ALMA lets astronomers see building blocks of early galaxies

Chile's ALMA observatory, which houses some of the world's most powerful telescopes, has captured its most detailed images to date of the building blocks of the early universe -- primarily cold gases, dust and stellar light in 39 galaxies.

"We've never achieved so much detail and depth in galaxies from the early universe," Sergio Martin, head of Scientific Operations at ALMA, told AFP during a presentation of the research at University of Concepcion in Santiago.

Due to its dark skies and clear air, Chile hosts the telescopes of more than 30 countries, including the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) that was used in the findings. 

The research was led by Rodrigo Herrera-Camus, director of the Millennium Nucleus of Galaxies (MINGAL) of Chile, who told AFP the new images provide "the opportunity to study how stars are born."

The survey also found that stars emerged in "giant clumps," Herrera-Camus said.

By combining ALMA's findings with images from the James Webb and Hubble telescopes, researchers were able to learn more about how galaxies evolve, interact, and form stars.

The ALMA telescope was developed by the European Southern Observatory, the US National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

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