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How to use these CASA Tutorials

Imaging Tutorials for CASA beginners

If you are new to CASA, start with the following tutorials. ALMA data are delivered with standard calibrations applied and they are ready for imaging. These guides cover the basic steps required for imaging and self-calibration.

• A first look at imaging in CASA This guide gives a first look at imaging and image analysis in CASA.
• A first look at self-calibration in CASA This guide demonstrates continuum self-cal.
• A first look at spectral line imaging in CASA This guide shows imaging of a spectral line.
• A first look at image analysis in CASA This guide demonstrates moment creation and basic image analysis.

Guides for reducing ALMA Science Verification data

The links below lead to overview pages for each science verification observation. The guides themselves are linked from the overview pages. These guides are a useful tools for those who would like to learn the process of calibration and imaging in detail.

The following ALMA science verification guides have been validated for CASA version 4.3. They should also work for CASA version 4.4, and they will be validated for version 4.4 soon.

• TWHydraBand7: The protoplanetary disk source TW Hya at Band 7 (0.87 mm)
• NGC3256Band3: The galaxy merger NGC 3256 at Band 3 (3 mm)
• AntennaeBand7: Mosaic of the galaxy merger NGC 4038/4039 (Antennae) at Band 7 (0.87 mm)
• IRAS16293Band9: Mosaic of the protostellar cluster IRAS16293-2422 at Band 9 (0.45 mm)
• File:BR1202 SV Band7 Calibration notes.pdf: Supplemental notes on the calibration of Science Verification target BR1202-0725 in CASA 3.3
• ALMA2014_LBC_SVDATA: Imaging scripts and details for the 2014 ALMA Long Baseline Campaign science verification data for Juno, Mira, HL Tau, and SDP.81.
• M100_Band3: Demonstration of combining 12m-array, 7m-array, and Total Power data for M100 using CASA 4.3.1
• 3C286_Polarization: Demonstration of the reduction of ALMA continuum polarization toward the quasar 3C286

A Guide to CASA Data Weights and their Correction for Data Combination

A Guide to Processing ALMA Data for Cycle 0

This page takes you through the steps of processing Cycle 0 data from the ALMA data archive. The guide describes some helpful hints for downloading the data, and describes the process all the way through imaging and self-calibration, and image analysis.

You can also get a look at example data calibration scripts used for Cycle 0 data at the following links. These were written for CASA version 3.4.

• TDM (128 channels/spw) File:TDM.example.ms.scriptForCalibration.py
• FDM (3840 channels/spw) File:FDM.example.ms.scriptForCalibration.py
• If you need to update 3.4 scripts to 4.2, see more information here

A Tutorial for Simulating ALMA Data.

Start here to learn about simulations. The CASA 4.3 simulation examples in the above tutorial should also work for version 4.4, and they will be validated for version 4.4 soon. Jump directly to the simulations examples with the following links.

• Simulation Examples in CASA 4.3
• Examples for older versions of CASA: 4.2 4.1 4.0 3.4 3.3

• Analysis Utilities -- a Python module containing utilities for analysis and plotting.

• Solar System Models in CASA 4.0 and beyond

• Other MM/Submm CASA Guides

• Main casaguides page with additional information

• Other useful Information
  • CASA homepage including download and installation information
  • ALMA Quick Reference
  • ALMA Sensitivity Calculator