Calls

ALMA Cycle 4 Call for Proposals

The ALMA Cycle 4 Call for Proposals is now open until 21st April 2016. This cycle will run from October 2016 to September 2017.  Check the call webpage for more detailed information including new array capabilities.

Note the menu side bar where one will find key guiding documents and tools such as the Proposer’s Guide, the Proposal Templates, the Observing Tool, a web-based Sensitivity Calculator, or the always helpful ALMA Primer.

Should you need any help, do not hesitate to contact us by any of the available means. Also, stay up to date by subscribing to our mailing list (check bottom left corner in our homepace).

Good luck!

Calls

1mm VLBI including ALMA

Dear colleagues,

The call for 1mm Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) proposals to use phased ALMA at Band 6 in Cycle 4, in collaboration with the Event Horizon Telescope Consortium (EHTC), will be released to coincide with the ALMA Cycle 4 Call for Proposals in March 2016. The EHTC is expected to comprise the Submillimeter Array, the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, the Submillimeter Telescope, the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment, the South Pole Telescope, the Large Millimeter Telescope Alfonso Serrano, the IRAM 30m telescope, and an antenna from the Northern Extended Millimeter Array.

The same scientific justification must be submitted in response to the ALMA and VLBI network calls. NRAO will facilitate this for the 1mm VLBI call by having proposers submit a copy of their ALMA Cycle 4 proposal in response to the 1mm VLBI call, approximately one week after the ALMA proposal deadline in April.

Further details, along with technical information for phased ALMA and the EHTC, will be made available with the 1mm VLBI Call for Proposals. It is expected that observing will take place in March or April 2017, when ALMA will be in a compact configuration suitable for efficient phasing.

Regards,
The European ALMA Regional Centre

Calls

SV Proposal Call SEPIA Band 9

SEPIA (Swedish ESO PI receiver for Apex) is a new instrument at APEX, the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment. SEPIA is offered in Band 9 (conditional on the anticipated successful commissioning) for a Science Verification (SV) phase. First light has been successfully achieved (Feb 2016) and commissioning will start in April 2016.

The purpose of the Science Verification observations for SEPIA Band 9 is to execute programmes testing a various number of science cases for which the instrument was designed. Those programmes will be chosen also to test the various modes of operation.

The deadline for submission is Friday 11 March 2016, 12:00 CET.

More information in the call webpage.

MeetingsWorkshops

Portuguese ALMA Community Days 2016

We are glad to announce the Portuguese ALMA Community Days to be held on 14th and 15th March 2016 at the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Science in Oporto.

WORKSHOP PROGRAMME:
— 14th March
11h00—11h30 – “The observatory ALMA” (Hugo Messias)
11h30—12h30 – “From our solar system to the Galactic centre” (Elizabeth Humphreys, ESO)
12h30—14h00 – [Lunch]
14h00—15h00 – “The Extra-galactic Universe and its Cosmology” (Israel Matute)
15h00—15h30 – “Proposing for time and the ALMA Observing Tool” (Ciro Pappalardo)
15h30—16h00 – “Observation simulations” (Hugo Messias)
16h00—16h20 – [coffee break]
16h20—18h00 – Science discussion — bring your own science case
— 15th March
09h30—11h00 – Face-to-face hands-on: ALMA Observing Tool
11h00—12h30 – Face-to-face hands-on: Observation simulations
12h30—14h00 – [Lunch]
14h00—16h00 – Face-to-face hands-on (general)

FEE: No fee is required.

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: [passed]

REQUIREMENTS: If the user is interested to participate in the hands-on sessions, please bring a laptop with the ALMA Observing Tool and the latest CASA version (4.5.2) installed.

SURVEY:

    Previous to PACD16, had you thought about ALMA to address your science goals?
    yesno

    After PACD15, do you now think ALMA can address your science goals?
    yesno

    Do you feel the presentations were clear and helpful?
    yesno

    Do you feel the science discussion was helpful?
    yesno

    Do you feel the hands-on sessions were clear and helpful?
    yesno

    Are you planing to contact PACE to obtain training with the ALMA Observational Tool (AOT) or CASA simulations (CASAsim)?
    AOTCASAsimbothno

    Please, write below any comment regarding the above questionnaire or any other issue you feel it should be mentioned about PACD16.

    Calls

    ALMA Cycle 4 pre-announcement

    Exciting news for ALMA Cycle 4, which has just been pre-announced. Many new capabilities are now anticipated, such as the use of the Atacama Compact Array alone or ALMA as a VLBI station. Breakthrough science will definitely arise as a result.

    On 22nd March 2016, a call will be released, as well as the latest version of the ALMA Observing Tool, with which one will submit proposals until the deadline on 21st April 2016.

    More detailed preliminary information on anticipated array capabilities and key dates for Cycle 4 are available here.

    For any further information, do not hesitate to contact us by any of the provided contacts.

    Good luck!

    Calls

    ALMA Fellowships

    The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is now offering postdoctoral fellowship positions to join the ALMA science operations group. Fellows will be based in the Santiago Central Office in Chile, with eventual shifts to the ALMA Operations Support Facility (OSF) near San Pedro de Atacama for real-time interaction with the telescope. Full details here.

    MeetingsWorkshops

    Resolving Planet Formation in the Era of ALMA and Extreme AO

    Results from ALMA Long Baseline observations and from SPHERE, Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) and other high-contrast adaptive optics (AO) instruments have given a taste of what to expect over the next few years in the fields of protoplanetary and debris disks, and planet formation. For the first time observations of the regions where planets form are achievable. The workshop will discuss the state-of-the-art results, offering a panchromatic view, with a balance between observations and theory. Discussions will be scheduled on how facilities, such as JWST, E-ELT and TMT, and advances in modeling, will advance the field of planetary formation.

    Details are available from the workshop webpage.

    MeetingsWorkshops

    Water in the Universe – from clouds to oceans

    A conference to be held at ESA/ESTEC on 12—15 April 2016, which will cover all astrophysical aspects of water, including the water trail, from the formation of water in molecular clouds to water on planetary bodies, including in our own solar system; water as a probe of physics and and chemistry; and water in nearby to water in extra-galactic and high redshift sources.

    More information at the conference website. Abstract submission deadline on 11th December.

    Portuguese ALMA Centre of Expertise