Proposing
ALMA Cycle 12 Call for Proposals is now OPEN
The ALMA Cycle 12 is scheduled for observations from October 2025 to September 2026.
For Cycle 12, the JAO anticipates having 4300 hours of approved science time on each of the 12-m, 7-m, and the Total Power arrays. Together, the 7-m Array and Total Power Array form the Atacama Compact Array (ACA), also known as the Morita Array.
Observations that are strongly encouraged include:
- ACA, especially in the LST range of 20h to 1h (note that ACA stand-alone proposals had, on average, a very high acceptance rate of 82% in Cycle 11)
- High frequency (Bands 8, 9, and 10) in any configuration
- Low frequency (Bands 1, 3, and 4) at long baselines (C-7 and C-8)
Find more details here.
| Date | Milestone |
| 20 March 2025 (15:00 UT) | Release of Cycle 12 CfP, Observing Tool, and supporting documents, and opening of the Archive for proposal submission |
| 24 April 2025 (15:00 UT) | Proposal submission deadline for Cycle 12 proposals |
| 4 June 2025 (15:00 UT) | Deadline to submit reviews for the distributed peer review system |
| August 2025 | Announcement of the outcome of the proposal review process |
| 1 October 2025 | Start of ALMA Cycle 12 science observations (anticipated) |
| 30 September 2026 | End of ALMA Cycle 12 |
New in Cycle 12
The following technical capabilities will be available this Cycle for the first time:
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Full polarization in Band 1 on the 7-m Array with a single pointing. The polarization accuracy and capability will be the same as in Bands 3–7.
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Improved Active Phasing for VLBI observations. The flux density thresholds for active phasing is reduced by √8 relative to the thresholds in Cycle 11.
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Multi-epoch monitoring with the EHT in Band 6. Proposals may spread EHT observations over a number of days, including some sessions that may fall outside of the regular ALMA VLBI session.
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B2B calibration allowed for Large Programs: Band-to-band calibration is now available for Large Programs subject to the LST constraints for Large Programs (described in Section 3.3 of the Proposer's Guide). Regular programs may continue to propose for B2B as in previous cycles.
Updates to the Proposal Review Process
- All proposal requesting less than 50 hours on the 12-m Array, and ACA stand-alone proposals requesting less than 150 hours on the 7-m Array, will be reviewed through the distributed peer review system.
- Large Programs will be reviewed by a panel of experts.
- All Cycle 12 proposals will be reviewed through a dual-anonymous procedure.