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ALMA Centre of Expertise in Portugal
ESO has named the Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, of the Faculty of Science of the University of Lisbon (CAAUL) in Portugal as an ALMA Centre of Expertise in recognition of its ability to support the use of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).
As a ALMA Centre of Expertise, CAAUL will have access to the European infrastructure that manages and develops this instrument, supporting its use within Portugal. The specific capabilities that CAAUL has developed in recent years will also be used to support ESO in qualifying and verifying ALMA data before they are delivered to scientists worldwide.
José Afonso, Director of CAAUL, says that “it is gratifying to see once again the quality of Portuguese research recognised internationally. Our researchers are now using the most powerful telescope available, and the recognition of CAAUL as an ALMA Centre of Expertise is a milestone in the strategic development that we have embarked on over the last few years. This is also an important step towards consolidating the increasingly strong role of Portuguese astronomy in the worldwide community.“
Researchers from CAAUL currently participate in seven approved proposals for observations with ALMA up to the end of 2015. Overall, only about 600, out of more than 3400 proposals submitted worldwide, were selected for ALMA observations up to now, which demonstrates the extraordinary demand for access to ALMA amongst the scientific community.
“Although the ALMA Observatory was only inaugurated a year ago it has already produced spectacular and transformational science results. The new Centre of Expertise in Portugal is not only a tribute to Portuguese expertise in this exciting field, but will also be a valuable resource to help nurture the community for many years into the future,” adds the ESO Director General, Tim de Zeeuw.
More Information
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and in East Asia by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan. ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by ESO, on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) and on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.
Source: http://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann14037/
