Records of the NRAO > Photographs Series > MMA/ALMA Unit

Collection Items

Radiometer/Tipper, 1989
Description: This radiometer (tipper), operating at 225 GHz, was developed to test sites for the Millimeter Array. The feed, a rotating mirror, is at the left.  The radiometer front end is in the left half of the box, and the IF and digital sections are in the…
Start Date: 1989

MMA Site Testing Interferometer, Tucson, 1994
Description: Jeff Kingsley with an elements of the site testing phase monitoring interferometer on the roof of the Steward Observatory building in Tucson. The elements were built in Tucson and tested there before being shipped to Chile for installation and use…
Start Date: 1994

MMA Site Testing Interferometer, Tucson, 1994
Description: Elements of the site testing phase monitoring interferometer on the roof of the Steward Observatory building in Tucson. The elements were built in Tucson and tested there before being shipped to Chile for installation and use at the proposed MMA…
Start Date: 1994

ALMA OSF Site, 1997
Description: Paul Vanden Bout, Geraldo Valladares and Bob Brown at the ALMA OSF site, 1997.
Start Date: 1997

ALMA Site of Scientific Interest Signing, 21 August 1998
Description: On 21 August 1998, the President of Chile, Eduardo Frei, Minister of Mining, Sergio Jimenez, Minister of National Assets Adriana Delpiano, and President of CONICYT, Mauricio Sarrazin, signed a declaration designating the ALMA area as a Site of…
Start Date: 1998-08-21

ALMA Site Testing, November 1999
Description: As part of ALMA site testing, weather balloons, or radiosondes, were launched to measure the vertical profiles of temperature, pressure, and humidity. Balloons were launched about 1 km west of the present location of the ALMA AOS building, and the…
Start Date: 1999-11

Tokyo ALMA Meeting, 16 January 2001
Description: Twenty years ago, ALMA project managers and scientists from NRAO and ESO traveled to Tokyo to discuss Japanese involvement in ALMA. On 16 January 2001, they raised a toast to future collaboration. Left to right: Yoshihiro Chikada, Mark Rafel, Bob…
Start Date: 2001-01-16

Contract Signing, ALMA Production Antennas, July 2005
Description: In the AUI offices in Washington, DC, participants celebrate the 11 July 2005 signing with Vertex of the contract for 25 ALMA production antennas. Left to right: Adrian Russell (just partly visible), Bob Dickman (then at NSF), Brian Schrader…
Start Date: 2005-07-11

ALMA Artist's Concept, January 2007
Start Date: 2007-01

ALMA Artist's Concept, January 2007
Start Date: 2007-01

ALMA Vertex Antenna, 16 October 2007
Description: The assembly of the second Vertex antenna in the Site Erection Facility building on 2007 October 16. Antennas are assembled at the 9000 foot elevation of the Operations Support Facility (OSF). The mount structure has been placed vertically, and the…
Start Date: 2007-10-16

ALMA Vertex Antenna, ca. 2007
Description: ALMA Vertex (North American) antenna in the Vertex hanger at the Operations Support Facility in Chile
Start Date: 2007-00-00

ALMA Vertex Antenna, ca. 2007
Description: ALMA Vertex (North American) antenna under construction at the Operations Support Facility in Chile
Start Date: 2007-00-00

ALMA Mitsubishi Antenna, ca. 2007
Description: Using the Front End Servicing Vehicle (FESV) to install a front end on an ALMA Mitsubishi (Japanese) antenna at the Operations Support Facility in Chile.
Start Date: 2007-00-00

ALMA Mitsubishi Antennas, ca. 2007
Description: ALMA Mitsubishi (Japanese) antennas at the Operations Support Facility in Chile.
Start Date: 2007-00-00

ALMA Alcatel Antenna, ca. 2007
Description: ALMA Alcatel (European) antenna under construction on the test pad at the Operations Support Facility in Chile.
Start Date: 2007-00-00

Melco Antennas, 2007
Description: In addition to the up to 32 twelve meter antennas supplied by AUI/NRAO and the up to 32 twelve meter antennas supplied by ESO, NAOJ supplied four twelve meter antennas and twelve 7m antennas. Here the first three twelve meter antennas, built by…
Start Date: 2007-10-31

First ALMA Antenna Transported to High Site, 23 September 2009
Description: RM03 moves to the high site! On 23 September 2009 the transporter carried Japanese Mitsubishi antenna RM03 from the Operations Support Facility to its final position on the high site on the Chajnantor Plain, the first ALMA antenna on the site.
Start Date: 2009-09-23

ALMA Telescopes, 14 July 2010
Description: Five antennas at the 5000m Array Operations Site on 14 July 2010. The Technical Building right, background houses the correlator and other array electronics. Credit: Al Wootten, ALMA/ESO/NAOJ/NRAO.
Start Date: 2010-07-14

ALMA Site 01, 24 March 2011
Description: ALMA 12-meter antennas at the Array Operation Site AOS at 16,500 ft. 5,000 meter altitude.
Start Date: 2011-03-24

ALMA Site 02, 24 March 2011
Description: ALMA 12-meter antennas at the Array Operation Site AOS at 16,500 ft. 5,000 meter altitude.
Start Date: 2011-03-24

ALMA Site 03, 24 March 2011
Description: ALMA 12-meter antennas at the Array Operation Site AOS at 16,500 ft. 5,000 meter altitude.
Start Date: 2011-03-24

ALMA Site 04, 24 March 2011
Description: ALMA 12-meter antennas at the Array Operation Site AOS at 16,500 ft. 5,000 meter altitude.
Start Date: 2011-03-24

ALMA Site 05, 24 March 2011
Description: The ALMA Array Operation Site AOS Technical Building at 16,500 ft. 5,000 meter altitude, with ALMA 12-meter antennas in the background.
Start Date: 2011-03-24

ALMA Site 06, 24 March 2011
Description: ALMA 12-meter antennas at the Array Operation Site AOS at 16,500 ft. 5,000 meter altitude.
Start Date: 2011-03-24

ALMA Site 07, 24 March 2011
Description: The ALMA Operation Support Facility OSF at 9,000 ft. 3,000 meter altitude. In the foreground is the European ALCATEL antenna assembly area.
Start Date: 2011-03-24

ALMA Site 08, 24 March 2011
Description: The ALMA Operation Support Facility OSF at 9,000 ft. 3,000 meter altitude.
Start Date: 2011-03-24

13 ALMA Telescopes, 2011
Description: 13 ALMA antennas on the Chajnantor plateau in northern Chile.
Start Date: 2011

14 ALMA Telescopes, 2011
Description: 14 ALMA antennas on the Chajnantor plateau in northern Chile.
Start Date: 2011

22 ALMA Telescopes, 2011
Description: Twenty-two ALMA antennas on the Chajnantor plateau.
Start Date: 2011

Handshake at ALMA Inauguration, 13 March 2013
Description: A three-way handshake between Richard Kurtz, Masato Ishiguro and Bob Brown at the 13 March 2013 ALMA inauguration.
Start Date: 2013-03-13

ALMA, 2015
Start Date: 2015

ALMA Compact Configuration

ALMA Aerial

ALMA Antennas
Description: Artist's conception of the Antennas for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array.

ALMA AOS Technical Building
Description: The Technical Building at the Array Operations Site (elev. 16000 ft) houses the electronics which combine the signals from the antennas, including the Correlator under construction at NRAO-Charlottesville. The vehicle which transports the antennas…

ALMA Array
Description: Artist's conception of the ALMA antennas in a compact array.

ALMA Array at Sunset

ALMA Array at Sunset 2
Description: The Atacama Large Millimeter Array, or ALMA, is an international collaboration to develop a world-class telescope composed of a group of 64 radio-telescope antennas that will work together to study the universe from a site in the foothills of Chile's…

ALMA Artist's Concept

ALMA at Night

ALMA Configuration 1
Description: The Atacama Large Millimeter Array, or ALMA, is an international collaboration to develop a world-class telescope composed of a group of 64 radio-telescope antennas that will work together to study the universe from a site in the foothills of Chile's…

ALMA Configuration 2

ALMA Configuration 3

ALMA General View

ALMA OSF Camp
Description: The ALMA Camp is being extended. The initial grading is being performed in this view.

ALMA OSF Camp
Description: ALMA personnel live at the ALMA Camp at the Operations Support Facility (OSF) (elev 9000 ft).

ALMA OSF Contractor's Camp
Description: Personnel associated with ALMA Contractors live in another area at the OSF. Shown is the region where personnel associated with the antenna vendors live.

ALMA Prototype
Description: The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) VertexRSI test antenna constructed at the site of the Very Large Array near Socorro, NM.

ALMA Site
Description: ALMA site at Chajnantor showing 8 antennas.

ALMA Site
Description: This is a view from the ALMA high site at 5000 meters elevation. The view looks north towards Cerro Toco, an extinct stratovolcano that is part of a larger volcanic system called the Purico Complex. The complex last erupted 1.3 million years ago. …

ALMA Telephoto

ALMA Telescopes
Description: The first 7-meter ALMA telescope driven through the array of 12-meter telescopes at the ALMA high site.

ALMA Telescopes
Description: Milky Way Over a 7-meter ALMA Telescope

ALMA Telescopes
Description: Nineteen ALMA antennas on the Chajnantor plateau

ALMA Telescopes
Description: Eight antennas at the 5000m Array Operations Site AOS on 29 September. left to right: antennas DV08, DV03, DV04, DV07, DV02, DV05, DV06, PM02. DV denotes a Vertex antenna; PM denotes a Mistubishi antenna. Arms on the Vertex antennas reach all the…

ALMA Test Facility
Description: The ALMA Test Facility at the VLA site before dawn, lit by moonlight.

ALMA Vertex Antenna
Description: Just outside the Site Erection Facility Building, the assembled first Vertex antenna is being readied for testing. In the foreground, a new antenna foundation is being constructed.

ALMA VertexRSI Antenna
Description: The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) VertexRSI test antenna constructed at the site of the Very Large Array near Socorro, NM.

Front End Service Vehicles
Description: After its month-long journey from Taiwan, the first of two Front End Service Vehicles FESV is being tested at the ALMA Operations Support Facility in Chile. In this photo, the FESV cabin has raised to service the interior of a North American ALMA…

Artist's conception of MMA

ALMA

ALMA Array Operations Site Technical Building
Description: Artist's concept

ALMA, artist's conception
Description: Artist's conception of the antennas for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array.

ALMA Site
Description: View south from Cerro Chajnantor, Chile, of ALMA site

Description: Artist's conception of an MMA antenna

NRO Solar Array, Rio Frio
Description: Nobeyama Radio Observatory solar panels and container, Rio Frio

Hand in the Desert sculpture
Description: Mano el Desierto, Hand in the Desert, by the Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrázabal. The sculpture is in the Atacama desert, about 60 km SE of Antofagasta on the Pan American Highway. The sculpture is ~11 meters tall.

Astronauts Celebrate ALMA, 13 March 2013
Description: A highlight at the 13 March 2013 ALMA inauguration ceremony was a video, recorded on board the International Space Station, in which U.S. astronaut Tom Marshburn and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield congratulated North America and its partners on…
Start Date: 2013-03-13

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