SOUL . The meaning of the acronyms is: Atacama Large Millimeter Array, will be a radio astronomy station that will consist of 50 antennas, simultaneously tuned to different radio frequencies. Using interferometry, which consists of using several antennas observing the same source simultaneously, a resolution equivalent to that of a telescope with a diameter equal to the maximum separation between the antennas is achieved.
Location
It is under construction in the Llano de Chajnantor , 60 km east of San Pedro de Atacama in the Atacama Desert in Chile . It is a joint venture of US NRAO , European ESO , Japanese NAOJ entities and the collaboration of the Chilean government.
Technical characteristics
The original project consisted of an array of 64 antennas, but due to budget problems, this number had to be modified to the current 50 antennas of 12 meters in diameter, it will have instruments to detect radiation in all atmospheric windows between 10 mm and 350 micrometers. . The expected resolution is 10 milliseconds of arc, thanks to that millimeter or sub-millimeter range, we will perceive images of the universe of great sensitivity and extreme precision, up to ten times more detailed than those obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope , and its sensitivity for point sources will be 20 times better than that of the VLA .
Japan will collaborate with the compact set of 16 additional antennas, of which 4 will be 12 meters in diameter and 12 7 meters in diameter. These may work together or separately from the rest of the antennas.
The aridity of the area, known as the Chajnantor Scientific Reserve , at 5,000 meters of altitude, optimizes the reception, because the water vapor present in the atmosphere absorbs millimeter and sub-millimeter radio waves.
