[mmaimcal] No meeting today
Al Wootten
awootten at nrao.edu
Tue Dec 11 15:13:42 EST 2007
Folks,
Unless someone has pressing items to discuss, I propose not having a
ImCal meeting (again) today. There was a discussion which
lasted for hours this am on the future of the ATF; insofar as I could
tell all parties agreed it was important to keep it going. Some parties
weighted various aspects somewhat differently than others.
Also, comments, contributions or criticisms of the next news?
Clear skies,
Al
BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
19 November 2007 - 3 December 2007
******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT*************************
On 2007 Nov 30 a milestone was reached at the ALMA Test Facility.
Interferomety under control of ALMA software was improved to the point
that interferometric determination of the baseline between the two
antennas and pointing will become possible. Kudos to J. Kern, R. Hills,
A. Peck, D. Emerson, A. Hales, J. Meadows and R. Ridgeway for their
efforts on the hardware, the software and the synthesis of the system
despite heavy clouds and rain.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Changes have occurred on the ALMA Board and its committees. V. Heyl,
the President of CONICYT, has appointed Neil Nagar of U. de Concepcion
to take over the ASAC seat being vacated by Diego Mardones, of U. De Chile.
Also, Prof. Monica Rubio (U. de Chile) will assume the seat on the ALMA
Board which is being vacated by Prof. Leo Bronfman (U. de Chile).
Welcome to them, and many thanks to Bronfman and Mardones for their
work and advice over the past years.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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
Photos of activity may be found at:
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/almanews/almagallery/index.html
Sky: Mars is reaching closest approach to Earth in mid-December, followed by
opposition on 24 Dec.
SCO (Santiago Central Office): Many Science team and Assembly, Integration and
Engineering personnel move to the Alsacia Building across the
street from the overcrowded main ALMA office at 40 El Golf. The address is
Avda. Apoquindo 3846, Piso 19 Edificio Alsacia, Las Condes
Santiago, Chile Fax #: (56) (2) 467-6104 A directory may be located at:
http://www.alma.cl/aiv/AIVTeam.html
AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Nighttime transparency has generally
been good, with the exception of a period around Thanksgiving.
OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): There are 431 people
working at the ALMA site. Gatehouse building was accepted. The Warehouse
should be accepted during the next fortnight. Emerson designed a fence to
screen reflections of the holography signals at the OSF. A fourth antenna
from Japan is expected in port at the end of this fortnight. Holography,
optical pointing, fast motion and other antenna tests continue with the first
12m antenna from Japan.
ATF: An elevation motor segment is due to be reinstalled during this biweek.
Stable fringes demonstrate that the full system works properly, though with
improvement possibilities evident.
AOC: The Back End (BE) test racks and accessories were crated, boxed and
shipped; they have arrived at Santiago. ALMA Logistics will transport the
racks to the OSF no later than 2007-12-10.
NTC (NRAO Technology Center): Following the Production workshop held last
week concrete steps are being made towards increasing the production rate
of Front End (FE) sub-assemblies. Acceptance testing for FE#1 commenced
following a cryostat swap. A FE Test Readiness Review will be held
on 2007 Dec 6.There are now 4 tested ALMA Band 6 (1.2mm) cartridges awaiting
Provisional Acceptance In-house (PAI).
ESO: A generally successful Factory Acceptance Review for the tranpsorter
vehicles was held on November 29th. They will begin their trek to Chile
shortly. The kick-off meeting for the EU Front End Integration Center (FEIC)
was held on 22-23 Nov. at Rutherford Appleton Labs, UK.
NAASC: A pdf of a recent ALMA talk may be found at:
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/NWU.ppt.pdf
A calendar of NAASC events may be found at:
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/calendar/calendar.php
***************************************************************************
DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT/EST ) see
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
Sun 18 Nov -
Mon 19 Nov -
4:00PM: ATF telecon
Tue 20 Nov -
10:30AM: JAO/IPT telecon
Wed 21 Nov -
9:30AM: Sci IPT telecon
Thu 22 Nov - Thanksgiving Day Holiday (NRAO)
Fri 23 Nov - Thanksgiving Day Holiday (NRAO)
Sat 24 Nov - Full Moon
Sun 25 Nov -
Mon 26 Nov -
Tue 27 Nov -
10:30AM: JAO/IPT telecon
Wed 28 Nov -
Thu 29 Nov -
Fri 30 Nov -
Sat 1 Dec -
7:44am First quarter moon
Sun 2 Dec -
Mon 3 Dec -"Submillimeter Astronomy in Chile during the Pre-ALMA Era
U de Chile, Cerro Cal‡n
4:00PM: ATF telecon
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS *************************
Dec 6 Front End Test Readiness Revies Cville NTC
Dec 6 ALMA Board Telecon ---
Dec 12 ESAC telecon
Jan 10 NRAO Town Hall 12:45pm Austin Tx AAS
Jan 15 ESAC face-to-face meeting Garching
Jan 18 ANASAC telecon ---
Jan 23-24 Nutator CDR ASIAA
Feb 1-2 ASAC face-to-face Santiago
Feb 7-8 WVR CDR
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS *************************
*****************************ALSO OF INTEREST***************************
The Cosmic Agitator - Magnetic Fields in the Galaxy
60 years of studies of the interstellar magnetic field
2008 March 26-29
Lexington. The magnetic field of the galaxy was discovered in observations
made in 1948. Since that time, the galactic magnetic field has challenged
(and often annoyed) observers and theorists alike. This meeting will
celebrate sixty years of studies of the interstellar magnetic field, a field
ALMA's transformational capabilities will revolutionize. See
http://thunder.pa.uky.edu/magnetic/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tenure Track Astronomers REQ NO: CV3631
SUMMARY: The National Radio
Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) invites outstanding applicants for one or
more tenure-track astronomer positions, especially in the areas of time-domain
astronomy, solar system research, exo-planets, Epoch of Re-ionization,
structure formation, Dark Energy and Dark Matter. Candidates will be
selected on both the basis of excellence in research and on their ability
to further the mission of the Observatory.
URL below.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Assistant Scientist (CASA) REQ NO: CV3682
SUMMARY: The National Radio
Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) invites applications for an astronomer, software
engineer, or physicist with experience in astronomical data processing to
develop data reduction software for the Atacama Millimeter/submillimeter
Array (ALMA) and the Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA). The Common Astronomy
Software Applications (CASA) package is written primarily in C++ under a
Python wrapper (for more information on CASA, see http://casa.nrao.edu/).
This is an NRAO Scientist position, with 25% of time available to pursue
independent research. The position will be based in Charlottesville,
Virginia, USA, at the North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jansky fellows (2008) REQ NO: CV3455
SUMMARY: The National Radio
Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) announces the 2008 postdoctoral Jansky
Fellowship program that provides outstanding opportunities for research
in astronomy. 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.
See URL below.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jobs for scientists interested in working on the commissioning of ALMA
are available at both ESO and NRAO.
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory invites applications for an
ALMA Commissioning Scientist position. This position is assigned to the
ALMA project with operational duties in Chile. The role of the ALMA
Commissioning Scientist will be to assist the Project Scientist and the
Deputy Project Scientist in planning and executing the scientific
commissioning of ALMA.
We invite applications for one or more Assistant Scientist positions in
the NAASC. The primary responsibility of the successful candidates
initially is to participate in ALMA Commissioning and Science
Verification (CSV).
http://www.nrao.edu/administration/personnel_office/careers.shtml
For ESO jobs please see:
https://jobs.eso.org/ESOCP370/default.asp?PageNo=DEFAULT
For ALMA jobs please see:
http://www.alma.cl/jobops/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Applications are invited for Submillimeter Array (SMA) Postdoctoral
Fellowships starting in fall 2008. These positions are aimed chiefly at
research in submillimeter astronomy, and the successful candidates are
expected to propose and participate in science observations with the SMA.
See http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/opportunities/fellowships/sma/
Please direct questions to smapostdoc at cfa.harvard.edu.
Online applications are due December 15, 2007.
***************************************************************************
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.
A specific mailing list, alma-info, has been created for anyone wishing
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Past issues are available at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
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