[mmaimcal] FYI: May 2010 MONTHLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO

[Al Wootten]

Folks,

Comments, contributions or clarifications??

Clear skies,
Al

                 MONTHLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
                          May 2010

******************************** THIS MONTH*************************
ALMA Becomes a Handful

On 29 April Vertex antenna DV03 was moved to the Array Operations
Site (AOS) at 16500 ft elevation, bringing the array there briefly to
four antennas--one antenna was taken back down to the Operations Support
Facility for upgrades, and the array fell back to three.  In the third
week of May it returned to the AOS to be placed on pad J504 and on the
20th of May amplitude closure was achieved on the four antenna array.

On 31 May Vertex antenna DV05 arrived on pad T701, a location eventually
slated to support one of the Atacama Compact Array (ACA) 12m antennas.

   Astronomers and engineers soon succeeded in linking all five
antennas for commissioning activities.  The ten baselines available
between these antennas offer a marked improvement in ALMA’s imaging
ability; by Early Science about a year from now sixteen antennas
will provide 120 baselines and enable scientists to explore the
southern sky with unprecedented sensitivity and precision.  The
integration of the third quadrant of the 64-station correlator
continues at the Array Operations Site Technical Building nearby
the array.  Tests of the ACA correlator from NAOJ are also proceeding
at the AOS TB.

See a photo at http://science.nrao.edu/alma/index.shtml

Meanwhile at the 2900m Operations Support Facility (OSF) another
three antennas await their journey to high altitude.  DV07 finished
its holographic surface accuracy verification.  Meanwhile, the NRAO
Front End Integration Center in Charlottesville delivered a new Front
End component, the first to contain six receiver cartridges.  This
unit provides capability at wavelengths of 2mm and .6mm by
incorporating these cartridges, delivered to NRAO from NAOJ where
they are manufactured.  This Front End also passed through all of its
test at the cadence required for the ALMA construction schedule.

During June, commissioning continues.  One antenna is scheduled to
be moved to longer baselines for tests best performed in that
configuration.  Another antenna will move back to the OSF for
installation of some updated components.  It is expected that more
antennas will be accepted by ALMA from their contractor during the
month, moving from the contractor facility to the OSF for system
assembly, integration and verification there.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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:  Mars joins Regulus in Leo as Venus lights the Sunset.  Saturn
glows just to the west.  Comet C/2009 R1 (McNaught) will pass closest
to Earth on 15 June, on its way to solar rendezvous 2 July.  Look in
the northeast sky in Perseus before sunrise to see its 5th magnitude
  glow.  By perihelion it should be 2nd magnitude, though a difficult
  object in the solar glare for optical observers--it passes within 0.4
AU of the Sun on its first passage to the inner solar system before it
is flung back to deep space.  Radio observers should have few problems
observing the comet, the 54th discovered by McNaught; it returns to the
southern hemisphere where it was discovered in August.

AOS: Five antennas are at the AOS.  The second Mitsubishi antenna is
expected to arrive before long.

OSF: A seventh Vertex antenna is expected to arrive from the vendor
very soon.  The first erected European antenna has moved under power in
both axes.

NAASC: A "Preparing for ALMA" session was held as part of the 12th
  Synthesis Imaging Workshop in Socorro in June (see below). Over 150
students participated in the Workshop which included tutorials on
data reduction and on ancillary programs.  A number of end-to-end
user tests have been executed under the guidance of the JAO.  These
have included proposal submission, technical assessment, judgement
before a mock review committee, generation of observing instructions
('schedule blocks') for successful proposals and proposal tracking.

The Fifth NAASC Workshop will highlight transformational science
enabled by modern high resolution wideband spectroscopy.
'ALMA: Extending the Limits of Astrophysical Spectroscopy' will
be held Jan 15-17, 2011 in Victoria, B. C. after the 217th AAS
meeting 9-13 Jan 2011 in Seattle.  Watch for an announcement!
***************************************************************************
DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT/EST ) see
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar

      Jul 13-18    NAASC Operations Review                      Chile
      Aug          ALMA System Review III                         TBD
      Oct 7-8      CSV Status Update                            Chile
      Oct 11-12    SciOps Readiness Review                      Chile
      Oct 25-28    Annual ALMA External Review                  Chile
      Nov 10       Observatory Readiness Review                 Chile
      Nov 16-18    ALMA Board Meeting                           Chile
      Jun 8 - 15   12th Synthesis Imaging Workshop        Socorro, NM
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS *************************
*****************************ALSO OF INTEREST***************************
ATCA Deadline 15 June
Astronomers from Australia and overseas are invited to apply for
  observing time on Australia Telescope National Facility telescopes.
  Observing time is awarded by a Time Assignment Committee on the basis
  of the merits of the proposed research. Please note that the ATNF
  does not employ telescope operators and observers are required to be
  present for their observations.
Observing      Closing   Semester            TAC meeting
Semester  	Date
OCT (OCTS) 	Jun 15 	Oct 01 - Mar 31 	July
See: http://www.atnf.csiro.au/observers/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Call for Proposals for Basic Science observations with the 
Stratospheric
Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is now open. The deadline for
responding to the call is Friday, July 30, 2010.
The Basic Science program will consist of about 75 hours of on-sky
exposure with either the FORCAST mid-infrared camera or the GREAT
sub-millimeter heterodyne spectrometer. The observing time is
expected to take place during a 2-3 month interval within the
time frame of March 1 through August 31, 2011.
Documents needed to consider observational possibilities and constraints,
and to prepare and submit observing proposals, can be found at:
http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Science/proposals/basic_science
***************************************************************************
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