[mmaimcal] FYI: 27 Aug - 10 Sep BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
Al Wootten
awootten at nrao.edu
Thu Sep 13 14:41:19 EDT 2007
Folks,
Comments, contributions or corrections?
Al
BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
27 August 2007 - 10 Sept 2007
******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT*************************
Vertex Antenna No. 2 parts arrived in northern Chile; the pedestal came
into port on 8 September.
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The Proceedings of the First NAASC ALMA Workshop, From Z-Machines to
ALMA: (Sub)Millimeter Spectroscopy of Galaxies, has been published as
Volume number 375 of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference
Series. A. Baker, J. Glenn, A. I. Harris, J. Mangum and Min S. Yun
edited the volume.
The focus of the Jan 2006 meeting was an important new category of
instrument, the "z-machine", an ultrawide-bandwidth spectrometer
optimized for the study of distant, dusty galaxies. In addition to
detailed descriptions of four z-machines currently under development by
different groups, and of the exciting spectroscopic capabilities ALMA
will soon offer, this volume includes diverse perspectives on galaxy
populations to be studied, spectral features to be targeted, methods to
be used for data analysis, and connections to be forged with
observational programs and technical efforts at other facilities and/or
wavelengths. The 23 oral and 31 poster presentations represented here,
along with audience discussion, come from a mixture of theorists,
observers, and instrument-builders.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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 hemisphere days are growing longer by about a minute per
day nin the countdown to Spring; cherry blossoms adorn Santiago. # New
Moon (exact at 8:44 a.m. EDT). A partial eclipse of the Sun happens for
central and southern South America, including Santiago, early 11 Sept in
celebration of Ade's birthday. Venus and Saturn are in the morning sky,
Mercury in the evening sky.
SCO (Santiago Central Office): ALMA Annual External Review commences at
the end of the period. A lease has been signed for an annex to the
current offices. Detailed design of the Santiago Central Office at
Vitacura is under way.
AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Excellent sky transparency
closed out the period with PWV well below 1mm PWV. 95% design and
engineering of AOS site layouts for antenna stations, roads, power and
fiber optic received for review. Transporter hangar construction
expected to begin next fortnight.
OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): There are 473 people
working at the ALMA site. Panels are under installation on Vertex
antenna No 1; tier 2 and 3 are installed. Vertex antenna pedestal No 2
should arrive in port 2007 Sep 8. Panels are installed on Melco antenna
No 1, pointing has been initiated. OSF technical facility construction
continues; window panel placement is underway. ALMA Camp extension
stages 3 and 4 in bidding process. Work continues on the AEM antenna
lay down facilities, where five antenna pads will shortly be contracted.
When complete the total number of antenna pads at the OSF will be 21.
Holography System #1 was checked out at the OSF lab and is ready for
installation. Transmitter will be installed in the tower in the coming
fortnight, as will the weather station.
ATF: AEC brake problem was resolved by Meadows, interface to VLA weather
station re-established. Mangum and Emerson crafted a successful
radiometric pointing model. Static fringes were re-established on
Mercury by DuVall and Napier. The system included new backend
components and the new 2-antenna correlator (which employs the tunable
filter boards).
AOC: Replacement CFRP section for damaged feed leg on Vx prototype
arrived for installation.
NTC (NRAO Technology Center): 330 CDR documents for the B6 (1.3mm)
cartridge were completed and posted to EDM. Front End interfaces to
Computing IPT software will be tested. Assembly of the second 2-antenna
correlator has begun.
NAASC: CASA beta testing proceeded in CV with generally positive report.
Members of the NAASC traveled to Garching to attend the Science
Operations IPT f2f meeting and participate in the ESO ALMA Community
Days and Surveys with ALMA meetings.
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 26 Aug -
Mon 27 Aug - 3:30PM: PSI/ATF telecon
Tue 28 Aug -
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
Wed 29 Aug -
Thu 30 Aug -
Fri 31 Aug -
Sat 1 Sep - The Aurigid meteor shower made a strong showing on the
morning of September 1st. The brief but intense peak occurred at roughly
11:15 Universal Time, within 15 minutes or so of the predicted maximum.
These particles were shed by Comet Kiess (C/1911 N1) more than 2,000
years ago! A typical observer reported 1-2 dozen bright meteors per
hour at peak.
Sun 2 Sep -
Mon 3 Sep - Labor Day Holiday US
10:32pm Last quarter moon
Tue 4 Sep -
10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon
3:30PM: PSI/ATF telecon
Wed 5 Sep -
Thu 6 Sep -
Fri 7 Sep -
Sat 8 Sep -
Sun 9 Sep -
Mon 10 Sep -
8:30 AM - ALMA Annual External Review, Santiago
3:30PM: PSI/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***************************
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
to receive it.
Past issues are available at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
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