Rare snowfall in Atacama Desert forces the world’s most powerful radio telescope into ‘survival mode’
https://www.space.com/astronomy/rare-snowfall-in-atacama-desert-forces-the-worlds-most-powerful-radio-telescope-into-survival-mode
Rare snowfall in Atacama Desert forces the world’s most powerful radio telescope into ‘survival mode’
https://www.space.com/astronomy/rare-snowfall-in-atacama-desert-forces-the-worlds-most-powerful-radio-telescope-into-survival-mode
3 Comments
Not that it’s too long of an article, but the bit about what “survival mode” actually means is a further into it:
>As part of this protocol, all of ALMA’s large antennae have been reoriented downwind, helping to minimize potential damage from snow buildup or strong gusts.
>”Once the storm passes, snow-clearing teams are immediately activated to visually inspect each antenna before resuming observations,” ALMA representatives said. “This has to happen fast, as some of the best observing conditions occur just after a snowfall: the cold helps lower air humidity, which is what most interferes with our measurements.”
The time lapse construction video showed multiple snowfalls. It isn’t all that rare.
I don’t understand the point of the image which puts together ALMA and ELT, which are hundreds of kilometers apart in reality … just why?
Incidentally I flew (on a regular airliner) basically next to ALMA a few days ago and the weather was very clear, it must have changed very quickly.
Snowfall is not that rare in the desert – I was personally never at ALMA, but I was six times at Paranal and saw snowfall twice.