[mmaimcal] FYI: 18 Nov - 2 Dec 2008 BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
Alwyn Wootten
awootten at nrao.edu
Tue Dec 9 09:43:59 EST 2008
Folks,
Comments, contributions, corrections or cussing?
Thanks,
Al
BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
18 November 2008 - 2 December 2008
******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT*************************
On behalf of the National Science Council (NSC) in Taiwan and the US
National Science Foundation, the Taipei Economic and Cultural
Representative Office (TECRO) and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT)
signed an Agreement for Cooperation in Astronomy and Astrophysics
associated with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Project
on 2008 October 27. The agreement provides for annual contributions by
the NSC to support the North American (NA) construction of ALMA and for
a share of the NA operation after construction. The Academia Sinica
Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA) and NRAO have been
designated by the TECRO-AIT agreement as the institutions to carry
out the responsibilities associated with Taiwan's participation in
the ALMA Project. Activities under the agreement will include joint
research projects, development projects, collaboration on construction,
support of observatory operations and other forms of cooperation.
Access to ALMA observing time will be shared, as will membership on
advisory committees.
There is a parallel Taipei-American Program in Radio Astronomy (TAPRA),
an agreement between ASIAA and NRAO, similar to the NAPRA agreement
betweenHIA and NRAO, that basically affords all Taiwan astronomers
the same treatment as US astronomers in regard to all NRAO facilities
and to encourage further collaborations.
We welcome ASIAA's participation with us in the ALMA Project. American
and ASIAA astronomers have, of course, joined in many fruitful projects
over the years. The details of the benefits that this agreement will
bring to ALMA will be detailed in the coming months.
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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 NRAO eNews:
http://www.nrao.edu/news/newsletters/
or at http://www.almaobservatory.org/
Sky: Jupiter is low in the West, Venus shining brightly above it. Over on
the other side of the sky, the constellation Orion shines after sunset. Its
most striking feature is the three stars of the hunter's belt, nearly
vertical as they rise. A little higher up are the Pleiades, a fuzzy cluster
usually resolved into six brighter stars by sharp-eyed observers. the
nearly full moon crosses the Pleiades late on 10 Dec for North American
skywatchers.
SCO (Santiago Central Office): A meeting with the architect for the new
building was held and modifications to the design were discussed. A
computing review was held in Santiago.
AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Twenty eight foundations have
received concrete now. Rock anchor drilling has begun for foundations in
the area of the ACA. Provisional acceptance Site (PAS) was successful on
3 Nov. APEX reports low levels of precipitable water measured during most
nights.
OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): Elements of the eighth
Vertex antenna arrived at the site on 27 November. On 20 November, the
assembled Vertex antenna No 4 was moved to a parking pad (No 5) above
the OSF Technical Facilities. Pad N°7 in Vertex SEF has started
construction. Acceptance for Melco antenna No 2 is scheduled for 17-18
December. That will be followed in Feb 2009 by acceptance for Vertex No
1, undergoing final pointing tests now. Construction of the AEM work area
has progressed; inspection will occur 12 Dec. The first elements of the
first AEM production antenna will leave Europe in December. Elements of
the second Front End, an engineering model, will be delivered from the
East Asian Front End Integration Center (EA FEIC) shortly. Various groups
have begun activities in the OSF Technical Facility Building. Claudio
Cabrera joined the ALMA project as head of the EU Site IPT; Jorg Eschwey
continues as deputy for a period.
AOC: The new Back End storage building at the SOC in Socorro is primarily
complete.
ATF: Useful software tests continue toward shutdown on Dec 20.
NTC (NRAO Technology Center): Holography system number two is readied for
shipping to the OSF, along with ancillary parts. The NTC will outfit
Front End No 2 from the EA FEIC and verify performance of elements, then
ship to the OSF for reassembly into the Front End and Provisional Acceptance
onSite (PAS) testing. Assembly of the third quadrant of the 64 antenna
correlator continued.
NAASC: Several joint activities with U. Virginia were held. Brogan
presented ALMA talks at U. Va., U. B. C., U. Victoria and U. Washington.
F. Lovas visiting.
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 *************************
Dec 9-11 ALMA Annual External Incremental Review OSF
Dec 17-18 Acceptance procedures for Melco No. 2 antenna
Dec 18 ALMA Board Telecon
Jan 5-8 AAS Meeting, Long Beach, Ca and
NA Radio Science Meeting, Boulder, Co
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS *************************
ALMA Memo 582 Simulating Atmospheric Phase Errors, Phase Correction and
the Impact on ALMA Science
Authors: B. Nikolic, J. S. Richer, R. E. Hills
Abstract: We present a framework for modelling atmospheric phase errors
and their correction by both the fast-switching and water vapour
radiometeric techniques. Notable features are simulating three dimensional
turbulent volumes instead of flat phase screens, considering three
representative configurations of ALMA and parametrisation in terms
of phase fluctuations on a 300\,m baseline, allowing referencing to
the site-testing interferometer data. We use this framework to simulate
relative point source sensitivity and effective resolution for a range
of atmospheric conditions, with and without phase correction. We also
consider the effect of phase fluctuation on short `snapshot'
observations, where the variance and correlation of atmospheric
phase fluctuations between the antennas becomes important.
View a pdf version of ALMA Memo #582 at:
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma582/memo582.pdf
*****************************ALSO OF INTEREST***************************
Several ALMA positions are available at NRAO. Example:
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory invites applications for an
ALMA Postdoctoral Fellow position with the Commissioning team in Chile.
When completed in 2012, ALMA will be the most powerful (sub)millimeter
interferometer ever constructed, and will transform our understanding of
topics ranging from the formation of nearby protoplanetary disks to the
earliest epochs of galaxy formation. This position is assigned to the ALMA
project with operational duties in Chile. The position is funded by a grant
from the National Science Foundation through the ALMA Construction Project
and as an international staff position will exist during the construction
period through 2011. There may be possibilities to transfer to the
observatory science operations team during or after construction.
Details for all positions may be viewed at:
http://members.aas.org/JobReg/JobDetailPage.cfm?JobID=25062
or
http://www.nrao.edu/administration/personnel_office/careers.shtml#CV4917_ALMA_POSTDOC
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There will be an NRAO Town Hall meeting at the 213th AAS meeting in
Long Beach, Ca on the evening of 7th January. Please visit us at the
NRAO booth.
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The US National Radioscience Meeting (USNC/URSI) meets in Boulder
on 5-8 Jan 2009. Among the Commission J topics is a session on
ALMA Technology, Science and Status.
See: http://www.astro.caltech.edu/USNC-URSI-J/ for abstracts of this
and other sessions.
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