From March 19 through 22, the Astronomical Society of Japan (ASJ) held its Spring Meeting 2012 at Ryukoku University in Kyoto. At the ALMA special session held on the first day, there were presentations on the progress of construction, future plans, and expected performance for the scientific observations in the next phase, etc. The session attracted more than 200 astronomers, reflecting a growing interest in the ALMA Telescope. During the session, there was a report on the data analysis results of the test observations so far, which already demonstrates high performance capability of ALMA.

The picture shows Daniel Espada (EA ARC science staff at NAOJ) explaining the test observation results of a nearby black hole at the center of the Galaxy during the ALMA special session.

During the event, the East Asian ALMA Regional Center (EA-ARC) staff answered questions from researches at the ALMA consultation booth about the observation proposal procedures for the next phase and the use of the observation preparation software.