[mmaimcal] FYI: 21 Apr 08 Biweekly Calendar of the ALMA Project at NRAO
Al Wootten
awootten at nrao.edu
Wed May 14 17:08:20 EDT 2008
Folks,
Comments, contributions or corrections?
Clear skies,
Al
BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
21 April 2008 - 5 May 2008
******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT*************************
Phil Solomon, a pioneer of millimeter wave astronomy, died 30 April.
ALMA has lost one of its champions, and our community a great scientist.
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Imaging observations of the Sun were conducted on Melco antenna No 2 at
the OSF using a 2mm SIS receiver, using the On-The-Fly method.
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Prof. L. Ziurys showed spectra of CO J=7-6 toward several evolved stars
made with a 650 micron receiver based on an ALMA B9 mixer deployed at the
Arizona Radio Observatory at a presentation in Charlottesville. This mixer
is also the basis of the CHAMP receivers operating at APEX on Chajnantor.
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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: Late in the month, Mercury puts on a good show in the evening sky.
On May 22, Mars will traverse the Beehive cluster. Before dawn on
June 30, the crescent moon passes through the Pleiades, best seen from
North America. Mars and Saturn are nighttime objects, Jupiter is in
Sagittarius and Venus in Aries.
SCO: A MIPT face-to-face meeting is planned (May 7-9 in Charlottesville).
Chajnantor Working Group meeting occurs this biweek (Apr 24-25). Tetsuo
Hasegawa moved to Santiago to train as interim Project manager (begins 1 May).
AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Grading of the Central Cluster
area should be completed in May. Operations and Safety personnel
completed training on the use of the fire detection and extinguishing system
in the Technical Building. The period began with an extended stretch
of very low water vapor on the site (many hours with PWV<0.5mm on
21-22 April).
OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): Three additional test
procedures for the acceptance of Vx Antenna No1 were completed.
Installation of the Holography receiver has been postponed until repairs
to the damaged quadripod structure are completed. Vx Antenna No 2 completed
servo system commissioning 18 April. After photogrammetry and installation
of transporter brackets antenna may be moved to second outdoor foundation.
Vx Ant 3 panels installation complete. Vx Ant No 4 is on its foundation;
panel installation has commenced. Vx Ant No 5 parts await shipping to
Chile from Texas and Antwerp. Tests leading to provisional acceptance of
transporters continue. The last of the eleven first Front End (FE) crates
arrived in Santiago April 13; at OSF Apr 18. Reassembly and Provisional
Acceptance on-Site (PAS) testing is scheduled for May 5-16 at the OSF.
Back End employees have been working to unpack and setup Antenna Article
#1 (AA1) and the Antenna Article Test Stand (AAT). PAS of AA1 and AAT is
scheduled to begin Monday 2008-04-21.
AOC: University of Bordeaux has confirmed that four new Digitizer Assemblies
can be shipped by May. Pipeline face to face meeting, and user test #5
report completed.
ATF: Quick look displays achieved at the ATF. First characterization of
the bandpass shape and repeatability using the evaluation FEs; numberous
tunings tested. Science testing and analysis in CASA fairly routine.
NTC (NRAO Technology Center): Nick Whyborn, OSF lead engineer, visited the
NTC April 9 - 18 to discuss the status of the OSF instrumentation work.
The East Asian Front End (FE) Integration Center (EA FEIC) managers,
Nagayoshi Ohashi and Ted Huang, visited the NTC April 15 - 18. European
FEIC personnel visit 15-24 April. At the NA FEIC, a nearly complete
second ALMA front end is mounted on the tilt table in the environmental
chamber. A third (SN#5) is partially assembled on the second tilt table;
training of EA and EU personnel on procedures using this unit will occur.
Computing IPT reports success with monitor/control of FE in Charlottesville.
EU: AEM Antenna #1 manufacturing: assembly and integration of steel
structure continuing. Acceptance of the first antenna now expected April
09 or thereafter. Provisional Acceptance of the first prototype robotic
arm for the amplitude calibration device was passed on 10 April. Further
integration of this Robotic Arm is progressing.
NAOJ: Assembly of the #1 Band 4 (2mm) Cartridge has been started.
ASIAA: PAS testing of Band 7 (.85 mm) Cartridge #3 and Band 9 (.65mm)
Cartride #3 completed at the East Asian Front End Integration Center
(EA FEIC).
NAASC: A Science Operations face-to-face meeting will occur in Santiago
15-16 May. Abstract submission for the Fall Workshop closes end of
April.
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
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS *************************
Apr 22-23 B5 (2mm) PDR Gothenburg
May 5 WVR review Gothenburg
May 5-6 ESO FC meeting Garching
May 5-9 Molecular Universe meeting Bordeaux
May 16 ALMA Board Telecon
May 21 ASAC Telecon
June 1-5 AAS Meeting St. Louis
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS *************************
*****************************ALSO OF INTEREST***************************
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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Proposals for observing time on the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory
on Mauna Kea for the semester 1st February-31st July 2008 should be sent
by 31st October 2007 to T. G. Phillips, Caltech 320-47, Pasadena, CA 91125.
For further information please refer to the CSO web site at
http://www.submm.caltech.edu/cso.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The deadline for proposals to use NRAO telescopes (GBT, VLA, VLBA) is
1700 EDT Friday, 1 October 2007.
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The Eleventh Synthesis Imaging Workshop will take place from June 10
through June 17 of 2008 in Socorro, NM. The school will comprise a week
of lectures on aperture synthesis theory and techniques at a level
appropriate for graduate students in astrophysics. Basic lectures on
synthesis imaging, and advanced lectures on more specialized techniques,
will be included. Practical tutorials demonstrating data collection,
calibration and imaging of both VLA and VLBA data will be given. There
will be a nominal registration fee, which will cover the cost of the
meeting and a copy of ASP Vol. 180, "Synthesis Imaging in Radio
Astronomy II", from the 1998 summer school. Please visit:
http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/events/synthesis/2008/
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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
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