Release of a New Installment of Science Verification Data

A new installment of Science Verification data is available. This release contains the following datasets for ALMA observations of the Sun:

• Single pointing in Band 3 obtained on 11 December 2014 UT of a quiet solar region (12-m and 7-m arrays)
• Single pointing in Band 6 obtained on 11 December 2014 UT of a quiet solar region (12-m and 7-m arrays)
• Single pointing in Band 3 obtained on 12 December 2014 UT of an active solar region (12-m and 7-m arrays)
• Single pointing in Band 6 obtained on 12 December 2014 UT of an active solar region (12-m and 7-m arrays)
• 149 pt mosaic in Band 3 obtained on 16 December 2015 UT of a preceding sunspot of the active region AR12470 (12-m, 7-m, and Total Power arrays)
• 39 pt mosaic in Band 3 obtained on 16 December 2015 UT of a quiet sun region near the east limb and the foot of a prominence (12-m, 7-m, and Total Power arrays)
• Single pointing in Band 3 obtained on 16 December 2015 UT of the west side of the preceding sunspot of the active region AR12470 (12-m and 7-m arrays)
• Single pointing in Band 3 obtained on 17 December 2015 UT of the west side of the preceding sunspot of the active region AR12470 (12-m, 7-m and Total Power arrays)
• 39 pt mosaic in Band 6 obtained on 17 December 2015 UT of a quiet sun region near the east limb (12-m, 7-m, and Total Power arrays)
• 149 pt mosaic in Band 6 obtained on 18 December 2015 UT of a preceding sunspot of the active region AR12470 (12-m, 7-m, and Total Power arrays)
• 149 pt mosaic in Band 6 obtained on 20 December 2015 UT of the limb near the Sun's south pole (12-m, 7-m, and Total Power arrays)

Details of the observations are listed on the Science Verification page.

The following files are available for each dataset:

• README file containing a summary of the data and data products, plus any other important information
• Raw, uncalibrated data to allow users to try their hands at a complete data reduction process
• Calibrated uv-data, allowing users to perform data analysis and post-processing
• Calibration and imaging data reduction scripts
• Reference images generated from the full reduction

A CASA Guide tutorial is available that describes the basic reduction steps for Solar observations.

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 a limited number of antenna elements, in non ideal configurations, with 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 ARC Networks who have participated in the EOC and Science Verification 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!