Three ALMA antennas are now on the 5000m high observing site in Chili. After succesfully coupling them, they now work together as one instrument: Phase closure has now been achieved. For the ALMA project, this has been the major milestone for the ALMA project in 2009.
Each antenna currently holds four different receiver types: Bands 3, 6, 7 and 9. The latter is made in the Netherlands by a consortium of Kapteyn-RUG/TU-Delft/SRON, under the leadership of NOVA. Eventually the ALMA observatory will hold sixty-six antennas, each carrying ten different sub-mm receiver types. More information about this achievement can be found in the ESO press release.
