2020.02.13

ALMA Data Analysis Workshop (Imaging for Pre-Intermediate Level)

From January 15 through 16, 2020, the NAOJ ALMA Project and Astronomy Data Center jointly organized ALMA Data Analysis Workshop on Imaging for pre-intermediate-level users.

A lecture on ALMA data processing and imaging.
Credit: NAOJ

Most of the ALMA observation data are obtained based on researchers’ proposals which passed the review process. The obtained data are sent to any of the three ALMA Regional Centers in East Asia, Europe, and North America or to the Joint ALMA Observatory for data reduction that removes effects from instruments and atmosphere, and for imaging. In this process, it is confirmed that the observations have been completed with the sensitivity and angular resolution as required by the researcher in charge of the project. And then, the data are stored in the ALMA Science Archive and will be made openly available worldwide after a one-year proprietary period that allows exclusive access only to researchers of the project. Since the start of ALMA observations from 2011, an increasing amount of data is being stored in the archive. Using such accumulated data for science is considered more and more important.

To encourage the use of the archive, the NAOJ holds data analysis workshops. While previous workshops were to give lectures and hands-on trainings for beginners on how to use the archive and how to analyze stored images, this workshop is to teach producing images from the interferometric data for pre-intermediate-level users. The workshop was attended by twelve participants. They learnt, through lecture and practice, necessary skills for the imaging customized for their research purposes and those for combining multiple pieces of archive data. During the practice session, some participants enthusiastically asked to tutors questions, sometimes beyond the scope of the workshop, on how to perform an analysis according to the research purposes, target objects, and observing frequencies. As the workshop was oversubscribed with applications from a number of researchers and graduate students, further workshops may be planned in the near future.