SCIENCE . TECHNOLOGY

EYES OF THE ATACAMA

52' (ENG, GER, SPA)

Atacama desert, Chile, altitude 5,300 metres, perhaps the driest desert in the world. Humidity almost non-existent, inhospitable in the extreme – the perfect location from which to observe the birth of the universe.

ALMA – the Atacama Large Millimeter Array – is the ultimate space observation facility. Here, 66 leviathan parabolic antennae trap cosmic rays in the previously unobservable long-wave range. It can only happen in Atacama, far away from civilisation’s pollution of the night sky with artificial light.

Through 'Eyes of the Atacama' we witness the quest to solve some of astronomy’s greatest enigmas. We go inside the Eyes of the Atacama, using elaborate animated sequences, to create a vision of the unimaginable. The mass of data collected here will bring us closer to understanding the creation of life, the origin of the universe, and the nature of infinity.