[mmaimcal] FYI: 11 Jan 10 BIWEEKlY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO

[Alwyn Wootten]

Folks,

>From chat at the AAS meeting, I came to think that perhaps only putting an
ALMA article in the NRAO eNews was not reaching the same people as the
calendar did.  I have been putting the eNews articles on the website but
not broadcasting them; I'll try to do both in 2010.

Meanwhile--comments, corrections, criticisms or ?

Thanks!

Clear skies,
Al

                MONTHLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
                          11 January - 25 January 2010

******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT*************************
ALMA Capabilities Grow, Commissioning Period to Begin

ALMA Test Sharpens the Vision of New Observatory
See associated Press Release at URL:
http://www.nrao.edu/pr/2010/phaseclosure/

As 2009 drew to a close, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
(ALMA) passed a key milestone to cap a year that had begun with the first
detection of radio waves by a single antenna.  ALMA astronomers and
engineers worked together to successfully link three antennas at the
16500 ft Array Operations Site in northern Chile.  This first step on the
path the sensitive, precise, high-resolution imaging which will be an ALMA
hallmark demonstrates the success of the full electronic and software
system now being installed. The ALMA phase closure, as this test is
called, came as part of an ongoing series of tests beginning in late
November.  It was a key step to the beginning of the formal commissioning
 period, which leads to Early Science and, of course, completion of the
construction.

"This successful test shows that we are well on the way to providing
the clear, sharp ALMA images that will open a whole new window for
observing the Universe. We look forward to imaging stars and planets
as well as galaxies in their formation processes," said Fred Lo,
director of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which
leads North America's participation in the ALMA project.

At a recent review, it was decided that the commissioning period
will begin on 2010 Jan 22, coincidentally precisely one year from
the establishment of ‘first light.’  This intense period will
see the addition of the additional antennas already on-site.
Twenty-two antennas are in various stages of erection on the
site, five used by ALMA; additional antennas await their turn
in the queue.  The two antennas at the OSF will soon be linked
together in a rebirth of the test interferometer there;
testing of new software, new antennas and other new items
normally will proceed on this instrument while commissioning
tasks occupy the array at the AOS.

Recently, a software upgrade has been tested at the AOS array.
This upgrade will enable many new capabilities, such as phase
 correction using the WVRs and broadband spectroscopy.  In a
test of ephemeris capabilities, the interferometer recently
observed all four of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter.
Appropriately enough, the date of this observation was exactly
four hundred years after Galileo’s 11 Jan, 1610 discovery of
the these remarkable moons.
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On 16 Dec 2009, President Obama signed into law H. R. 3288, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010.   A Joint Explanatory
Statement provides the appropriators’ recommendations regarding the
NSF and ALMA. A selected Statement in House Report 111-366 provides
$42,760,000 for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA).  This
is the ninth consecutive year that Congress has funded ALMA
construction at the level requested by the President.
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Please see the current issue of the Joint ALMA Observatory Newsletter,
January 2010
http://www.almaobservatory.org/en/newsroom/newsletter/179-newsletter-4
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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/
NTC: Dr. Charles Cunningham from HIA has agreed to take over as the FEIC
 Leader with the previous lead transitioning into a technical support role.
Mr. Antonio Perfetto  will concentrate on resolving the outstanding
technical issues associated with FEIC test and measurement equipment,
and facilities.  Mr. Stefan Michalski will assume  responsibility for the
management of Front End sub-assembly production operations.

SCO: Nick Whyborn officially takes over the System Integration Lead
position from Joe McMullin effective 6 January 2010.  Construction on
the new building adjacent to ESO continues, with work on the second
story going on.
***************************************************************************
DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT/EST ) see
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
     Jan 18-21    ALMA Ops Plan Update Workshop II
     Jan 22       Beginning of Commissioning Phase of ALMA
     Mar 9-10     ALMA Science Advisory Committee f2f meeting
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS *************************
*****************************ALSO OF INTEREST***************************
NRAO Call for Proposals
The NRAO announces the Call for Proposals for observing from June through
October, roughly, for semester 10B.  The deadline for receipt of
proposals will be 5:00pm EST on 1 February 2010.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CARMA Call for Semester 2010B Observing Proposals
Deadline: 10 February 2010
Proposals should be submitted using the electronic form at
http://carma-prop.ncsa.uiuc.edu/proposals/ . A detailed description of
CARMA is available at http://www.mmarray.org . Questions may also be
addressed to Dr. Nikolaus Volgenau (volgenau @ mmarray.org).
The deadline for submitting proposals is 17:00 CST (23:00 UT) on 10
February 2010.
***************************************************************************
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