[25 March] The NRAO and the GBO are in the second week of Infectious Disease Operating Status, and continuing to adjust operations to address issues that arise. ALMA shutdown telescope operations (collecting data), but all archive and user support activities continue, although at reduced efficiency. The North American NRAO/GBO telescopes remain operational. IT systems are performing well. As a team, we are stable in this new environment. Read more…

ALMA Proprietary Times Extension

Due to the COVID-19 crisis and its impact on the global astronomical community, the ALMA Director has made the following decision regarding proprietary times of ALMA data sets.

The proprietary period of all MOUSs that have been delivered to PIs, but have not become public by 19 March 2020, will be extended 3 months. This implies that the proprietary period of all these ALMA data will effectively be set to 15 months, or nine months for DDT projects. 19 March was the last day that ALMA was observing before Cycle 7 observations were suspended.

For data sets that already reached the end of the proprietary time between March 19 and today, the proprietary time will be reinstated and extended for an additional 3 months. ALMA cannot guarantee that these data sets have not already been downloaded by archive users. Read more…

ALMA Cycle 8 Call for Proposals

The ALMA Director, on behalf of the Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) and the partner organizations in East Asia, Europe, and North America, announced the ALMA Cycle 8 Call for Proposals (CfP) for scientific observations to be scheduled from October 2020 to September 2021. ALMA Cycle 8 proposal submission opened 17 March. 

Owing to the coronavirus COVID-19 impact, the ALMA Director and regional partners have delayed the Cycle 8 proposal deadline to no earlier than 15:00 UT, 19 May 2020. Please contact the ALMA Helpdesk with any questions or concerns.

ALMA will continue to assess the feasibility of this deadline. The next community update will be no later than 21 April.  

New Assistant Director for Science Support & Research

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Patricia (Trish) Henning will be the next NRAO Assistant Director for Science Support and Research (AD/SSR), initially based primarily in Charlottesville, but with significant presence in New Mexico. 

Dr. Henning will arrive in Charlottesville and take up her position as AD/SSR in late August. Please join us in welcoming her to NRAO! Read more…

2020 Jansky Fellowships Awarded

The NRAO Jansky Fellowship program provides outstanding opportunities for research in astronomy. We are pleased to announce that five new Jansky Fellows will be joining NRAO in fall 2020. Read more…

ALMA Ambassadors Events Go Virtual

Our ALMA Ambassadors are still hosting their events. However, ALL events have gone virtual due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Choose the event that best fits your schedule and register. Read more...

ALMA Cycle 7 Observing Suspension

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, ALMA management has temporarily suspended Cycle 7 science observing, effective Thursday, 19 March 2020. Principal Investigator science observations will resume when it is deemed safe.

Postponed Conferences

The following NRAO-related conferences have been postponed owing to concerns about the COVID-19 coronavirus. 

Recent Press Releases

View all NRAO Media Releases at the NRAO public website.