ALMA Cycle 8 Pre-announcement

Published: 20 Dec 2019
ALMA_snow

The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) will start the next cycle of observing (Cycle 8) in October 2020.

A Call for Proposals with detailed information on Cycle 8 will be issued in March 2020, with a deadline for proposal submission mid-April 2019. This pre-announcement highlights aspects of the Cycle 8 proposal call that are needed to plan proposals. More information can be found on the ALMA Science Portal.  

In addition the Cycle 8 supplemental call for ACA projects is now detailed. Cycle 8 will offer only C-1 to C-8 configurations with maximal baselines ranging from 0.16 to 8.5 km. ALMA Cycle 8 will introduce the new capabilities including, mosaicking of continuum linear polarization observations (in Bands 3 to 7),  and Solar observations at Band 5:

Key Dates:

  • 17 March 2020 - Call for proposals and OT release
  • 15 April 2020  - Cycle 8 deadline
  • End July 2020 - Results of proposal reviews
  • 9 September 2020 - Main Call Phase 2 submission deadline
  • 15 September 2020 - Supplemental call opens
  • 8 October 2020 - Supplemental call phase I deadline
  • 1 October 2020 - Start of Cycle 8 observations
  • 30 September 2021 - End of Cycle 8 observations

Contact:

ALMA helpdesk 

Image:

A number of ALMA antennas stand in the snow from a storm on Chile's Chajnantor Plateau. Chajnantor is the highest major observatory site in the world, and the atmosphere above the plateau is the driest in the world, with the exception of Antarctica.

Credit:

J. C. Rojas/ESO