Japanese astronomers are in high spirits now that the state-of-the-art ALMA radio telescope, built under a multinational project in the Andean highlands, has commenced full operations to explore deep cosmic mysteries.
"ALMA has realized my dream of three decades," said Masahiko Hayashi, director general of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, referring to the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.
The international partnership has created a better telescope than Japan could have built alone, he said.