[mmaimcal] 22 May 2006 BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
Al Wootten
awootten at nrao.edu
Fri May 26 12:10:29 EDT 2006
Folks,
Corrections, additions?
Al
BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
22 May 2006 - 5 June 2006
******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT****************************
Dear Colleagues,
ESO has selected Dr. Paola Andreani as the ARC Manager for ESO. Dr.
Andreani will begin work at ESO Garching on 1 June 2006. Dr. Andreani is
presently an Associate Astronomer at the Astronomical Observatory of
Trieste, a part of INAF. Dr. Andreani is also a Co-I of Herschel/PACS
and the local Project Manager of Herschel/SPIRE. She has been a working
group manager of the Italian Herschel community, participating in the
Herschel GTO process. Dr. Andreani is a well known researcher in the
field of extragalactic astronomy, and has carried out significant work
on the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect using the SEST.
Regards,
Tom Wilson
European ALMA Scientist
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The AAS Council has released the following statement on the
Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). The National Science
Board made the following statement at its most recent
meeting on May 9 and 10, 2006.
"The National Science Board authorizes the Director, at his
discretion, to increase the spending authority for the
Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) under cooperative
agreement AST-0223851 and its successor agreements to extend
the duration of the award through September 30, 2012."
AAS Statement on the Atacama Large Millimeter Array
The American Astronomical Society (AAS) applauds the
National Science Foundation for moving forward with a
rebaselined, fifty-antenna Atacama Large Millimeter Array
(ALMA).
This decision will enable ALMA to do the transformational
science that made it a high priority project in the past two
National Academy Decadal Surveys of Astronomy and
Astrophysics. ALMA will lay the groundwork for future global
science projects, both in astronomy and in other
disciplines. As a world project involving multiple regions -
Asia, Europe and the Americas - and operating under a fully
international governance structure, ALMA has successfully
overcome many hurdles and is now poised for completion in
2012.
We are very pleased that the NSF continues its strong
support of ALMA.
ALMA will enable important discoveries about the origin of
galaxies, stars and planetary systems. The AAS stands ready
to work with Congress, the Administration and the NSF to
fully implement the prioritized projects described in the
Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Last week, Science Magazine published an article on ALMA's path to its
rebaselined budget, which may be read online at:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/312/5776/990
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Past issues of this Calendar may be viewed at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
See also the JAO ALMA Calendar overview at:
http://www.alma.cl/alma_project
***************************************************************************
General Happenings
Sky: Cloudsat has briefly operated its downward looking radar. CloudSat
is not expected to be in its final orbit until June 6, 2006.
OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): Approximately 66 people
are working on the ALMA site. ALMA Camp Rec Room under construction,
to be finished by early June 2006.
Santiago: T. Wilson arrives at JAO for visit through 20 June.
AOS (Array Ops Site, 16000ft altitude): Work under way on finish work for
AOS Technical Building.
AOC: Successful fringing tests using IF downconverters done.
The IF output from two Warm multiplier assemblies were passed through the
Backend Analog and Digital subsystems to the Correlator where
cross-correlation power spectrum and phase plots were run. The final
connectivity and configuration of this test occurred in less than two
hours. This reflects the remarkable progress made the past few weeks
and bodes well for future goals. Congratulations to the PSI team!
CDR4; leaders conducting telecons from NAASC.
ATF (ALMA Test Facility, VLA site): Maintenance work on VxRSI antenna.
NTC: B6 phase drift measurements completed; cartridge meets specs.
Installation and test of the Front End Integration Center Environmental
Chamber completed.
Second quadrant racks have been moved into the correlator test room
and the power rack was powered up; thermal tests will occur next.
Elsewhere: The Band 7 (0.87 mm) cartridge CDR is planned to take between
6th and 14th July.
FE Water Vapor Radiometer: Meetings were held with CA and OSO on the
close out of the current WVR R&D work package. This activity will be
completed, largely dependent on availability of staff at CA, by July \u201906.
***************************************************************************
DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT ) see
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
Sun 21 May Navy Day, Chile
Mon 22 May Victoria Day Holiday, CA
Great Observatories, Pasadena (ALMA--Carilli)
Tue 23 May The Red Rectangle. 23-25 May 2006, Charlottesville, Virginia
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
4:00 PM-5:00 PM: NAScienceIPT teleconference (open to all interested
parties) (434)296-7082
Wed 24 May The Red Rectangle. 23-25 May 2006, Charlottesville, Virginia
1:00 PM: ALMA NA Telecaucus
5:30 PM: ALMA Board Telecon
All day: SPIE: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, Orlando
Several ALMA presentations: ESO (Cesarsky); ALMA (Beasley);
Phase Correction (Richer); System (Haupt);
ALMA Common Software (Chiozzi & Caproni & Cirami);
Time Synchronization (Amestica); Facility Operations (Silva)
Thu 25 May The Red Rectangle. 23-25 May 2006, Charlottesville, Virginia
Ascension Day Holiday, Germany
16:30 PM E.S.O. ASTROPHYSICAL SEMINAR Prof. Tom Wilson, Max-Planck-Institut
fuer Radioastronomie, Bonn/ALMA European Project Scientist.
"Science with ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array)"
ESO Conference Room, Vitacura.
Fri 26 May
Sat 27 May New Moon
Sun 28 May
Mon 29 May Memorial Day Holiday, US
Tue 30 May
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
12:00 PM: Lunch talk: Review of 'Complex Molecules in Space: present
status and prospects with ALMA May 8 to 11, 2006,
Fuglsoecentret, Denmark (A. Wootten)
4:00 PM-5:00 PM: NAScienceIPT teleconference (open to all interested
parties) (434)296-7082
Wed 31 May CSO Proposal deadline
Extended! Registration Deadline, IAU XXVI General Assy
Events of ALMA interest compiled at:
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/IAUALMA.txt
Thu 1 Jun NRAO Proposal deadline
Fri 2 Jun CASCA Meeting, Calgary
Sat 3 Jun CASCA Meeting, Calgary
Sun 4 Jun AAS Meeting, Calgary
Mon 5 Jun AAS Meeting ALMA Special Session
Whit Monday holiday, Germany
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS ****************************
May 24 2130UT ALMA Board Telecon
June 2-8 all day CASCA/AAS meeting Calgary, CA
June 7 1730 ALMA Booth Capitol Hill, DC
June 13-14 all day ALMA Board Meeting Santiago
June 13 all day ALMA Master Laser SpcR CV
Jun 19-20 all day AIVCSV Meeting Santiago
Aug 1 Move of PSI to ATF
Sept 22-23 evening Dave Matthews Band CV JPJ Arena opening
November 9-10 all day ALMA Board Meeting Madrid TBD
Nov 13-16 all day Science with ALMA: a new era for Astrophysics Madrid
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS ****************************
******************************ALSO OF INTEREST*****************************
ALMA has openings for Head of Science Operations, Head of Technical
Services, and Head of Administration. Please see:
http://www.nrao.edu/administration/personnel_office/careers.shtml
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The deadline for proposals to use NRAO telescopes (GBT, VLA, VLBA) is
1700 EDT Thursday, 1 June 2006.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) encourages observing
participation by astronomers from both U.S. and non-U.S. institutions.
Lodging, subsistence and transportation on the mountain are provided free
by the CSO, for two observers per program. A limited amount of travel
money may also be available.
Proposals for observing time should include the CSO cover form (please
use the latest version available at
http://www.submm.caltech.edu/cso/cso-call.html . The proposals will be
reviewed by an external peer group committee and should be sent by 31
May for the observing period 1 September through 31 January.
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2nd pan-ALMA Conference : 2nd Announcement
Dear Colleague,
The 2nd pan-ALMA conference on "Science with ALMA: a new era for
Astrophysics" will be held 13-16 November 2006 in Madrid, Spain. The
venue will be the campus of the CSIC (Consejo Superior de
Investigaciones Cientificas), in the centre of town.
Information on the 2nd pan-ALMA meeting is available via
http://www.oan.es/alma2006/ (final slash is mandatory)
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Anne Dutrey informs us of a CNRS post-doctoral position at the Observatory
of Bordeaux. The position is opened for two years and will start on
September 2006 at the Observatory of Bordeaux. The application deadline is
June 2006.
The position is dedicated to the modelling of chemistry in proto-planetary
disks in order to interpret observational data obtained with the IRAM array.
Interested people can read the dedicated CNRS web page
http://www.k-projects.com/cnrs_postdocs/public/departement_details.php?IdDpt=9&Dep=SDU&NumOffre=2&Langue=en
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Please send information for upcoming calendars by Friday evening of the
preceding biweekly period to Jennifer Neighbours or Al Wootten via e-mail
(jneighbo at nrao.edu or awootten at nrao.edu).
The calendar will be issued between late Friday and sometime on Monday by
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