A new age is beginning in astronomy. The world's largest radio telescope, ALMA, is being built at an altitude of 5000 meters above sea level. It consists of some 66 high-tech antennas.The ambitious project demands top-flight precision technology. All the antennas must have exactly the same characteristics. Only then can they be combined to form an enormous, super-eye with resolution sharp enough to detect the universe's very first celestial bodies. Astrophysicists want to use ALMA to investigate how the stars and galaxies came to exist. They also say it could help unlock the secrets of how life came into being as well.
