2012.11.30

Outcome of the Proposal Review Process, Cycle 1

The scientific and technical assessment of the 1133 science proposals submitted from astronomers for ALMA Early Science Cycle 1 has been completed. Seventy-eight science assessors from all over the world have evaluated the expected scientific value of these proposals. As a result, the most promising proposals of each ALMA region have been selected as those most likely to be completed using the ALMA Cycle 1 capabilities, after their technical feasibility was confirmed by fifteen technical assessors from the Joint ALMA Observatory and the three ALMA Regional Centers.

Principal Investigators (PIs) have been notified of the outcome of the Proposal Review Process. The 196 highest-priority projects cover a wide range of science and are distributed across the five broad ALMA science categories as shown in the accompanying pie chart.

Cycle 1 science observing is scheduled to begin in January 2013 and will span 10 months. These observations will be conducted in parallel with the ongoing construction, commissioning and verification of the whole ALMA system. The ALMA Observatory has already delivered 48 antennas out of a total of 66 to the 5,000 meters site. The completion of the array with the full set of scientific capabilities, expected in the second half of 2013, is the highest priority of the Observatory.
Cycle 1 will include the use of the Atacama Compact Array (ACA) a sub-system of the ALMA telescope which allows enhanced imaging fidelity especially for extended astronomical sources. The ACA comprises of 16 (four 12-m and twelve 7-m) antennas, the last of which was delivered by Japan in May 2012.
ALMA started scientific operations on 30 September 2011 with a quarter of its final complement of antennas. Called Cycle 0, the first ever phase of ALMA operations identified 112 highest-priority proposals out of 919 submitted by astronomers from all over the world to start using this cutting edge facility.

More Information
Information about the technical capabilities of ALMA, how to apply for observing time, how to access ALMA data, and links to a variety of official ALMA documents and tools can be found in the science portal .
The 196 highest priority projects are listed in the following page.
http://almascience.nao.ac.jp/news/alma-early-science-cycle-1-outcome-of-the-proposal-review-process

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