ALMA Telescope to Explore the History of the Universe

2022年11月8日の夕刻から「皆既月食」と「天王星食」が同時に起こる珍しい天体ショーが見られます。同時に起こるのは442年ぶり。ウェザーニュースによると、8日は冬型の気圧配置となり、太平洋側の地域を中心に晴れて「バッチリ見える」。皆既月食と惑星食が同時に起こることは珍しく、1580年(安土桃山時代！) の土星食以来442年ぶりとなります。 次は2235年6月2日に皆既月食と天王星食が同時に起こるそうですが、月食中の惑星食を日本で見ることができる次の機会は、2344年7月26日(322年後！)　今日は宇宙の話を話題にしてみましょう。(English) On the evening of November 8, 2022, a total lunar eclipse and an eclipse of Uranus will co-occur, a rare celestial show. It is said to be the first time in 442 years that they co-occurred. It is rare for a total lunar eclipse and a planetary eclipse to co-occur, and it has been 442 years since the first eclipse of Saturn in 1580 (Azuchi-Momoyama period!). The next total lunar and planetary eclipse will co-occur on June 2, 2235, and the next opportunity to see a planetary eclipse during a lunar eclipse in Japan will be on July 26, 2344 (322 years later!). So let's talk about space today.

First Celestial Show in 442 Years Total Lunar Eclipse and Uranus Eclipse at the Same Time

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20221108/k10013884641000.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VUftz_GTOk

Aiming to add one more to the "three major xx" to make it the fourth largest

ALMA Telescope to Explore the "History of the Universe"

Prologue

The first theme was the three primary transport missions in the world.

First, three transportation missions selected by the NHK TV program were introduced.

The first was the "largest cash mission in history," which transported 54 billion yen to replace the dollar as the currency of choice when Okinawa was returned to Japan in 1972.

The second was the "world's largest structural transportation mission," transporting a natural gas platform, Troll A, to the Norwegian coast in 1995.

The third was an "unprecedented mission to transport an ancient monument," the Abu Simbel Temple, a World Heritage site in Egypt built approximately 3,000 years ago, which was divided into more than 1,000 pieces to avoid submergence in 1960.

ALMA = Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array

In the 1980s, the Astronomical Society of Japan and the Astronomical Society of America developed the concept of a next-generation project on astronomical radio research.

Construction began in 2002, and all antennas arrived in 2014.

ALMA is a Spanish word that means "soul" or "beloved person."

It is a joint international project in East Asia (Japan, Taiwan, South Korea), North America (United States, Canada), and Europe.

Sixty-six antennas will be installed in the 5,000m high desert (Atacama Desert), and the whole will be used as a single radio telescope.

1)

The concept is "to add one more to the "three major xx" representing various genres in the world to make it four."

The theme of this time is "The World's Three Greatest Transport Missions."

2)

Twenty-two countries and regions cooperated for the ALMA telescope, and Japan provided 16 antennas.

The antennas were divided into parts and delivered to a port in Chile over a month and a half, then transported by a large trailer to the base facility at an altitude of 2,900 meters.

3)

Because the air is too thin to work at an altitude of 5,000 m, they were assembled here before being transported through performance tests.

However, since it was a precision instrument that must not be subjected to vibration, it was necessary to build a particular transport vehicle.

After paving a 28 km road, it took 7 hours to transport the equipment, and it was installed at a location with an error margin of less than 1 mm.

4)

The first antenna installed was in Japan.

Masato Ishiguro, professor emeritus at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, joined the project team to make it happen.

5)

It was revealed that this project had been in the works for over 22 years.

The studio's members all chose the ALMA telescope, and the powerful telescope project was 4th included in the Lanking of "The World's Three Greatest Transport Missions."

A)

Interview Alma Man In Search of a New Look at the Universe - "I'm so glad I didn't give up."

B)

Mr. Ishiguro, revered as the "God of Radio Interferometry," is the most significant contributor to the realization of the ALMA project.

Q1 Please tell us about the background of the construction of ALMA.

C)

The ALMA project has its roots in the millimeter-wave interferometer at the Nobeyama Cosmological Radio Observatory, which began test observations in 1982.

The construction of the five 10-meter antennas and the 45-meter telescope was a great challenge.

D)

It was the first time a full-scale interferometewasen was built in Japan.

Moreover, it was an attempt to target the new millimeter-wave band with the world's highest level of performance.

E)

The Nobeyama millimeter-wave interferometer worked very well.

We achieved excellent results in observations of protoplanetary disks and protogalaxies.

However, it was very time-consuming to rearrange each antenna, which was a significant brake on the improvement of observation performance.

F)

At the time, European and U.S. companies were facing similar problems.

So we came up with the idea of building a next-generation interferometer with more antennas.

Considering the development of radio astronomy in the world, we decided to target the submillimeter wave band further.

Q2 Please tell us about the characteristics of the submillimeter wave band.

G)

In the submillimeter wave band, radio waves emitted from celestial objects are more robust, and the resolution is improved.

This makes it advantageous for observing protoplanetary disks, especially for seeing newborn planets.

H)

Submillimeter waves, however, are heavily absorbed by the atmosphere (water vapor).

Building an interferometer at an altitude of 4,000 m or higher in dry, high-altitude areas is necessary.

Furthermore, the land must be large and flat enough to allow numerous antennas to be placed over long distances, say 10 km or more apart.

In this case, there were no suitable sites in Japan, so we had to search for candidate sites worldwide.

We set our sights on northern Chile, which was also our first choice.

Q3 Please tell us about your search for a site in Chile.

I)

We began a full-fledged search for a site in 1992 and initially selected about 20 sites in northern Chile as candidates.

To investigate more detailed observation conditions, we developed an unmanned measuring device to measure the absorption and fluctuation of radio waves by the atmosphere and meteorological data.

We placed it at the site and monitored the observation environment.

Finally, we decided on a construction site at the current Alma site at an altitude of 5,000 meters.

J)

We used an expanded survey map of the current AOS that we had made nearly 20 years ago by driving around in a four-wheel drive.

The U.S. team (NRAO: National Radio Astronomy Observatory of the United States) showed interest and began cooperating with Japan.

Later, the European team (ESO: European Southern Observatory) joined the project.

Finally, Japan, the U.S., Europe, and Chile decided to cooperate in constructing the ALMA telescope.

K)

It has been 30 years since the initial conception And 20 years since we started the site survey.

Looking back, I started my research 40 years ago with a solar radio interferometer in Toyokawa, Aichi Prefecture.

After that, I went on to millimeter-wave interferometry at Nobeyama, and I feel I have finally come this far.

L)

There were times when I almost gave up along the way.

But now, when I see so many beautiful antennas lined up on the land of the Atacama at an altitude of 5,000 meters, I am happy that I did not give up.

Aiming to add one more to the "three major xx" to make it the fourth largest 

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/299718f7a7e2264f9d29cc1e4002ce36d4d791bd

ALMA Telescope to Explore the "History of the Universe" 

https://www.nhk.or.jp/radio/magazine/article/shinyabin/CaZ2dt0ljg.html

Tokyo YMCA Nobeyama Youth Center - Shozo Uchii Architect & Associates / Nagano

It is a YMCA training facility built in Kawakami Village, located in the southeastern part of Nagano Prefecture.

It is built on a vast natural site corresponding to the mountain range.

The outer wall is covered with brick tiles.

The L-shaped buildings, such as the training building and accommodation building, are distributed, and the space surrounded by the buildings is used as a plaza.

The pillars inside the building are said to have an open top with the YMCA "Y" as a motif.

It seems that it has been in ruins for quite some time, but it has already been dismantled. '19.7.15

https://uratti.web.fc2.com/architecture/torikowasi/torikowasi1.htm