ALMA Radio Telescope is Searching the Stars With Its Highest-ever Frequencies

ALMA observed the Cat's Paw Nebula, picking up nearly 700 emission lines from molecules within the region (blue). This result shows more than 10 times the emission lines picked up by the Herschel Space Observatory (gray, inverted to better compare the two). (Credit: S. Lipinski/NASA & ESA, NAOJ, NRAO/AUI/NSF, B. McGuire et al.) The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile has been up and running since 2011. However, its initial incarnation involved only about one-third of the array’s total planned 66 antennas and only a few of its 10 receivers, each capable of observing a different band of radio wavelengths. Over time, the array has taken strides toward full operation; today, all antennas are functional and ALMA has now added its highest-frequency observing band — Band 10 — to the mix.