First pictures from the £1bn time machine telescope reveal faraway galaxy forming stars at ‘breathtaking rate’
From Truther
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, billions of stars were born.
This picture – one of the first to be taken by ALMA – the world’s newest and most powerful telescope – shows an ancient galaxy forming stars at a breathtaking rate.
During such ‘starbursts’, hundreds or thousands of stars are born a year. In contrast, our galaxy, the Milky Way only sees around just one new star a year.
THE BEST IS YET TO COME…
The astronomers were using only a partial array of 16 of ALMA’s full complement of 66 giant antennas, as the observatory was still under construction at an altitude of 5000 metres on the remote Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes.
When complete, ALMA will be even more sensitive, and will be able to detect even fainter galaxies.
For now, astronomers targeted the brighter ones.
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