New ALMA Science Verification data is now available through the Science Portal. These comprise Band-4 observations of CH3OH and CH3CN transitions toward the triple proto-star system IRAS 16293-2422. Previous Science Verification data on this same source has already been used to provide a detailed dynamical characterisation of the binary system therein and its molecular complexity (Pineda et al. 2012).

New ALMA Science Verification data has been released. This batch includes:
– M100: Band 3 CO(1-0) observations with the 7m Array and the Total Power Array, demonstrating the ALMA Compact Array and data combination capabilities;
– 3C 286: Band 6 continuum observations demonstrating ALMA’s polarization capability.

Should you need any help with these data, please use the Helpdesk or contact PACE directly.

The Science Verification data resulting from the 2014 ALMA Long-Baseline (~10km) campaign has just been released in the science verification webpage. This new capability to be available in Cycle-3 suits ALMA with spatial resolving powers as fine as a few tens milli-arcsecond.

This release includes:
– Juno (asteroid): observations of continuum in Band 6 (233 GHz);
– Mira (AGB star): observations of several SiO transitions (isotopologues and vibrational states) and continuum in Bands 3 and 6;
– HL Tau (proto-planetary disc): observations of continuum and spectral line in Band 3, and
continuum only in Bands 6 & 7;
– SDP.81 (lensed galaxy): observations of continuum and spectral lines in Bands 4, 6 & 7.

More details can be found in the corresponding CASA guide page.

The short-wavelength and long-baseline campaigns have far surpassed our expectations, with amazing science verification data to be released hopefully soon.

The ALMA Science Pipeline is now available for download and installation from the ALMA Science Portal. The Pipeline is released as part of a special version of CASA-4.2.2, supported for Red Hat Linux and Mac OSX 10.8. Read more here.

For the most curious ones, here is a detailed look into what “QA2” involves. This article describes the implementation of the ALMA data quality assurance system, in particular the level 2 which is based on CASA, and the lessons learned.