[mmaimcal] FYI: 14 July 2008 BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO

[Al Wootten]

Folks,

Comments, contributions or corrections?

Thanks,
Al

                 BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
                         14 July 2008 - 28 July 2008

******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT*************************
With the successful move of Vertex antenna No 2 by the transporter from
the Assembly Building to an antenna station near Vertex antenna No 1,
one station became available in the building.  The pedestal for Vertex 
antenna No 6 was unloaded in port 26 July and occupied that station on 
31 July, creating a full house at the Site Erection Facility.  Testing 
of Vertex antenna No 1 was therefore a focus of activity during this 
fortnight.  A team led by Darrel Emerson conducted holography 
measurements and were able to beat residual errors for the surface to 
below 12 microns by the end of the month. 
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Past issues of this Calendar may be viewed at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
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General Happenings
Photos of activity may be found at:
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/almanews/almagallery/index.html
Sky: A Total Eclipse of the Sun occurs 1 August in the northern regions
of Earth.  A lunar eclipse follows two weeks later, visible from eastern 
Europe, eastern Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia.  If in 
Virginia, look for the Intl Space Station moving NW to SE, appearing at 
9:30 pm and vanishing at 9:35 pm; again on 7 Aug at 8:48 til 8:54 pm. 
Get ready for the Perseid meteors, best ween in the wee hours of the 
morning of 12 August.

SCO (Santiago Central Office):  A meeting of the Management IPT is 
scheduled for the end of the month.

AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude):  APEX has reported water vapor
at Chajnantor generally below 1mm over the fortnight.  Earthworks for 
leveling the area of the central compact configuration have ended and 
the first roads are being constructed for the configuration network. 
The transporter shelter is ready for provisional acceptance.

OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude):   A team led by Darrel 
Emerson conducted holography measurements and were able to beat residual 
errors for the surface on Vertex antenna No 1 to below 12 microns by the 
end of the month.  Vertex antenna three is complete, servo commissioning 
has begun on Vx4, panels are being mounted on Vx5 and Vx 6 arrives in 
port at the end of the fortnight.  The first European antenna backup 
structure should be shipped to Chile sometime in August.  Testing 
continues on Melco antennas; transporter brackets have been attached to 
three of the four antennas.  Claus Diercksmeier, ESO Site IPT lead, is 
leaving ALMA at the end of July.

TUC: Optical Pointing Telescope (OPT) CDR is tentatively scheduled for 
August.

AOC:  Antenna article No 2 was shipped.  These are the racks which go 
into the antenna cabins containing backend equipment.

ATF: It was decided to keep the ATF open at a reduced level of activity 
through 20 Dec 2008.  A total power raster image of the Moon was obtained.

NTC (NRAO Technology Center): The disassembled first correlator quadrant
will be shipped to Chile soon.  The computing IPT is using the 2nd 
quadrant for tests.

NAASC:  About 130 participants have registered for the September 
Workshop.  A face-to-face meeting of the EPO group is scheduled for 
11-12 Aug at the NAASC.

A calendar of NAASC events may be found at:
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/calendar/calendar.php
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DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT/EST ) see
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS *************************
    July 16-18            Software Review No 6.
    Aug 11-12             EPO face-to-face                      Ch'ville	
    Sep 2      1430UT 	 ASAC Telecon 	                       Telecon
    Sep 8-10              Simulation Workshop                 Grenoble
    Sep 9-11              ACA 7m antenna PPDR                   Itami
    Sep 12                ANASAC f2f meeting                 Charlottesville
    Sep 25-27             NAASC Workshop                     Charlottesville
    Sep 28-29 	  	 ASAC face-to-face 	            Charlottesville
    Dec 9-11 	  	 ALMA Annual External Incremental Review OSF 	
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS *************************

*****************************ALSO OF INTEREST***************************
CARMA Call for Proposals, Semester 2009A
Deadline: 17 September 2008
Proposals for observations using CARMA during the period 1 January to
30 June 2009 are due on 17 September 2008. Proposals should be submitted 
using the electronic form at http://carma.astro.uiuc.edu/proposals/
before 17:00 CDT (22:00 UT) 17 September, 2008. Detailed information, 
including sensitivities and proposal submission instructions, are
available at http://www.mmarray.org . Questions may also be addressed to
Dr. Nikolaus Volgenau (volgenau @ mmarray.org).
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coming for 2009A:
An interactive correlator configuration tool has been developed to
aid PIs with proposal preparation and observation set-up. The tool will
be available soon on the CARMA website.
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Registration is now open for "Transformational Science with ALMA:
The Birth and Feedback of Massive Stars, Within and Beyond the Galaxy"
A workshop to be held at the North American ALMA Science Center
National Radio Astronomy Observatory Charlottesville, Virginia
September 25-27 2008
Please see: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/php/meetings/massive08/
Abstract submission is now closed.
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A small workshop will be held at IRAM, Grenoble September 8 2008 on
the topic of simulations of ALMA imaging.  The goals are
1) To bring together the radio astronomy community with expertise in
    simulations of ALMA data to share experiences, ideas and code
2) To illustrate the power of ALMA in a small number of scientific
    fields through the presentation of simulations of ALMA science
    targets
3) To assess how simulations can be used to optimise the performance
    of ALMA once it is operational, by, for example, suggesting the
    optimal calibration strategies and observing modes
The workshop web-page is:
http://www.mrao.cam.ac.uk/~bn204/almasim08/
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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.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------