[mmaimcal] FYI: 28 August 2006 BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
Al Wootten
awootten at nrao.edu
Tue Sep 5 15:46:19 EDT 2006
BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
28 August 2006 - 11 September 2006
******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT****************************
Jean Turner spoke on the morning of 16 August at the IAU General Assembly,
in the session on facilities of the next decade, to a standing room only
audience. On 24 August there was a special meeting "The ALMA Era for
Astrophysics Begins" held from 9:00 until 12:30 in Dressing Room 225,
which also unfolded before a standing room only group. There was lively
discussion of ALMA's capabilities in the scientific discussions, at the
ALMA Booth, and in the corridors of the meeting.
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Last Calendar announced the publication of "Huellas en el Desierto"
detailing archaeological research in Region II of Chile near the ALMA
site. A copy of this book has been placed in the Charlottesville library.
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We are pleased to announce Mauricio Pilleux is relocating to the US for
a period of three years to lead a special project to implement supply
chain management for ALMA NA. He will continue to be the Chilean
Business Manager and will be supported in Chile by the staff there.
Mauricio will also support the ALMA Operations activities in
Charlottesville. Mauricio will be assigned to Administration and
matrixed to ALMA NA Construction, ALMA Operations (NAASC), and ALMA Chile.
Please join us in welcoming Mauricio to Charlottesville.
George Clark, Associate Director for Administration
Adrian Russell, ALMA Project Manager
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The final program for 'Science with ALMA: A new Era for Astrophysics'
November 13-17 in Madrid, will be available from the SOC on 2006 Sept 7.
The final date for paying the registration fee (now 300 euros) has therefore
been delayed to friday September 15th.
Please see:
http://www.oan.es/alma2006/calendar.shtml
http://www.oan.es/alma2006/registration_fee.shtml
The LOC reminds us that some of the hotels where rooms have been blocked
for booking by the participants need to be contacted before September 1st.
These hotels may change the rates after that date.
http://www.oan.es/alma2006/hotels.shtml
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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
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General Happenings
Sky: Jupiter slowly heads for the Sun during these late summer evenings.
Uranus lies at opposition.
Santiago: Ryohei Kawabe is in post as current JAO interim Project
Scientist. An option on the Bicentenario building adjacent to ESO
will be purchased as possible location of the Santiago Central Office.
AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Periods with precipitable water
vapor (PWV) more than 1mm occurred early in the period, but for the last few
days PWV<1mm at night, according to APEX.
OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): The Kick-Off Meeting
for OSF Construction was held at the OSF site on 2006 Aug 17. The
contractor, VVMO, has started its camp construction and site
mobilization. The contract for the Assembly Integration and Verification
temporary building near the ALMA Camp was awarded to the company
TechnoFast. Bids are expected on Sep 01 for the contractorÕs Camp
extension and Sep 08 for the ALMA Camp extension. The ALMA Camp is
currently fully occupied. Construction of the underground utilities
to the VERTEX, MELCO and ALCATEL Site Erection Facilities is finished.
Currently there are approximately 98 persons working at the site of
which approximately 88 uses the ALMA and ContractorÕs lodging facilities.
NAASC: ALMA Postdoctoral Fellow Rob Reid arrived on 14 August.
Some photos of Vertex antenna fabrication may be found at
www.cv.nrao.edu/~jzivick
NTC: The Band 7 CDR was held August 16-17 at IRAM. The report is being
written. CDR was conditionally passed. Band 6 cartridge: Cartridges 1-5
are now completely assembled.
Correlator: There have been no chip failures of any sort in 4.2 months.
Discussion and documentation of multi-resolution modes continued
(inventory of all possibilities and restrictions).
AOC: First 10 pre-production photomixers for Photonic LO shipped from
RAL (30 more to come). Holography software delivered within CIPT.
Holography receivers to be shipped from NTC soon.
Observing Tool test in progress.
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DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT ) see
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
Mon 28 Aug
09:30 AM: Special Board telecon on Opertions
Tue 29 Aug
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
4:00 PM-5:00 PM: NAScienceIPT teleconference
Wed 30 Aug
10:30 AM: ScienceIPT teleconference
Thu 31 Aug ALMA Interim Project Scientist Ryohei Kawabe in Santiago
Fri 1 Sep
2:00 PM: ANASAC Telecon
Sat 2 Sep
Sun 3 Sep
Mon 4 Sep Labor Day Holiday, USA
Tue 5 Sep
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
11:00 AM: ASAC Telecon
Wed 6 Sep
All Day: ESAC face-to-face meeting, Garching
Thu 7 Sep
Fri 8 Sep
Sat 9 Sep ALMA Interim Project Scientist Ryohei Kawabe departs Santiago
Sun 10 Sep Grandparent's Day Holiday (US)
Mon 11 Sep Patriot's Day (US)
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS ****************************
Sept 5 ASAC Telecon
Sept 6 ESAC face-to-face
Sept 16-17 all day ASAC face-to-face Arcetri
Sept 22-23 evening Dave Matthews Band CV JPJ Arena opening
Sept 27-29 Vertex RSI PPDReview Essen
Sept 29-30 all day ANASAC face-to-face CV
Oct 2 Move of PSI to ATF
Oct 8 - 11 all day WVR Workshop Wettzell, Bavarian Congo
November 9-10 all day ALMA Board Meeting Madrid
Nov 13-16 all day Science with ALMA: a new era for Astrophysics Madrid
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS ****************************
ALMA Memo 553 First Astronomical Observations with an ALMA Band 6 (211-275
GHz) Sideband-Separating SIS Mixer-Preamp
Authors: E. F. Lauria, A. R. Kerr, G. Reiland, R. F. Freund, A.W.
Lichtenberger, L. M. Ziurys, M. Metcalf and D. Forbes
A 211-275 GHz SIS receiver using an ALMA Band 6 sideband-separating
mixer-preamp has been installed on the Submillimeter Telescope (SMT)
on Mt. Graham, Arizona, a facility of the University of Arizona. Initial
observations have yielded single-sideband system noise temperatures as
low as 107 K referred to outside the atmosphere. The image rejection,
measured on the sky, was > 12 dB (15 dB typical) for the upper sideband,
and > 20 dB for the lower sideband. Excellent baseline stability was
also observed: a 4° position offset in galactic latitude yielded a
peak-to-peak baseline of only 10 mK. The receiver has separate 4-8 GHz
IF outputs for the upper and lower sidebands, although in the present
observations the instantaneous bandwidth was limited by the available
spectrometers to 2 GHz in each sideband.
View a pdf version of ALMA Memo #553 at:
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma553/memo553.pdf
******************************ALSO OF INTEREST*****************************
ALMA PROJECT SCIENTIST
The ALMA Project Scientist is responsible for ensuring that ALMA is
constructed and commissioned in such a manner as to meet the scientific
requirements of the ALMA Agreement. As a Key Staff Member of the JAO, the
Project Scientist will contribute to decision making, overall policy
development and strategic planning. The Project Scientist reports directly
to the ALMA Director and interacts closely with the Project Manager and
Project Engineer.
Please see:
http://www.nrao.edu/administration/personnel_office/careers.shtml#CL0005
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Jansky Fellowship
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) announces the 2007
postdoctoral Jansky Fellowship program that provides outstanding
opportunities for research in astronomy. The Jansky Fellows formulate
and carry out investigations either independently or in collaboration
with others within the wide framework of interests of the Observatory.
Prior radio experience is not required and multi-wavelength projects
leading to a synergy with NRAO instruments are encouraged. The NRAO also
encourages applications from candidates with interest in radio astronomy
instrumentation, computation, and theory.
Please see:
http://www.nrao.edu/administration/directors_office/jansky-postdocs.shtml
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ESO has an opening for European ALMA Project Scientist. Please see:
http://www.eso.org/gen-fac/adm/pers/vacant/alma_project_scientist_2006.html
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There will be a current Call for Proposals for the
Submillimeter Array (SMA), the radio interferometer on Mauna Kea built
by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Academia Sinica
Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics. The SMA is currently
accepting proposals from principle investigators from within the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics as well as from the
worldwide astronomical community.
The proposal deadline is 7 September 2006 for the observing semester
6 November 2006 through 30 April 2007. More information, technical
details, and instructions and tools for proposal preparation and
submission can be found at http://sma1.sma.hawaii.edu/, the SMA
Observer Center web site.
Questions or comments regarding the Call for Proposals can also be
addressed to proposals at sma.hawaii.edu
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Astronomer Michael Belton, long of NOAO, was in the second NRAO Summer
Student class in 1960. In his honor, a meeting 'Belton Symposium:
Journey Through the Solar System: A Symposium in Honor of Dr. Michael
J. S. Belton' will be held this Fall. Several deadlines for the Belton
Symposium that will be held November 10 & 11 in Tucson, AZ are coming
up:
Abstract Submission Deadline: August 31, 2006
Early Registration Deadline : September 15, 2006
After this deadline the registration fee will increase. For
registration and details see www.noao.edu/meetings/belton
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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
e-mail to all NRAO scientific staff members and anyone else interested.
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Past issues are available at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
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