New release of ALMA Science Verification data

A new installment of Science Verification data is available. This release contains two new datasets corresponding to targets listed on the Science Verification web page:

VY CMa: water masers at Bands 7 and 9, demonstrating the 1-3 km baseline capability
Comet Lemmon: the HCN line in Band 6, demonstrating the Doppler tracking of ephemeris targets

The Science Verification datasets are available through the ALMA Science Portal. The data products released here contain the raw, uncalibrated data (ASDMs) to allow users to try their hands at a complete data reduction process, a calibrated dataset to allow users to perform data analysis and post-processing, and reference images generated from the calibrated data. There are data reduction suggestions for these datasets provided in the form of scripts, as well as additional information about the datasets in a README file.

We hope that you will find that the quality of these datasets is impressive, but please remember that ALMA Science Verification data is taken as part of Extension and Optimization of Capabilities (EOC), and we are continuously testing new observing modes. These observations are made using new equipment and software and thus may contain more idiosyncrasies than data released to PIs in Early Science.

We thank the large number of staff at the JAO and the ARCs who have participated in the EOC activities, observations and data reduction that made this release possible.

Reminder: In order to reduce and/or analyze the ALMA data, users need to use the Common Astronomy Software Applications (CASA) package. The CASA package can be accessed through http://casa.nrao.edu. Feedback on the data and on the CASA software is always welcome!