The state-of-the-art technology complex telescope of the 21st Century is ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array). This becomes a giant eye on the sky situated on the high altitude plains of Chile allow astronomers to study closely very distant objects giving better understanding of the early universe.

I’m always amazed by the numerous stars and galaxies that light the skies at night time. Telescopes permits people like myself to have a closer peek at those glittering objects in the sky. It’s also fun to watch streaking falling stars at summer and passing comets with the aid of telescope.

But there are serious amateur groups that hunts the skies with the use of good quality refractor telescopes with about 80-105mm aperture. By the way, telescopes could be grouped into two, based on cost per aperture, mainly as refractor telescopes and dobsonian telescopes. They work differently especially on color corrections, but the former is a little bit expensive than the later. I prefer the cheaper one, just for occasional sky viewing to relieve stress from a hectic IT computer work.

Telescope array for scientific study such as ALMA will pinpoint minute, hidden details deep inside galaxies or giant star forming regions, exceeding far than those amateur telescopes. This makes ALMA one of the most powerful telescopes ever made which requires a computer system to coordinate all the movement of 66 or more individual telescopes scattered across 18 kilometers.

The “brain” of ALMA is a supercomputer which performs data processing of 16 quadrillion (16,000,000,000,000,000) operations per second. The ALMA computer network utilizes Gigabit Ethernet fiber links to enable a fast computer system to control synchronously individual telescopes point a specific area to eye on the skies. ALMA is a stupendous scientific feat for mankind bringing a closer understanding of the universe.