New discoveries Mysterious Activity Detected in Galaxy M83

Welcome to the ALMA website for kids!

Discover the world's largest observatory with Talma and Mathias

Learn with Talma

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How are ALMA’s antennas connected?

Your eyes are connected to your brain through thick bundles of nerve cells. These optic nerves transfer the signals from your two retinas to your brain. Your brain processes the signals, and turns them into a nice three-dimensional view of your surroundings. Of course, it’s important that the signals...

How does ALMA see ‘invisible light’?

Look around you. You see the text you are reading right now. You see the room where you’re sitting in. Outside the window, you may see the street where you live, and the Sun in the sky. Or, if it’s already dark, you may see the Moon and the...

Is there a lot to see?

ALMA is located in the Atacama Desert. When thinking about a desert, you probably imagine a vast, boring stretch of hot sand, with the occasional palm tree. But the Atacama is very different. In fact, it’s extremely beautiful and varied. Especially the area around San Pedro de Atacama is...

Why is ALMA so high?

ALMA is the highest observatory in the world. The Chajnantor Plateau, where the 66 ALMA antennas are located, is at five kilometers above sea level. It would take you about an hour to walk that distance – straight up! Until recently there was only one building in the world...

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New discoveries

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Baby star blows gas into space at two different speeds

If you topple a bottle of water, the liquid flows out very fast. But turn over a container of treacle, and it takes ages to empty. So what could be going on if you see a fast and a slow flow at the same time? Astronomers faced a similar...

ALMA detects aluminum around newborn star

Have you ever seen a shooting star? It looks like a star that falls down from theheavens. In reality, it’s a grain of space dust that enters Earth’s atmosphere. Becauseof collision with atmosphere, the dust particle evaporates and the air molecules startto glow – that’s the streak of light...

Thanks to thawing effect of stellar outburst, ALMA finds building blocks of life

ALMA has detected the building blocks of life in the disk surrounding a young, distant star. The discovery may help astronomers to understand the origin of life in our own solar system. Some 3.5 billion years ago, certain molecules teamed up to form the first living organisms on Earth...

Volcanoes produce almost half of the atmosphere of Jupiter’s moon Io

Astronomers using ALMA have discovered that the thin atmosphere of Io is largely due to its activevolcanoes. Io (pronounced EYE-oh) is a large moon of the giant planet Jupiter. Thanks to tidal forces from theplanet, it has a hot interior. The surface of Io is dotted with active volcanoes....

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