[mmaimcal] FYI: 3 - 17 Dec BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
Al Wootten
awootten at nrao.edu
Fri Jan 4 12:09:18 EST 2008
BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
3 December 2007 - 17 Dec 2007
******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT*************************
The third VertexRSI pedestal arrived in Mejillones, the port for
Antofagasta Chile 2007 December 8. The upper 'inverted umbrella'
portion which supports the accurately machined surface is expected in
port on 2007 Dec 23. This is the third antenna delivered to Chile by
VertexRSI under contract with NRAO/AUI. It joins three antennas
delivered by Mitsubishi Electric Company (Melco) of Japan; the fourth
Melco antenna also arrived in port last week. At the close of 2007,
seven ALMA telescopes have been delivered to Chile, about one tenth of
the total. Assembly and testing of these telescopes continues at the
Operations Support Facility.
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The massive ALMA transporters left the Sheuerle factory and traveled
to port at Heilbronn, Germany on 3 and 4 December. There, they
were put on on top of a barge pushed by a tug. On 5 Dec they began
their journey down the Neckar to the Rhine, then down the Rhine to
Antwerp, Belgium. By Dec 11, they had arrived in Antwerp, where they
are to be transferred to an overseas vessel for travel to Chile.
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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
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General Happenings
Photos of activity may be found at:
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/almanews/almagallery/index.html
Sky: The best time to view the 2007 Geminid meteor shower from North
America is the night of December 13-14, with good prospects the
following night as well. Mars now appears bigger through a telescope
than it will again until 2016. The ringed planet is at its highest in
the sky shortly before dawn in December. Comet Holmes remains high in a
moonless sky. It continues fading, but it's big much bigger than the Sun
now, the largest object in the Solar System! Look for it in Perseus west
of Alpha Persei.
AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): The ACA Correlator room is
finished and prepared for installation in the Technical Building.
OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): There are 431 people
working at the ALMA site. Concrete work on second outdoor foundation at
Vertex/RSI Site Erection Facility (SEF) is complete.
ATF: Reinstallation of an elevation motor segment on the AEC antenna was
done on November 22th to 25th. Dynamic fringes with good residual
fringe rates are now routinely achieved. Science IPT members have
measured an improved baseline.
NTC (NRAO Technology Center): Acceptance testing for the first ALMA
Front End commenced following a cryostat swap. Assembly of the third NA
Front End has begun, progress awaits cryostat delivery. The kick-off
meeting for the EU Front End Integration Center (FEIC) was held on 22-23
Nov. at Rutherford Appleton Labs (RAL). At the NTC, Construction of all
hardware for the new 2-antenna correlator was completed and integration
of the 2nd quadrant restarted.
NAASC: Support was provided for the CASA limited beta release.
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
Sun 2 Dec -
Mon 3 Dec -
4:00PM: ATF telecon
Tue 4 Dec -
10:30AM: JAO/IPT telecon
Wed 5 Dec -
10:30AM: Sci IPT telecon
Thu 6 Dec -
Fri 7 Dec -
Sat 8 Dec -
Sun 9 Dec -
12:40pm New Moon
Mon 10 Dec -
Tue 11 Dec -
10:30AM: JAO/IPT telecon
Wed 12 Dec -
Thu 13 Dec - The Geminid meteor shower peaks tonight and tomorrow.
Fri 14 Dec -
Sat 15 Dec -
Sun 16 Dec - Beethoven's Birthday
Mon 17 Dec -
4:00PM: ATF telecon
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS *************************
Dec 6 Front End Test Readiness Revies Cville NTC
Dec 6 ALMA Board Telecon ---
Dec 12 ESAC telecon
Jan 10 NRAO Town Hall 12:45pm Austin Tx AAS
Jan 15 ESAC face-to-face meeting Garching
Jan 18 ANASAC telecon ---
Jan 23-24 Nutator CDR ASIAA
Feb 1-2 ASAC face-to-face Santiago
******************************* 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/
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Tenure Track Astronomers REQ NO: CV3631
SUMMARY: The National Radio
Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) invites outstanding applicants for one or
more tenure-track astronomer positions, especially in the areas of
time-domain astronomy, solar system research, exo-planets, Epoch of
Re-ionization, structure formation, Dark Energy and Dark Matter.
Candidates will be selected on both the basis of excellence in research
and on their ability to further the mission of the Observatory.
URL below.
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Assistant Scientist (CASA) REQ NO: CV3682
SUMMARY: The National Radio
Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) invites applications for an astronomer,
software engineer, or physicist with experience in astronomical data
processing to develop data reduction software for the Atacama
Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Expanded Very Large Array
(EVLA). The Common Astronomy Software Applications (CASA) package is
written primarily in C++ under a Python wrapper (for more information on
CASA, see http://casa.nrao.edu/). This is an NRAO Scientist position,
with 25% of time available to pursue independent research. The position
will be based in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, at the North American
ALMA Science Center (NAASC).
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Jansky fellows (2008) REQ NO: CV3455
SUMMARY: The National Radio
Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) announces the 2008 postdoctoral Jansky
Fellowship program that provides outstanding opportunities for research
in astronomy. Jansky Fellows formulate and carry out investigations either
independently or in collaboration with others within the wide framework of
interests of the Observatory. Prior radio experience is not required and
multi-wavelength projects leading to a synergy with NRAO instruments are
encouraged. The NRAO also encourages applications from candidates with
interest in radio astronomy instrumentation, computation, and theory.
See URL below.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
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