[mmaimcal] 23 May 2005 WEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
Al Wootten
awootten at nrao.edu
Mon May 23 18:31:49 EDT 2005
Folks,
Comments? I see more ALMA Memos have snuck up on my unannounced. I'll
need to get the accessible to the world before sending this out, and
there are two I see are not in here yet.
BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
May 23 2005 -- June 6, 2005
******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT*********************************
AUI has proposed a draft of ALMA antenna contract package to the National
Science Foundation. The AUI recommendation is currently under consideration
at NSF, with a decision expected by erly June. AUI has proposed the same
choice of antenna contractor as that proposed by ESO to its Finance Committee.
The ESO Finance Committee (FC) met on 10 & 11 May in Garching.
The largest agenda item was the ALMA antenna contract. The FC asks to have all
of the information concerning ALMA affordability before approving the
antenna negotiations. That is, the FC requests that ESO Council be
satisfied about the finances, that is the total cost of the ALMA
project. This should occur at the next ESO Council meeting on June 6/7. If
Council approves of the ALMA budget plan, then ESO Council will communicate
this to FC, and FC in turn will allow the antenna procurement to go ahead at an
extraordinary meeting to be held 20 June. The FC has approved the choice of
antenna contractor proposed by ESO.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hans Rykaczewski has accepted the ESO offer as ALMA European Project
Manager and ALMA Division Head and will start on 1st July.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mrs. Maria van der Hoeven, the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science,
arrived at the the Operation Support
Facility of the future ALMA Observatory on Saturday May 14, 2005.
On Sunday, May 15, the delegation went to the 5000m Llano de Chajnantor, the future
site of the large array of ALMA 12m antennas that is being built there to be
completed by 2013. The Minister visited the 12m APEX (Atacama
Pathfinder Experiment; very similar to the Vertex prototype) telescope and see the
technical infrastructure.
"I am fully confident that the worldwide cooperation in ALMA will be equally successful
as the VLT, and I am convinced that the discoveries to be made here are meaningful for
the Earth we live in", said Mrs. van der Hoeven. "History and future are coming together
in the north of Chile, in a very special way," she added. "In the region of the ancient
Atacamenos, scientists from all over the world are discovering more and more about the
universe and the birth and death of stars. They even find new planets. They do that on
Paranal with the VLT and soon will be doing that on the ALMA site."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Water Vapor Radiometer PDR took place 2005 May 4-5 at Onsala. A report is being
readied by the review committee, chaired by Robert Laing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Past issues of this Calendar may be viewed at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
See also the ALMA Calendar overview at:
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
*******************************************************************************
General Happenings
Santiago:
OSF: The extension of the ALMA Camp to 30 beds is underway, to be completed by
3 June. There are 35 persons currently working on the site.
AOS: Budget estimates from contractors for ALMA antenna foundation designs are
being analyzed.
Tucson: Construction of one of two prototype line length correctors for the
Prototype System Integration (PSI) complete.
AOC:
NTC: Sidelobes measured from the B6 (1.3mm) cartridge may require study in Grenoble.
The first prototype tunable filter bank card has been shipped. All slots, all bins
of the first quadrant correlator have had a final functional verification.
NAASC: A plan for the ALMA Town meeting proposed for the Washington AAS
meeting in January 2006 was submitted to the AAS council. A continuously running
powerpoint presentation for the Minneapolis ALMA display was prepared and submitted.
*******************************************************************************
DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT ) see
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
Mon 23 May
9:30 AM-10:30 AM: North American Project Office Meeting
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
12:00 pm- 1:00 PM: North American ALMA Caucus Telecon
Tue 24
4:00 PM-5:00PM: NAScienceIPT teleconference (open to all interested
parties) (434)296-7082
Agenda: https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/10May05A
Archive: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/
Wed 26
10:30AM-11:30AM: Nutator discussion
11:30AM-12:30PM: Change Control Board telecon
Thu 27
Fri 28
Sat 29
Sun 30
Mon 31 Memorial Day Holiday (US)
Tue June 1
4:00 PM-5:00PM: NAScienceIPT teleconference (open to all interested
parties) (434)296-7082
Agenda: https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/10May05A
Archive: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/
Wed 2
Thu 3
9:30 AM-11:00 AM: Management IPT Teleconference
Fri 4
Sat 5
Sun 6
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS ******************************
ALMA Calendar--see also https://wiki.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/NAASC
* May 26 -- 1500UT ALMA Board telecon
* May 29-Jun 2 -- AAS Minneapolis
* May 30-31 ACA Correlator PDR, Tokyo
* June 5-6 -- ESO Council
* June 12 -- 1-5pm ANASAC Face-to-Face CfA, Cambridge
* JUN 13 - 16 Workshop on submillimeter wavelength astronomy in
Cambridge. Registration deadline is APR 30. For more
information, log onto the event website:
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/smast05.
* June 20 -- Extraordinary Meeting, ESO Finance Committee
* June 21-22 -- ALMA Board Meeting, The Hague, Netherlands
* June 21-24 Bands 4 & 8 PDRs, Tokyo
* Jul 3-4 -- Deep Impact probe impact of comet Temple 1.
* 6-7 Jul - Front End IPT delta PDR, Garching
* 6 Oct -- Rolling Stones come to Scott Stadium, Charlottesville
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS *******************************
ALMA Memo # 520: A Refined Method for Estimating Calibrator Counts Above 90~GHz
Authors: M.A. Holdaway and Frazer Owen
Abstract: We reanalyze the 90~GHz detections of Holdaway, Owen, and Rupen
(1994)) and present a physically plausible model which
can be more sensibly extrapolated to higher frequencies. This model
predicts fewer calibrator sources at frequencies above 90~GHz
than the simple model of Holdaway and D'Addario (2004).
Fast switching efficiency will be minimally impacted, though these
new source count estimates will often make calibrator observations
at 90~GHz more attractive than calibrating at the target freqency.
View a pdf version of ALMA Memo #520:
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma520/memo520.pdf
*******************************ALSO OF INTEREST*******************************
SMA reports: 3C454.3 continues to brighten. It is now a wopping 25 Jy at 342 GHz
___________________________________________________________
CSO CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Deadline: 31 May 2005
The Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) encourages
observing participation by astronomers from both U.S. and
non-U.S. institutions. For instructions on applying and for
information about available instruments, including new
bolometer cameras, see http://www.submm.caltech.edu/cso/cso-call.html.
Applications for observing time between 1 September 2005
through 31 January 2006 are due by mail 31 May 2005.
Applications will be reviewed by an outside peer group.
******************************************************************************
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