish and an operating range of 5–300 GHz (60 mm to 1 mm).