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| Paper: |
The ALMA Observing Tool: Experiences from Cycle 0 |
| Volume: |
461, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XXI |
| Page: |
157 |
| Authors: |
Bridger, A.; Biggs, A.; McLay, S.; Williams, S.; Yatagai, H.; Schilling, M.; Tobar, R.; Warmels, R. |
| Abstract: |
On 30th March 2011 the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
(ALMA) announced the Call for Proposals for its first observing cycle
(Cycle 0). Cycle 0 is part of ALMA's Early Science observing whereby
a subset of antennas, receivers and commissioned observing modes are
made available to the community while the observatory is still being
constructed and commissioned. As part of the announcement the ALMA
Observing Tool (ALMA OT) was made available for the first time to
prospective ALMA users. The submission deadline passed on 30th June,
with over 900 proposals to use ALMA submitted from ALMA OT
users. There was of course the last minute submission rush, and
including proposal resubmissions (allowed by Observatory policy) there
were over 1100 submission attempts in the last hour. The ALMA OT is
the tool used to create proposals (Phase I) to use ALMA, and will also
be used to create the observing programs (Phase II) for successful
proposals. In parallel it is being used as part of the ongoing ALMA
commissioning campaign. This paper describes briefly how the ALMA OT
tackles the problem of making millimeter/submillimeter interferometry
accessible to the wider community, while allowing expert users the
power they need, the intelligence behind the user interface, and the
support provided to the technical assessment process. We will then
move on to describe the lessons learnt from Cycle 0 submissions and
finally we will look ahead to the challenges presented by the Cycle 1
period, when more of ALMA's capabilities will be made available to the
community. |
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