[mmaimcal] FYI: 10 Sept 07 BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
Al Wootten
awootten at nrao.edu
Wed Oct 10 16:54:11 EDT 2007
Folks,
Falling further behind--this one is nearly a month old now! Comments,
contributions or corrections? Contributions for 24 Sept - 8 Oct also
solicited...
Thanks - Al
BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
10 Sept 2007 - 24 Sept 2007
******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT*************************
The ALMA Annual External Review panel met in Santiago for a major
project-wide review. While the report is not yet available, the panel
provided an in-depth look at the project with a fresh viewpoint.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The assembly of Vertex Antenna #1 reflector at the OSF is complete.
Focus now shifts to commissioning of servo system. Antenna #2 pedestal
is at the port in Chile awaiting approval from Chilean police for
transport to OSF.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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: Southern and northern hemisphere days are about equal in length
as the 23 Sept equinox draws near. Mars looms high in the morning
sky, attracting the attention of ALMA prototype antennas. Jupiter does
the same in the evening sky. C/2006 VZ13 (LINEAR) is now a southern
hemisphere comet, fading beneath 9th magnitude, invisible to optical
telescopes in the solar glare (a problem ALMA will not have). C/2007 F1
(LONEOS) is approaching the Sun, expected to reach naked eye visibility
by Halloween (0.4AU from the Sun).
SCO (Santiago Central Office): An ALMA Annual External Review took
place in Santiago, as mentioned above.
AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Excellent sky transparency
closed out the period with PWV below 0.4mm PWV.
OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): There are 490 people
working at the ALMA site. A sixth antenna pad is scheduled to be installed
in the Vertex SEF area, close to the Holography pad. The OSF weather
station was installed, with sensors on the holography tower now operational.
ATF: Radiometric pointing and computing tests continued. An initial test
was made to evaluate correlation efficiency using static fringes on the
planet Mercury in conjunction with antenna tipping curves to provide
calibration of the atmosphere.
AOC: Stephan Nuttall and Juan Salazar joined the backend group.
NTC (NRAO Technology Center): Critical Design Review was held in Victoria
for B3 (3mm) and will be held in Charlottesville at the beginning of
October. Measurements of the FE assembly test station mechanical stability
were made. The Computing IPT successfully communicated with a completed FE
assembly. Mechanical and electrical assembly of Holography Receiver #2
continued. Assembly for the 2nd Quadrant of the correlator is nearly
complete; its last tunable filter board card complement is in hand.
NAASC:
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 9 Sep -
Mon 10 Sep - All day: ALMA Annual External Review, Santiago
3:30PM: PSI/ATF telecon
Cassini Iapetus flyby: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/events/iapetus/index.cfm
Tue 11 Sep - All day: ALMA Annual External Review, Santiago
8:44AM: New moon; partial solar eclipse in Santiago
Wed 12 Sep - All day: ALMA Annual External Review, Santiago
Thu 13 Sep -
Fri 14 Sep -
Sat 15 Sep - Astronomy Day!
Sun 16 Sep -
Mon 17 Sep - Holiday Chile
4:00PM: ATF telecon
Tue 18 Sep - Holiday Chile (Independence Day)
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
Wed 19 Sep - Holiday Chile (Army Day)
All Day: ESAC meeting, Garching
10:30AM: Science IPT telecon
Thu 20 Sep - Requirements Review for the WVR
Fri 21 Sep -
Sat 22 Sep -
Sun 23 Sep -
5:51AM: Equinox! Spring begins for ALMA.
Mon 24 Sep -
4:00PM: ATF telecon
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS *************************
Sep 10-12 Ann. ALMA External Rev Santiago
Sep 13 ALMA Board Telecon
Sep 26 B3 CDR Victoria
Oct 1-2 B6 CDR Cville
Oct 28-31 ALMA Board Meeting Santiago&San Pedro
Nov 1-2 AMAC Review Santiago
Nov 6-9 Production Review Santiago
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS *************************
*****************************ALSO OF INTEREST***************************
The deadline for proposals to use NRAO telescopes (GBT, VLA, VLBA) is
1700 EDT Monday, 1 Oct 2007.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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, including execution of
a science research program. 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
to receive it.
Past issues are available at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
More information about the mmaimcal
mailing list