January 5, 2010: Closing the loop for ALMA

　 Three antennas working in unison open new bright year for revolutionary observatory

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has passed a key milestone crucial for the high-quality images that will be the trademark of this revolutionary new tool for astronomy. Astronomers and engineers have, for the first time, successfully linked three of the observatory's antennas at the 5000-meter elevation observing site in northern Chile. Having three antennas observing in unison provides the missing link to correct errors that arise when only two antennas are used, thus paving the way for precise images of the cool Universe at unprecedented resolution.

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