Welcome to ALMA and the European ALMA Regional Centre!

ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) is the world's largest ground-based facility for observations in the millimeter/submillimeter regime located on the Chajnantor plateau, 5000 meters altitude in northern Chile. It enables transformational research into the physics of the cold Universe, probes the first stars and galaxies, and directly images the formation of planets. ALMA comprises a giant array of fifty 12-m antennas, which can be configured to achieve baselines up to 16 km. It is equipped with state-of-the-art receivers that cover all the atmospheric windows up to 1 THz. In addition, a compact array of 7-m and 12-m antennas greatly enhance ALMA's ability to image extended sources.

The European ALMA Regional Centre (ARC) provides the interface between the ALMA project and the European science community. It supports its users mainly in the areas of proposal preparation, observation preparation, data reduction, and data analysis.

Below you can read the latest Announcements from the European ARC Network.. More details and up-to-date information can be found in the News section and the ALMA Science Portal.

Unveiling ALMA Band 2 workshop - call for abstract submission open

Published: 23 Sep 2025

Installation and testing of the ALMA Band 2 receivers, covering 67 to 116 GHz, is currently underway. In anticipation of Band 2 being offered in the near future, the ALMA Band 2 workshop brings together astronomers and ALMA/ARC staff to discuss the new potential for various scientific fields. We plan to have a dedicated session focused on looking at the Band 2 Science Verification data. The workshop will be held in person on 24 - 26 February 2026, Bologna, Italy.

For more information, registration and abstract submission (abstract deadline October 31), please visit the workshop's website.

White Paper - Advanced Data Products for radio observatories

Published: 22 Sep 2025

A white paper has been published summarising the outcomes of ADP2024 workshop on advanced data products. Advanced Data Products (ADPs) are increasingly central to enhancing the efficiency and scientific output of radio observatories. Designed to bridge the gap between raw observational data and science-ready results, ADPs reduce processing overhead, improve reproducibility, and enable a wider range of researchers to engage with complex datasets. The paper reviews current practices at major facilities including ALMA, SKAO, LOFAR, VLA, and ESO. Learning from current initiatives, it identifies critical issues and makes suggestions to address technical and organizational challenges.

Registration is now open for European ALMA School 2026

Published: 01 Aug 2025

We are delighted to announce that the 2026 European ALMA school will be hosted by the Allegro ARC node in Leiden, the Netherlands, from 26 to 30 January 2026. Whether you are an intermediate user or have never seen ALMA data before, this is the event for you - and a great opportunity to meet fellow ALMA users from Europe and beyond. The school will cover a broad range of topics related to ALMA: basics of interferometry, data calibration, synthesis imaging, working with the ALMA archive, advance data analysis techniques, and future ALMA developments.

Cycle 12 proposal statistics

Published: 01 Jul 2025

Statistics of proposal submission for Cycle 12 have been released. Europe continues to be the region with the highest oversubscription rate (7.8 for time on the 12m array). The median time requested on the 12m array per proposal increased to it's highest ever: 15.1 hrs. The report can be accessed here

European ALMA School 2026 pre-registration announcement

Published: 27 Jun 2025

The Allegro ARC node is delighted to host the next European ALMA school that will take place in Leiden (NL) between 26 - 30 January 2026. Aimed at PhD students and postdocs, the school will cover a broad range of aspects related to ALMA: interferometry, data calibration, synthesis imaging, exploiting the ALMA archive, analysis techniques, and future ALMA developments.

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