[mmaimcal] FYI: 6-20 Apr BIWEEKY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
Al Wootten
awootten at nrao.edu
Thu Apr 16 17:20:31 EDT 2009
Folks:
Comments, contributions corrections or castigation?
Clear skies,
Al
BIWEEKY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
6 Apr - 20 Apr 2009
******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT*************************
In total power mode, the first spectra and on-the-fly images, of the
Orion SiO maser, were made using full ALMA systems in Chile at the OSF.
First fringes, on the holography tower transmitter at 104 GHz, were seen
from the OSF on the Vertex/Melco antenna duo operating at the OSF.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
20th Intl Symp. on Space THz Technology, Charlottesville
The International Symposium on Space Terahertz Technology (ISSTT) has
been held every year since 1990. The ISSTT was previously held in
Charlottesville in 1996 and 1999. Next week, it returns during
Historic Garden Week (vagardenweek.org). Only
Pasadena has hosted the meeting more times than Charlottesville.
http://www.nrao.edu/meetings/ISSTT2009/
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Past issues of this Calendar may be viewed at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
***************************************************************************
General Happenings
Photos of activity may be found at NRAO eNews:
http://www.nrao.edu/news/newsletters/
Sky: Comet Lulin lies at Gemini's feet but you'll need binoculars to
find it at 9th magnitude. Saturn does duty as Leo the Lion's navel,
overhead much of the night. Its rings are nearly edge on, which makes
finding its moons, which lie in the ring plane, fairly easy. For
instance, on 16 April Titan will lie four ring lengths west of the big
planet, the furthest it can get. The Moon occults (covers) Antares for
parts of New Mexico during daytime Monday morning Apr 12th.
SCO (Santiago Central Office): The ESO Finance Committee has approved a
contract for construction of the Santiago Central Office Building, to be
located at Vitacura near ESO. A kickoff meeting was held on 2009 Apr 2.
AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): To date, 85 foundation have
received structural concrete. 26 foundations have passed provisional
acceptance. The 22 foundations for ACA antennas have structural
concrete; earth fill and rock anchor installation is proceeding.
OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): Recievers were locked to
spectral lines in each of the four installed bands: (Band 3: SiO J=2-1
(v=0), Band 6: CO J=2-1, Band 7: CO J=3-2, Band 9: CO J=6-5); SiO line
observationswere made. The Call for Tender for power
supplied by an overhead transmission line from Calama has been delared
failed. An island mode liquid gas generator system similar to that used
at the VLT is the currently favored design. Elements of the backup
structure, the cabin, and the reflector for the AEM antenna have arrived
at the AEM erection facility. Elements of the backup structure for a
second antenna also arrived 13 April. The steel support for the antenna
should arrive very soon. New foundations (one at the AEM facility and
two at the Melco facility) are being tendered. The new pad, No. 7 at
the Vertex site erection facility, is ready for use. There are two
accepted ALMA antennas, three Melco antennas awaiting acceptance and
nine Vertex antennas in various stages of erection on the site.
Acceptance of the second Vertex antenna is scheduled for the end of
April. Thus the total number of antennas which are partially or wholly
assembled on the site is 13; a fourteenth, the first AEM antenna, will
be assembled shortly. Holography runs are planned for Melco No 2 with
the ALMA-J holography receiver for May. The first Engineering
Model FE assembly from the European FEIC arrived safely at the OSF on 2
April 2009. FE Water Vapour Radiometer: WVR #102 passed successfully
PAS on 2 April 2009 (AIV System Integration Lead commented that this was
probably the first unconditionally accepted unit by the Observatory).
Installed in the Vertex antenna, it achieved first light but has been
moved to the AIV lab for further testing. WVR #103 was delivered to ESO
in Garching for software work. Amplitude Calibration Devices No 3 and
No 4 passed provisional acceptance In-House (PAI) and will be shipped to
the OSF. A working group has been formed to establish the location,
functional requirements and architectural form of a Residence for the OSF.
NTC: The almost continuous flow of front end parts into and out
of the NTC continues. Operational Readiness Review meeting to be held
16-17 April for the NA FEIC.
NAASC: The “white paper” on ALMA Development for the US decadal
review was submitted; it is available at the NRAO website. Instrumental
White Papers on high frequency receivers, radio phase correction and
array receivers were also submitted. A SciOps meeting ws held in Garching.
Elsewhere: ALMA-ELT synergies workshop took place in Garching. Science
data converter (filler) to the ASAP format (ASAP: single dish reduction
tool on CASA) for the existing telescopes (NRO 45m, ASTE, and APEX) has
been developed in collaboration with both the NRO group in Japan and
APEX group in Max Planck in Germany. APEX data taken in several
observation modes have been successfully calibrated and filled in the
ASAP format. Some ASDM data is also handled by the pipeline.
A calendar of NAASC events may be found at:
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/alma_calendar.shtml
***************************************************************************
DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT/EST ) see
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS *************************
Apr 15-16 NA FEIC Operational Readiness Review (Charlottesville)
Apr 20-22 20th Intl Symp. on Space THz Technology,Charlottesville
May 6 Herschel launch
Jun 1-2 Ops software requirements review, Santiago
Jun 8-12 mm and submm Astronomy at High Angular Resolution,ASIAA
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS *************************
ALMA Memo # 587:Inference of Coefficients for Use in Phase Correction I
Author: B. Nikolic
We present a Bayesian approach to calculating the coefficients that
convert the outputs of ALMA 183 GHz water-vapour radiometers into
estimates of path fluctuations which can then be used to correct the
observed interferometric visibilities. The key features of the approach
are a simple, thin-layer, three-parameter model of the atmosphere; using
the absolute measurements from the radiometers to constrain the model;
priors to incorporate physical constraints and ancillary information;
and a Markov Chain Monte Carlo characterisation of the posterior
distribution including full distributions for the phase correction
coefficients. The outcomes of the procedure are therefore estimates of
the coefficients and their confidence intervals. We illustrate the
technique with simulations showing some degeneracies that can arise and
the importance of priors in tackling them.We then apply the technique to
an hour-long test observation at the Sub-Millimetre Array and find that
the technique is stable and that, in this case, its performance is close
to optimal. The modelling is described in detail in the appendices and
all of the implementation source code is made publicly available under
the GPL.
View a pdf version of ALMA Memo #587 at:
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma587/memo587.pdf
*****************************ALSO OF INTEREST***************************
Several ALMA positions are available at the JAO (Santigo).
Details for all positions may be found through:
http://www.alma.cl
or
http://www.nrao.edu/admin/hr/careers-old.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a special ATNF call for proposals for the Australia Telescope
Compact Array (ATCA) for the 2009 JULS. This semester is for ATCA
proposals ***ONLY***. The CLOSING DATE for ATCA applications for 2009
JULS is 15 May 2009. Applications must arrive no later than midnight,
Australian Eastern Standard Time (equivalent to 14:00 UT).
All applications must be submitted using OPAL. See
http://opal.atnf.csiro.au.
The 2009 JULS will run for a 10-week period from 15 July until 30
September 2009. We expect that three CABB observing modes will be
available by September 2009, including a high resolution zoom mode
that is available for the first time. For the latest information it is
essential to read the CABB documentation on the ATNF web pages.
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/observers/apply/avail.html
ATCA proposals not completely scheduled in the 2009 APRS semester that
require further observing time should be resubmitted for consideration
in the 2009 JULS semester.
Please note that because of the need for local knowledge in using the
new CABB systems, remote observing is expected to be restricted.
A further announcement will be made in mid-May 2009 for the 2009 OCTS.
This will be a standard six-month semester and applications will be
invited for all ATNF facilities.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
***************************************************************************
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
More information about the mmaimcal
mailing list