Alan Turing Building

The University of Manchester

Manchester, United Kingdom

 

Overview

This workshop provided an introduction to ALMA and instructions on how to work with data from the observatory and will include sessions on preparing proposals, downloading data from the ALMA archive, calibrating and imaging ALMA data, and using advanced ALMA-related tools.  While the workshop was aimed primarily at novice ALMA users, particularly from the United Kingdom, other users with higher levels of experience or from other locations also attended.

 

Schedule

(All times are given in GMT.)

 

Monday, 19 February

10:00 Welcome and Introductions
10:30 Introduction to ALMA
11:00 Break
11:30 Introduction to Interferometry
12:00 The Observing Support Tool (the online ALMA simulation tool)
12:30 Lunch
14:00 The Observing Tool (the GUI used for preparing observing proposals)
15:00 The Proposal Review and Observing Process
15:30 Break
16:00 Introduction to CASA
17:00 End

 

Tuesday, 20 February

10:00 The ALMA Science Archive
11:00 Break
11:30 Notes about Downloaded Data
12:00 CARTA (the new image viewer designed for interferometric data)
12:30 Lunch
14:00 ALMA WebLog Review
15:00 Imaging Tutorial: Preparation
15:30 Break
16:00 Imaging Tutorial: Continuum Imaging
17:00 End

 

Wednesday, 21 February

10:00 Imaging Tutorial: Spectral Line Imaging
11:00 Break
11:30 Imaging Tutorial: Spectral Line Imaging (continued)
12:30 Lunch
14:00 Advanced Imaging Techniques or One-On-One Support
15:30 Break
16:00 Advanced Imaging Techniques or One-On-One Support (continued)
17:00 End

 

 

Pre-Workshop Downloads

UK ARC Node staff are available to help with the installation of CASA and any other software needed for the workshop.  We will be contacting participants before the workshop to set up Zoom calls to help with the software installation.

 

CASA (ALMA Pipeline Version)

To work on the data calibration, imaging, and analysis activities, participants will need access to a computer running CASA version 6 or later (ALMA Pipeline Version).  This software is available for both Linux and Mac but unfortunately not for Windows.

Download Link

 

ALMA Observing Tool (OT)

One of the workshop sessions is based on using the ALMA Observing Tool, which is used to submit proposals but which is also useful for understanding how ALMA observations are configured.  This can be installed on either Windows, Mac, or Linux computers.

Download Link

 

CARTA

CARTA is a new image viewer that will eventually replace the current image viewer in CASA.  It operates very smoothly, although it is still under development and its use over VPN is complicated.

Download Link

 

Example Datasets

While the workshop will be guiding people through downloading ALMA archive data, calibrating those data, and then imaging those data, participants may want to download data for the workshop early either because of concerns about slow download speeds or because of potential technical issues with creating some of the datasets.  These data can be downloaded from the links below.

Note that the total amount of disk space needed to do all of the data processing is about 70 GB. The calibrated and science only visibility data are optional downloads and are only necessary for situations where it is not possible to calibrate the archival data or perform some of the steps in the imaging script.

Archival Data

Product Files (archival images)

Auxiliary Files (calibration information, logs, quality assessment reports, and scripts)

Raw Visibility Data

Calibrated Visibility Data (optional, 23 GB)

Science Target Only Calibrated Visibility Data (optional, 6.2 GB)

Continuum-Subtracted CO Visibility Data (optional, 3.1 GB)

imaging_script.py (For continuum imaging)

line_imaging_script.py (For continuum imaging)