On July 29, Yoshinobu Hiraishi, who was appointed as Ambassador of Japan to Chile this year, visited the ALMA Array Operations Site (AOS) with his wife and the party of the Japanese Embassy in Chile. The ambassador came to northern Chile to attend the opening ceremony of the Antucoya copper mine project funded by a Japanese company and took the opportunity to visit the ALMA site located north of the Antucoya mine.

Although a part of the road was muddy due to remaining snow at the ALMA site, the weather was fine with no wind and they could see the antennas in operation.

The picture shows a group photo taken in front of the array of the Japanese antennas at the AOS at 5000-m altitude with Ambassador Hiraishi (middle) and NAOJ Chile Observatory Director Seiichi Sakamoto (right to the Ambassador).

Credit: NAOJ