Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21547907w&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #479.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.568
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
ALMA will be in full operation by 2013; its results will begin transforming astronomy in 2011. Having invested $1.3B to realize the biggest advance ever in groundbased astronomy, it is vital to plan to keep the facility upgraded to maintain and expand its capabilities. When ALMA commences a program of Early Science, it will already eclipse any other millimeter/submillimeter array in its sensitivity and resolution by nearly two orders of magnitude. ALMA will operate from 3mm to 0.3mm across a decade of nearly complete frequency access broken only by the atmospheric limitations of its spectacular site. The ALMA Operations Plan envisaged an ongoing program of development and upgrade. ALMA's design allows for expansion of the 50 antennas in the 12m Array to a complement of 64. ALMA's wavelength coverage may be extended to cover 1cm to 200 μm, or a factor of 50 and an increase of more than 50% from its first light capability. With a modest investment of less than 1% of capital cost per year divided among the three funding entities ALMA will lead astronomical research through the 2010 decade and beyond. Several programs which spearhead a development plan have been identified by the scientific community. Among these are additional observing bands, very long baseline capability, additional antennas and other programs which we briefly describe.
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