ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, is the newest and most advanced millimetre and sub-millimetre telescope in the world. Located on the Chajnantor Plateau in Chile, the observatory is still under construction and will not be completed until the end of 2012. It is an international collaboration between countries in Europe, North America, Eastern Asia, and the host country Chile. By observing at these wavelengths, we see the signatures of molecules in space. It's only in cold, dense environments where molecules can form, and we know these to be the sites of star formation.

The image shown above was released to the public in October, 2011, and is the first image to be released from ALMA as part of their Early Science observing cycle. It shows a well known collision between two galaxies named The Antennae observed in various parts of the electromagnetic spectrum: optical from the Hubble Space Telescope in white/pink; radio emission from the Very Large Array in blue; and millimetre emission from ALMA in orange/yellow. The ALMA data tell us that large, massive resevoirs of molecular gas (specifically carbon monoxide in this image, a proxy for observing molecular hydrogen) lie along the ridge in the bottom of the image, while more spread out molecular gas exists along the upper rim. This gas will eventually collapse due to the force of gravity and repeatedly fragment into smaller and smaller clouds until stars are eventually born.

Still under half complete, ALMA surpasses the capabilities of any other millimetre/sub-millimetre facility in the world. We eagerly wait to see what new surprises this innovative instrument has in store for us in the near future and after it is fully operational.