Thursday, January 1, 2026

The ALMA Array is Completed With 145 New Low-Noise Amplifiers

The ESO's ALMA telescope array in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. Credit ©: ESO/C.Malin

The Atacama Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), the world's most powerful radio telescope, has received 145 new low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) that will increase its range and sensitivity.



The Interstellar Comet That’s Spilling Its Secrets

Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS captured by the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on Gemini North on Maunakea in Hawai‘ (Credit : International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/B. Bolin)

Astronomers have measured water streaming from interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS for the first time since it passed closest to the Sun. Using a spacecraft that’s been watching the Sun for nearly three decades, scientists detected hydrogen glowing around the comet and calculated that it was producing water at extraordinary rates. These measurements not only confirm that interstellar comets behave remarkably like our own Solar System’s icy wanderers, but also provide crucial clues about what comets looked like in the early universe.