- Quick links:
- Cycle 10 Call for Proposals
- German ALMA Community Meeting 2023
- Guidelines for mmVLBI with ALMA in Cycle 10
- Cycle 10 Pre-announcement
- Training opportunity: ALMA Data Reduction
- Cycle 9 Proposal Preparation Support
- Dual-anonymous Guidelines
- Information on the proposal review process
- LEGO ALMA - Radiointerferometrie verstehen leicht gemacht
- ALMA Status Page
- ALMA Configuration Schedule
- The German ARC node:
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- Host institutes:
- University of Bonn
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- European ARC nodes:
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- External links:
- ALMA for the public
- ALMA at the NA ARC
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German ALMA Regional Centre (ARC) Node
The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) is a revolutionary interferometer for mm and submm astronomy in the Atacama desert in Northern Chile. It is operated by a global collaboration between Europe (ESO), North America (NRAO) and East Asia (NAOJ), in cooperation with Chile. The interface between ALMA and the user communities is provided by three ALMA Regional Centres (ARCs) in Europe, North America and East Asia.
The European ARC (EU ARC) is organized as a coordinated network with a central node at ESO Headquarters in Garching bei München and regional nodes located in Bologna(I), Bonn/Cologne(D), Grenoble(F), Leiden(NL), Manchester(GB), Ondrejov(CZ), and Onsala(S). The concept and the implementation of the EU ARC network has been described in an article in the ESO Messenger (Hatziminaoglou et al. 2015, Msngr. 162, 24).
The German ARC node is a collaboration of the universities of Bonn and Cologne. Its headquarters are located at the Argelander-Institut für Astronomie in Bonn. The German ARC node provides services to ALMA operations, the local astronomical community and the general public:
- User support
- Technical development
- Operational support
- Training and Outreach to the Scientific and Public Community
Newsletters and Announcements
Recent News
Attention, patched version of OT released
[03 May 2023]An issue has been discovered in the Cycle 10 ALMA Observing Tool (OT) that affects the estimated Atacama Compact Array (ACA) integration times for some ACA observations (7-m and TP). The issue occurs when the Bandwidth used for Sensitivity in the Control and Performance section is set to anything other than RepWindowEffectiveChannelWidth or FinestEffectiveChannelWidth and a 4x4-bit spectral mode is selected. A patched version of the Cycle 10 OT is now available on the Science Portal. All PIs of projects that include ACA observations should download the updated OT version and submit or resubmit their proposals using this version. The correct version can be identified by checking for the words Patch 1 in the title bar at the top of the OT window.
More details on potential OT issues regarding integration time estimates can be found here.
Conference announcement: ALMA at 10-years: Past, Present, and Future
[24 April 2023]To commemorate its first decade of science operations, the ALMA partnership is organizing a conference in Puerto Varas, Chile on 4-8 December 2023 that will take a look back at the Observatory's accomplishments, highlight its latest results, and look forward to future technical developments. The conference will include invited and contributed talks, and poster presentations. Talks and posters are welcome in all fields of astronomy, from cosmology and galaxies in the distant Universe to nearby galaxies and the Galactic Center, interstellar medium, and star formation in our Galaxy, as well as astrochemistry, circumstellar disks, exoplanets, Solar System, stellar evolution, and the Sun. A hybrid format will allow participants to choose to attend in-person (up to 180 participants) or remotely on a virtual platform. More information on the conference is available on the conference web page.
Abstract submission and registration are now open with a deadline to submit an abstract for a contributed talk on 31 May 2023.
Data Processing: Single Dish Pipeline issue
[18 April 2023]Total Power (TP) data processed with the Single Dish (SD) Pipeline version 2022.2.0.64 since 26 September 2022 may show spurious bright or dark spots in the data cubes and/or weight maps, if TP data from a single polarization have been flagged. As soon as the issue has been discovered, pipeline processing of TP data has been paused until the release of a patched version. More information on the re-processing of potentially affected data can be found here.
Data processed by earlier versions of the SD Pipeline and manually calibrated and imaged TP data are not affected. The interferometric pipeline is not affected.
ALMA Cycle 10 Call for Proposals is Now OPEN!
[13 April 2023]The ALMA Director, on behalf of the Joint ALMA Observatory and the partner organizations in East Asia, Europe, and North America, has issued the ALMA Cycle 10 Call for Proposals for scientific observations. Proposals can be submitted now until the deadline of 15:00 UT on Wednesday 10 May 2023. Detailed information, including the necessary software and extensive documentation can be found here.
Community events focusing on helping the community to prepare proposals include the Sixth European ALMA Regional Centre community assembly on MOnday 17 April 2023 and the German ALMA Community Meeting 2023 on Wednesday 26 April 2023 (please see below for details).
Invitation to the German ALMA Community Meeting 2023
[31 March 2023]The next Call for Proposals for observing time with ALMA (Cycle 10) will be issued in April 2023. The deadline for proposals is expected to be in May 2023, with observations starting in October 2023. The anticipated capabilities have been outlined in the ALMA Cycle 10 Pre-announcement. As an opportunity to refresh old collaborations, extend local networks and to kick-start proposal preparation, the German ARC node organizes the
German ALMA Community Meeting 2023
at the Argelander-Institut für Astronomie in Bonn on 26 April 2023. The meeting is designed as a science fair with several stands offering interactive displays, hands-on tutorials and individual advice, as well as the latest information on ALMA operations and support. Remote participation is possible via zoom. However, given the design of the meeting, attending the event in person is recommended. As we intend to scale the logistics to the expected number of participants, we kindly ask everyone planning to attend to please register here before 23 April 2023.
Registration is now open!
Sixth European ALMA Regional Centre community assembly
[31 March 2023]he European ALMA Regional Centre invites European ALMA users to a virtual community assembly on April 17 at 11:00 CEST, in connection with the Cycle 10 call for proposals. At this meeting, we will provide more information on the procedures for Joint Proposals with other facilities, including the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, the Space Telescope Science Institute's James Webb Space Telescope, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array.
We will furthermore update you on the new capabilities offered in Cycle 10, including ALMA Band 1, and on the support offered by the European ARC Network. The meeting can be accessed here.
Targets for Band 1 Science Verification
[16 March 2023]New Science Verification targets that will demonstrate the Band 1 receivers are now listed on the Science Verification webpage.
The possible targets are:
- W51: observations of the SO2, SiO, CS, and CH3OH lines as well as the continuum to demonstrate the imaging capability with ~2 arcsec angular resolution.
- Orion KL: spectral scan between 35.1 and 49.55 GHz to demonstrate the new science capabilities for molecular line surveys and chemistry using Band 1 and to demonstrate the ability of obtaining and properly calibrating spectral scans across the band.
ALMA Cycle 10 Pre-Announcement
[18 January 2023]The Joint ALMA Observatory will start Cycle 10 observations in October 2023. A Call for Proposals with detailed information on Cycle 10 is anticipated to be issued in April 2023 and the deadline for proposal submission will be in May 2023. In order to assist with early planning, the Observatory has published a Cycle 10 Pre-Announcement, including the anticipated timeline, information on the new capabilities and the proposal review process, and the anticipated configuration schedule.
The following capabilities will be offered in Cycle 10 for the first time:
- Band 1 observations on the 12-m Array (Stokes I only)
- Spectral scans including Total Power observations
- 4x4-bit spectral modes on the 12-m Array (dual polarization)
- Solar observations in full polarization in Band 3 (only 12-m Array)
- Phased array mode in Bands 1, 3, 6 and 7
- VLBI in Bands 1, 3, 6 and 7, including flexible tuning for spectral lines
- Joint Proposals with other facilities
- Band-to-band phase calibration for high-frequency observations (7-m Array and 12-m Array)
Early deadline for 3mm and 7mm VLBI observations
[13 January 2023]The phased ALMA is expected to participate again in Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) at millimeter wavelengths during ALMA Cycle 10 (October 2023 - September 2024). New capabilities in Cycle 10 include flexible spectral line VLBI and observations at 7mm (ALMA Band 1).
The observations at 7mm and 3mm (ALMA Bands 1 and 3) are performed as part of the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (GMVA). For observations at 1mm and 0.8mm (ALMA Bands 6 and 7), ALMA joins the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) network.
If you consider proposing VLBI observations at either 7mm or 3mm, please note that the proposal must be submitted via the NRAO Proposal Submission Tool (PST) before the GMVA deadline on
01 February 2023.
In addition, the proposal must be submitted via the ALMA Observing Tool (OT) before the ALMA Cycle 10 deadline. If you consider proposing VLBI observations at 1mm or 0.8mm, you are only required to submit your proposal via the ALMA Observing Tool (OT).
An introduction to the GMVA+ALMA observing mode and the GMVA Call for Proposals with detailed information on all capabilities and procedures are available at our mmVLBI support homepage.