Science Verification Data
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For general information on the Science Verification process as well as the status and future plans of Science Verification projects, please use the link below:
Science Verification Information
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Currently Available Science Verification Data:
We now have several datasets available to demonstrate the early capabilities of ALMA. In some cases these projects were observed before 16 antennas were available and while many of the subsystems were still being tested, so they should not be construed to represent the quality of the data that can be expected from the system as it is today. They are provided here as a means for the user to become acquainted with the ALMA data structure, observing strategies and reduction techniques. Given that the data have been taken during the construction phase, there may be more idiosyncrasies present than will be expected during full operations, so we ask the user to please review carefully the CASA guides provided with the datasets that represent unique observing modes or strategies, as indicated below.
Note that only data with prepared CASA guides are kept up to date with the current CASA release. For the other data, please consult the following knowledge base article: "If my data were calibrated and imaged in CASA 3.3 and I want to redo it, are there resources to help?"
For reference the list of Science Verification targets that was provided with the Cycle 0 Call for Proposals is given in Table 2 which indicates which observations have been completed or are in progress. We do not expect to observe the other sources on that list.
1. TW Hya: Band 7, high spectral resolution. Many thanks to the following people for suggesting this source for ALMA Science Verification: Meredith Hughes, Stuartt Corder, Chunhua Qi, Karin Oberg, Michiel Hogerheide, Andrea Isella, Dmitry Semenov.
Additional data on TW Hya is available (without a separate CASA guide) here: Band 3, Band 6.
2. NGC3256: Band 3, low spectral resolution. Many thanks to the following people for suggesting this source for ALMA Science Verification: Kazushi Sakamoto, Alison Peck, Satoki Matsushita, Martin Zwaan.
3. Antennae galaxies: Band 7, high spectral resolution. Many thanks to the following people for suggesting this source for ALMA Science Verification: Christine Wilson, Junko Ueda, Francois Boulanger, Nicole Nesvadba, Cinthya Herrera.
Additional data on Antennae is available (without a separate CASA guide) here: Band 6
4. M100 Band 3, low spectral resolution. Many thanks to the following people for suggesting this source for ALMA Science Verification: Preben Grosbol and Catherine Vlahakis.
ACA (7-m Array and TP Array) data on M100, complete with a CASA Guide demonstrating the combination of 12-m, 7-m, and TP Array data, are also available. The combined images are also available. The CASA guide is written for CASA version 4.3. An updated version of the previously released 12-m Array data products are provided for CASA 4.3.
5. SgrA* Band 6, recombination lines. Many thanks to the following people for suggesting this source for ALMA Science Verification: Andreas Eckart, Stephane Leon, Steve Longmore, Sergio Martin, Stephane Leon, Farhad Zadeh.
Additional data on SgrA* is available: Band 3
6. BR1202-0725 Band 7: low spectral resolution. Many thanks to the following people for suggesting this source for ALMA Science Verification: Daisuke Iono, Satoki Matsushita, Shinya Komugi, Jeff Wagg, Tommy Wiklind, Dominik Reichers
A second dataset on this source, taken shortly after the first, has been added to the above directory. This data was taken under very good conditions and at higher elevation, so has better sensitivity than the first but, due to a fault lacks the system temperature information which is required to perform a standard flux calibration.
7. IRAS16293 Band 6: high spectral resolution. Many thanks to the following people for suggesting this source for ALMA Science Verification: Jes Jorgensen, Suzanne Bisschop, Ewine van Dishoeck, Tyler Bourke, Johan Lindberg, Michiel Hogerheijde, Bill Dent, Martin Zwaan, Al Wootten
The raw band 6 dataset with the full spectral resolution is also available in the above directory. Be aware that this is a large file so downloading it and reducing it will take patience.
A Band 9 dataset on IRAS16293, complete with CASA Guide, is also available. Note that the data products (calibrated science uv-data and images) deployed before June 18th, 2012 had a position offset of about 1.2" toward positive R.A. due to an error in the phase calibrator position. This has now been fixed in both the calibrated science uv-data and images as described in the casaguides
A Band 4 dataset on IRAS16293 is also available.
8. Centaurus A Band 6: high spectral resolution mosaic. Many thanks to the following people for suggesting this source for ALMA Science Verification: Juergen Ott, Christian Struve, Tommy Wiklind, Sergio Martin
9. Orion KL Band 6: high resolution spectral survey. Many thanks to the following people for suggesting this source for ALMA Science Verification: John Bally, Paolo Cortes, Ciriaco Goddi, Lewis Knee, Jonathan Tan, Leonardo Testi, Tom Wilson, Melvyn Wright.
10. HD163296 Band 6 and Band 7: high spectral resolution. Many thanks to the following people for suggesting this source for ALMA Science Verification: Meredith Hughes, Andrea Isella.
11. VY CMa Band 7 and Band 9: high angular resolution. Many thanks to the following people for suggesting this source for ALMA Science Verification: Alain Baudry, Liz Humphreys, Todd Hunter, Violette Impellizzeri, Anita Richards, Leonardo Testi, Wouter Vlemmings, Al Wootten
A Band 5 spectral line polarization dataset for H2O and SiO is also available.
Update: Band 9 data using B2B mode are now available. These were taken in November 2017 as part of band-to-band commissioning tests for the high-frequency long-baseline campaign (HF-LBC-2017)
12. Comet Lemmon Band 6: Doppler tracking of ephemeris targets.
13. Juno Band 6: very high angular resolution, long (~10 km) baselines. This data was observed as part of the 2014 ALMA Long Baseline Campaign. Details of the imaging of the long baseline data are given in a CASA Guide page.
14. Mira Band 3 and Band 6: very high angular resolution, long (~10 km) baselines. This data was observed as part of the 2014 ALMA Long Baseline Campaign. Details of the imaging of the long baseline data are given in a CASA Guide page.
15. HL Tau Band 3, Band 6 and Band 7: very high angular resolution, long (~10 km) baselines. This data was observed as part of the 2014 ALMA Long Baseline Campaign. Details of the imaging of the long baseline data are given in a CASA Guide page.
A Band 4 dataset on HL Tau is also available. These data were obtained in November 2015 as part of testing the receiver on long baselines.
Update: Band 9 data using B2B mode are now available. These were taken in November 2017 as part of band-to-band commissioning tests for the high-frequency long-baseline campaign (HF-LBC-2017)
16. SDP.81 Band 4, Band 6 and Band 7: very high angular resolution, long (~10 km) baselines. This data was observed as part of the 2014 ALMA Long Baseline Campaign. Details of the imaging of the long baseline data are given in a CASA Guide page.
Note that the Band 4 CO image products deployed before March 2nd, 2015, were not continuum subtracted. These have therefore been replaced with continuum-subtracted images. Details of the additional continuum subtraction step are given in the imaging script on the long baseline CASA Guide page. Note also that the Band 4 CO image products deployed before April 17, 2015, used a rest frequency corresponding to an adopted redshift z=3.04 (142.641 GHz). For consistency with the other spectral line data on this target, these have been replaced with images that adopt z=3.042.
17. 3C 286 Band 6: continuum polarization. Details of the calibration and imaging of these polarization data are given in a CASA guide.
18. Arp 220 Band 5: H2O, CS and HNC observations.
19. Sgr B2(N) Band 5: almost complete spectral scan from 163 GHz to 211 GHz with the hybrid 12m-7m array.
20. Solar observations:
- 2014 campaign: single pointings in a quiet solar region at Band 3 and Band 6, and in an active solar region at Band 3 and Band 6.
- 2015 campaign: 149 pt mosaic of the active region AR12470 at Band 3 and Band 6 and of the limb near the Sun's south pole at Band 6.
- 2015 campaign: 39 pt mosaic of quiet sun region near the east limb at Band 3 and Band 6 .
- 2015 campaign: single pointings of the west side of the active region AR12470 at Band 3 (16 December and 17 December data).
21. W51 Band 1: Continuum and CS, SiO, CH3OH, and SO2 line observations.
22. Orion Band 1. To be released.
Commissioning Test data
1. Proof of Concept of Response to Targets of Opportunity: GRB 110715A followup Band 7: continuum. Many thanks to the following people for participating in the Rapid Response testing: Dale Frail, Ashley Zauderer, Andreas Lundgren, Itziar de Gregorio, Mark Rawlings, Diego Garcia, Stuartt Corder
2. Pluto Band 7 TDM data in support of NASA JPL New Horizons Mission: Pluto band 7: continuum. Many thanks to Leslie Young and Alan Stern (Southwest Research Institute), Hal Weaver (Johns Hopkins APL), Bill Folkner (JPL, Caltech) and the NASA New Horizons Team, Ed Fomalont for the astrometric scheduling, data reduction and analysis, and Diego Garcia-Appadoo for the preparation of the scheduling blocks.
3. Single quasar observations over tens of minutes or longer to determine the properties of atmospheric delay variation over baselines up to 15 km. These data were obtained as part of the past ALMA Long Baseline Campaigns. See the README file for a general description of the dataset, and 10kmBL_DataStatus.pdf for a detailed listing of the datasets.
4. Vela Pulsar J0835-4510: The primary goal of the observation is to achieve a detection of the pulsar at a significance consistent with sensitivity (A/T) and bandwidth used, demonstrating the feasibility of pulsar and transient observations with ALMA. Exploring the feasibility of using pulsar observations for system tests and instrumental polarisation calibration is the secondary goal. Furthermore, comparing the properties of the Vela pulse profile with those obtained at lower frequencies allows us to study pulsar emission physics.
5. HL Tau Band 9 B2B: These data were obtained as part of the High Frequency Long Baseline Campaign 2017 (HF-LBC-2017) in order to test the long baseline imaging capability using the band-to-band (B2B) for the extended protostellar disk source.
6. VY CMa Band 9 B2B: These data were obtained as part of the High Frequency Long Baseline Campaign 2017 (HF-LBC-2017) in order to test the long baseline imaging capability using the band-to-band (B2B) for the oxygen-rich red supergiant (RSG) and maser source.
7. Polarization Beam Maps on 3c279. Many thanks to the following people for suggesting this source for ALMA test data: Edward Fomalont, Seiji Kameno, Hiroshi Nagai, Kouichiro Nakanishi, George Moellembrock, Rosita Paladino, Paulo Cortes, Chat Hull, and Josep Miquel Girart.
8. Orion KL Bands 3 and 6: High resolution continuum mosaics in full polarization. Many thanks to the following people for suggesting this source for ALMA test data: Paulo Cortes, Chat Hull, Josep Miquel Girart, and Valentin Le Goullec.
9. R Lep Band 8 Band 9 Band 10 B2B: These data were obtained as part of the High Frequency Long Baseline Campaign 2021 (HF-LBC-2021) in order to test and showcase the longest baseline (16km) imaging capability using the band-to-band (B2B) for the Carbon-rich evolved star and HCN maser source, R Lep, at Bands 8, 9 and 10.
10. Solar Full Polarization Band 3: These data were obtained to test, implement, and determine the accuracy of the solar full-polarization observing mode of ALMA.
Using the data for publication
Please refer to the Publication acknowledgement section.