[mmaimcal] FYI: 15 Jan 2007 BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
Al Wootten
awootten at nrao.edu
Wed Jan 17 15:49:45 EST 2007
BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
15 January 2007 - 29 January 2007
******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT***************************
The ESO Council has just appointed Tim de Zeeuw, 50, as the next Director
General of ESO, effective as of 1 September 2007, when the current Director
General, Catherine Cesarsky, will complete her mandate.
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Leonardo Testi will join ESO as European ALMA Project Scientist starting
from May 1st. We welcome him to the ALMA Science Team.
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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: C/2006 P1 (McNaught) has finished its spectacular show for those of
us with only optical eyes in the Northern Hemisphere. The Southern
Hemisphere is now getting the best cometary show of the past thirty
years. In the Southern Hemisphere, it appears at around 2 mag in late
January, then it keeps observable while fading gradually while ALMA is built.
Radio telescopes have a better chance for observation--IRAM detected
HCN on 15.6 and 16.5 January, measuring an outgassing rate greater than
Hale-Bopp at its perihelion (estimate: 3E28 molec./s).
Santiago: Preparations are being made to obtain architectural drawings
for a permanent ALMA building on the ESO site. Juan Carlos Inostroza
will be taking over ALMA EDM administation and
maintenance, in Santiago, from Kevin Long, who will be leaving the
Santiago office at the end of January. Welcome Juan Carlos! Special
thanks to Kevin Long for the work he has done for ALMA in Santiago.
AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Power, froom a temporary generator,
will be connected to the building during the coming fortnight. Alitplanic
winter weather continues, with snow. At best, 4-6 millimeters of precipitable
water vapor this past week at APEX.
OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): Work continues toward completion
of the building. Concrete piers now jut above the ground. The VertexRSI Site
Erection Facility erection continues at this 3000m OSF site. Production
antennas will be assembled here beginning in the second quarter of 2007.
Aerial view of elements of the OSF site are available at the ALMA image
gallery (link under NAASC below).
ATF: Holography on the VertexRSI prototype antenna is finished. VertexRSI
personnel will be at the antenna during the week. Work/planning continues
on optical pointing system preparation/planning with Science IPT.
The BEND antenna racks and Eval-FEs are installed in both the AEC and
VA antennas; the Central LO racks and the two-station prototype correlator
are installed in the VLA control building. All hardware modules were
powered up and achieved basic functionality. Basic computer monitor
control to all modules was achieved. Limited system connectivity was
achieved. A coherent 9.7 GHz test signal was injected into the IF
Processors of both the Vertex and Alcatel antennas. This coherent signal
was generated by unused, but phase locked, LO2 modules. The parallel
signal path went through the IF Processor, the Digitizer, the Data
Transmission System and on to the Correlator. A cross-correlation
spectrum was displayed at the output of the correlator. This test of the
BEND and Correlator equipment, did not include the photonic reference nor
the Eval-FEs. Next steps are: 1) tower beacon interferometry, and
2) astronomical interferometry.
TUC: Emerson has been supporting work at the ATF. Holdaway continues to
toil on the largest array configuration design.
AOC: A Prototype System Integration review will be held 24-25 Jan.
NTC (NRAO Technology Center, Charlottesville): All four ALMA-B first
cartridges (Bands 3, 6, 7, and 9) were installed in cryostat #2 and
successfully cooled; any two cartridges may be operated simultaneously.
Electromagnetic Compatibility tests began. The Band 3 (3mm) Critical
Design Review (CDR) is tentatively scheduled for late March. The Band 6
(1mm) CDR is tentatively scheduled for June. The Band 9 (.45 mm) CFT will
occur in early Feb.
The second B3 cartridge to be delivered (serial #1) is ready for Provisional
Acceptance InHouse (PAI), to be held this week. The second B6 cartridge to
be delivered has completed acceptance testing. The second B7 cartridge was
received at the NA Front End Integration Center (FEIC).
A second preproduction TFB card was delivered to CV. Delay model testing
began using two TFB cards.
NAASC: A number of ALMA-related science discussions will occur during the
next fortnight:
18 Jan NRAO 4pm Simon Radford, Caltech
"The Cornell Caltech Atacama Telescope"
19 Jan NRAO 4pm Astrophysical Molecules Discussion Group meeting
"Thioformaldehyde in the ISM"
22 Jan U.Va.4pm Dr. Alan P. Boss, CIW,
"Giant Planet Formation: Theory vs. Observations"
25 Jan NRAO 4pm Doug Johnstone, NRC/HIA,
"Understanding How Star Formation Proceeds in the Perseus and
Ophiuchus Molecular Clouds"
New artist renditions of the array are available at:
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/almanews/almagallery/index.html
Registration for the workshop 'Transformational Science with ALMA:
Through Disks to Stars and Planets' to be held 22-24 June 2007
is under way: See http://www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/disk07/
A Nutator SRR will be held 22-23 Jan.
SMA: The remaining tests with the prototype Water Vapor Radiometers
(WVRs) on the SMA have been completed and the radiometers will be returning
soon to Europe.
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DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT/EST ) see
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
Mon 15 Jan - Martin Luther King Day USA
R. E. Lee-Stonewall Jackson-M. L. King Day (Virginia)
Tue 16 Jan - ESO ALMA Retreat, Tranpsorter FDR
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
1:00 PM- ALMA Board/NA Telecaucus
Wed 17 Jan - ESO ALMA Retreat, Tranpsorter FDR
9:30am - Science IPT telecon
Thu 18 Jan - ESO ALMA Retreat
8:00am - ALMA EPO telecon
9:30am - ALMA Board Telecon
11:01 EST: New Moon
Fri 19 Jan
Sat 20 Jan -
Sun 21 Jan -
Mon 22 Jan - Nutator SRR
Tue 23 Jan - Nutator SRR
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
Wed 24 Jan - PSI Review, Socorro
Thu 25 Jan - PSI Review, Socorro
Fri 26 Jan
2:00 PM: ANASAC Telecon
Sat 27 Jan
Sun 28 Jan
Mon 29 Jan
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS ****************************
Jan 10 ASAC Telecon
Jan 16-17 '07 all day Transporter FDR
Jan 16-18 '07 all day ESO ALMA Retreat
Jan 18 '07 ALMA Board telecon
Jan 24-25 all day PSI Review Socorro
Jan 26 1900UT ANASAC Telecon
Jan 30-1 Feb all day AEM antenna PPDR Mestre
Feb 6-7 B9 cartridge CDR Groningen
Feb 15 ALMA Board Telecon Telecon
Feb 27-8 all day ALMA Ops Plan Review NSF
Mar 1 all day ALMA/NAASC Plan Review NSF
Mar 9-12 all day IPT F2F MEETING Chile
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS ***************************
*****************************ALSO OF INTEREST*****************************
SMA CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Deadline: 1 March 2007
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, makes available a fraction of the
observing time to principal investigators from the astronomical community
(worldwide).
The proposal deadline is 1 March 2007 for the observing semester
1 May 2007 through 31 October 2007. More information, technical details,
and instructions and tools for proposal preparation and submission can be
found starting in February at http://sma1.sma.hawaii.edu/, the SMA Observer
Center web site.
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NRAO CALL for PROPOSALS
Deadline: 1 Feb 2007
See: http://www.nrao.edu/astrores/
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