Editorial
Special Letters edition: First science with APEX
In 2005, the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment submillimeter telescope (APEX) on
Chanjantor in the Atacama desert in Northern Chile saw first light. APEX has
been constructed to operate in the submillimeter windows between 200 and
1300 
m. It is the fruit of a collaboration between the
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, ESO, and the Swedish Onsala Space
Observatory. It is a forerunner to the ALMA telescope, which will be
constructed on the same site, and will provide complementary observations to
ALMA.
The Editors of Astronomy & Astrophysics recognise the importance of this event and present, in this issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics a special Letter issue on APEX. There are 6 letters describing the instrumentation and 20 letters giving first results with the spectroscopic receivers.
Claude Bertout