ALMA observation support tool

Instrument:

Select the desired ALMA antenna configuration.
Full ALMA means the simulations will be done with the full capabilities ALMA will achive in the future (e.g. observing with 50 antennas, or Band 10 Configuration 10 observations); some of these may not yet be offered in the current cycle.
Selecting cycle-specific configurations will simulate the capabilities of ALMA in that cycle, and therefore some observations might be restricted (you will be notified if this is the case). Please, refer to the ALMA documentation for each cycle capabilities.

Upload configuration file:

Upload your array configuration file in CASA FORMAT (see here for an example).

Source model:

Choose a library source model or supply your own.

Upload:

You may upload your own model here (max 10MB). This must be a FITS file with the extension .fits included in the name of the file, e.g. model.fits.

Declination:

Ensure correct formatting of this string (+/-00d00m00.0s).

Image peak / point flux in

Rescale the image data with respect to new peak value.
Set to 0.0 for no rescaling of source model.

Observing mode: Spectral Continuum

Spectral or continuum observations?

Central frequency in GHz:

The value entered must be within an ALMA band.

Bandwidth in :

Select the total bandwidth for continuum observations.
Enter 7.5 GHz to select ALMA recommend full continuum setup.

Use recommended continuum setup? : No Yes

Position spectral windows at the ALMA recommended positions for 7.5GHz bandwidth continuum observations.

SPW 0: BW 0:
SPW 1: BW 1:
SPW 2: BW 2:
SPW 3: BW 3:

Set the central frequency and bandwidth of each baseband/SPW in GHz.
SPWs can only be placed within the grey shaded areas.
They will be truncated in the simulation if not.
More SPWs (up to SPW3) will become avaiable as you increase the total bandwidth.

Use full Stokes parameters: Yes No

If your input image contains more than one Stokes plane
use them all (Yes), or just Stokes I (no/default).

Channel width in :

The width of channels to simulate.

Number of polarizations:

This affects the noise in the final map. Ignored in continuum mode if "Use full Stokes parameters" is set to yes.

Required resolution in arcseconds:

OST will choose array config based on this value if instrument is set to ALMA.

Pointing strategy:

Selecting single will apply primary beam attenuation.

Upload pointing file:

Upload your pointing file in CASA FORMAT (see here for an example).

On-source time in :

Per pointing for Pointing Strategy = 'mosaic'.
Total time over all pointings Pointing Strategy = 'single' and 'User pointing'
See here for more information.

Start hour angle:

Deviation of start of observation from transit.

Number of visits:

How many times the observation is repeated.

Include cycling to phase calibrator?: Yes No

This affects the uv-coverage of your simulation.

Phase Cycle: seconds

The length of time between cutting to a phase calibrator.
Limited to either 0s or between 300s and 600s.

On Phase Cal. time: seconds

The length of time spent observing phase calibrator (including slewing time).
Currently limited to either 0s or between 30s and 120s.

Atmospheric conditions:

Determines level of noise due to water vapour.

Imaging weights:

This allows a resolution / sensitivity trade-off.

Perform deconvolution?:

Apply the CLEAN algorithm to deconvolve the image.

(Uses the tclean task in CASA).

Output image format:

CASA format images are returned as a tar file

Submission:

Your email address is

Please do not use a Gmail address! (more info)

(Information on how we use your email address here).

ALMA Observation Support Tool