CASA

CASA, the "Common Astronomy Software Applications", is an open-source software package for the processing and imaging of radio astronomical data. CASA the primary data processing software for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), and is frequently used also for other radio telescopes. The CASA software can handle data from single-dish, aperture-synthesis, and Very Long Baseline Interferometery (VLBI) telescopes. CASA is also the data processing software used by the ALMA, VLA, VLASS, and Nobeyama pipelines.

CASA is available as tar-file for Linux and Mac OS, or as modular version through pip-wheels.

Download / Installation / Documentation 

(see the official CASA website)

Reference Materials

CASA Docs

CASA Docs is the official documentation of the CASA code, including tasks and parameters. CASA Docs explains "how the code works". Each CASA release has its own version of CASA Docs, including Release Information and Known Issues. CASA Docs also contains installation instructions, descriptions of tasks & tools, chapter pages with background information on data processing, and a Memo Series & Knowledgebase. CASA Docs is being maintained by the CASA Team.

Demo video (download .mp4):

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CASA Guides

CASA Guides are Data Reduction Tutorials based on the CASA software. The CASA Guides explain "how to work the code" for producing optimal results when processing radio data. CASA Guides exist for ALMA, VLA, VLBI, GMRT, and CASA Simulations. CASA Guides are being maintained by the User Support Teams of the different telescopes.

Demo video (download .mp4):

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CASA Reference Paper

The CASA Reference Paper provides a high-level overview of information contained in CASA Docs. Please use this as official citation for the CASA software package:

The CASA Team, et al. 2022, "CASA, the Common Astronomy Software Applications for Radio Astronomy", PASP, 134, 114501. DOI: 10.1088/1538-3873/ac9642 

 

Pipelines

CASA supports pipelines for calibrating and imaging ALMA and VLA data. Pipeline documentation can be found here:

Pipelines

 

Contact

Feedback & Questions

The CASA team welcomes feedback from our users through casa-feedback_at_nrao.edu. This is not a Helpdesk system, but a best-effort support for CASA-specific feedback and questions. 

For one-on-one interactions with user support staff on ALMA, VLA, or VLBA data processing questions, please contact the ALMA Helpdesk or NRAO Helpdesk.

 

CASA is being developed by an international consortium of scientists and software engineers based at the National Radio Astronomical Observatory (NRAO), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), and the Joint Institute for VLBI European Research Infrastructure Consortium (JIVE), under the guidance of NRAO.

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Connect with NRAO

The NSF National Radio Astronomy Observatory and NSF Green Bank Observatory are facilities of the U.S. National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

Founded in 1956, the NSF NRAO provides state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the international scientific community. NSF NRAO telescopes are open to all astronomers regardless of institutional or national affiliation. Observing time on NSF NRAO telescopes is available on a competitive basis to qualified scientists after evaluation of research proposals on the basis of scientific merit, the capability of the instruments to do the work, and the availability of the telescope during the requested time. NSF NRAO also provides both formal and informal programs in education and public outreach for teachers, students, the general public, and the media.

The U.S. National Science Foundation (U.S. NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense..."

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