The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is nearing completion, with the delivery of the 66th 12 meter radiotelescope. This is the perfect instrument, arguably more important than the Hubble Telescope, as it combines high angular resolution with a very long wavelength of observation that can penetrate the dust clouds hiding the processes of star formation and the dust that surrounds giant starbursts that formed most of our existing stars in the early universe.
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2013/1...ivered-to-alma
In some much worse news, Two of the primary instruments of radio astronomy, the Very Large Array (VLA) and the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) are now closed because of the US government shutdown. This is utter madness!
https://offline2.nrao.edu/
cheers,
madbadgalaxyman
Here is a good description of ALMA; not too technical, but precise enough to give some real understanding about the instrument:
http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/...131_012049.pdf
