[mmaimcal] FYI: 28 Jan 08 BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
Alwyn Wootten
awootten at nrao.edu
Mon Feb 18 20:47:47 EST 2008
Folks,
Comments, contributions, commendations?
Thanks,
Al
BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
28 Jan 2008 - 11 Feb 2008
******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT*************************
Please note that:
Science with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array: A New Era for
Astrophysics Volume 313, Numbers 1-3 / January, 2008, the Proceedings of
the Nov 2006 ALMA Conference in Madrid, has been published by
Astrophysics and Space Science, and is available online at
http://tinyurl.com/32pq3o
Thanks to the organizers of the conference, to the authors and to the
editors for bringing out this compendium of papers describing some
aspects of the transformative science we expect ALMA to undertake.
We're all anticipating smooth completion of the instrument over the next
few years; just ten days ago the ALMA prototype system at the ALMA test
facility produced its first interferometric spectrum. Working together,
we'll be producing solid science soon
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Project Manager Tony Beasley, citing family reasons, announced that he
will leave ALMA sometime in June 2008. Thanks, Tony, for leading ALMA to
its present state of construction, poised for operation, so effectively.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
One of the special sessions for the 5-7 Jan 2009 URSI commission J
meeting in Boulder, Colorado will be on "ALMA Technology, Science and
Status". Let Wootten know if you would like to speak.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The proposed FY 2009 budget was released. 'Funding for the Atacama Large
Millimeter Array continues to ramp up to enable operations and maintenance
of a growing array of antennas and preparation for early science support.'
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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
***************************************************************************
General Happenings
Photos of activity may be found at:
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/almanews/almagallery/index.html
Sky: An annular Eclipse of the Sun occurred over the southern ocean
between Australia and Antarctica on Feb 7, Chinese New Year.
SCO: An Operations Software Review was held Jan 25. The ALMA Science
Advisory Committee (ASAC) met in Santiago 1-2 Feb after visits to the OSF
and to the AOS. A call for tender for construction of the permanent
central office, to be located on the ESO grounds in Vitacura, is being
prepared. A call for tender for providing power from the Chilean grid to
ALMA was released. The final TICRA report on the analysis of FE optics
was released and reviewed during this period. The PDR documentation for
the ALMA Band-10 cartridge being constructed at NAOJ is now available on
ALMA EDM. The review, whose panel is chaired by Wolfgang Wild, will take
place at the NAOJ on Feb 26-27.
AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): With construction of the Technical
Building complete and the ACA correlator installed, and the transporter
hangar nearing completion, activity has shifted to construction of antenna
pads. The first six to be constructed will be pads 104, 136, 109, 96, 101
and 106, which lie along Road 11 near the Technical Building. Test
borings are occurring at other pad sites.
OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): There are about 300 persons
on the site, the management of which has transitioned from construction to
operations. Heavy rains (associated with the 'Bolivian Winter') undercut
a portion of the Calama-San Pedro highway through the Cordillera del Sal.
However the ALMA antenna transporters, which arrived in port in Mejillones
on 6 Feb, were able to negotiate the road; they were delivered to the site
13 Feb. The OSF construction is essentially complete and the crews have
left the site; some 'punch list' items remain. The first phases of
acceptance for the first Vertex antenna have begun. Construction of the
fourth Melco antenna is well along. An NAOJ cryogenic receiver system
HYAKUSHIKI for the first light mission on a Melco antenna was delivered to
OSF. This should result soon in the first astronomical detection by an
ALMA production antenna on an ALMA Chile site.
AOC: Acceptance Review for the last 12 pre-production Digitizers (latest
design) is being scheduled by the end of February. A project wide Antenna
Article (AA) verification test review teleconference is scheduled for
2008-01-30.
ATF: Laing and Leurini achieved interferometric pointing and focus;
“manual” data collection still.
NTC (NRAO Technology Center): A third cryostat (SN05) was received at
the NA FEIC for use as NA FE#3. Provisional acceptance in-house (PAI) for
the OSF-bound two antenna correlator is scheduled for 31 Jan.
ASIAA: The Nutator Critical Design Review held last week was deemed
successful.
HIA: SN07, the last of the pre-production B3 (3mm) cartridges, is under test.
NAASC: Mangum established remote sensing of the weather in Testi's
Garching office using a system to be installed at the AOS.
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 27 Jan -
Mon 28 Jan -
4:00PM: ATF telecon
Tue 29 Jan -
10:30AM: JAO/IPT telecon
Wed 30 Jan -
Thu 31 Jan -
Fri 1 Feb -
Sat 2 Feb -
Sun 3 Feb -
Mon 4 Feb -
4:00PM: ATF telecon
Tue 5 Feb -
10:30AM: JAO/IPT telecon
Wed 6 Feb -
1:00pm: NAASC planning meeting
Thu 7 Feb -
4:00PM: Colloquium 'Searching for the Secrets of Massive Star Birth'
Brogan, NAASC
Fri 8 Feb -
4:00PM: Star Formation Discussion Group, NAASC: Massive Star Formation.
Sat 9 Feb -
Sun 10 Feb -
Mon 11 Feb -
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS *************************
Feb 1-2 ASAC face-to-face Santiago
Feb 7-8 WVR CDR Europe
Feb 7 ALMA Board Telecon
Feb 18-23 IAU Symp 251: Organic Chemistry in Space Hong Kong
Feb 25 Band 10 PDR Mitaka
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS *************************
*****************************ALSO OF INTEREST***************************
The Cosmic Agitator - Magnetic Fields in the Galaxy
60 years of studies of the interstellar magnetic field
2008 March 26-29 Lexington. The magnetic field of the galaxy was
discovered in observations made in 1948. Since that time, the galactic
magnetic field has challenged (and often annoyed) observers and theorists
alike. This meeting will celebrate sixty years of studies of the
interstellar magnetic field, a field ALMA's transformational capabilities
will revolutionize. See
http://thunder.pa.uky.edu/magnetic/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
NRAO Proposals are due 5pm EST on Feb 1.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CARMA Call for Proposals. Proposals for observations using CARMA during
the period 1 July to 31 December 2008 are due on 13 March 2008. CARMA
comprises 15 antennas operating at 1mm and 3mm on a 2200m elevation site,
Cedar Flat, in the Inyo Mountains of California. Proposals will be
accepted for the B, C, D, and E antenna configurations. These
configurations have resolution 0.35", 0.8", 2", 5" at 230 GHz.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
SMA Call for Proposals Following the direction of the SMA steering
committee, the CfA SMA Time Allocation Committee (TAC) solicits proposals
for observations in the 230, 345, 400, and 690 GHz bands for the period
2008 May 16 - 2008 Nov 15. The deadline for submitting proposals is 2008
March 13 (16:00 EDT = 10:00 HST). In addition, large (legacy) proposals
must be preceded by a brief "Notice of Intent" by 2008 March 6, 15:00 EST.
http://sma1.sma.hawaii.edu/call.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jobs for scientists interested in working on the commissioning of ALMA
are available at both ESO and NRAO.
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/
***************************************************************************
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
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Past issues are available at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
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