First results with the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment

The Atacama Pathfinder Experiment 12-m sub-millimeter telescope lives up to the ambitions of the scientists by providing access to the "Cold Universe" with unprecedented sensitivity and image quality. Most of the new findings are in the field of star formation and astrochemistry: observations of molecular outflows allow the study of the earliest phases of star formation, mapping of giant molecular clouds reveals details of early evolutionary phases of massive stars, and finally, a new interstellar molecule was for the first time detected with the new telescope.