BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO 27 August 2007 - 10 Sept 2007 ******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT************************* Vertex Antenna No. 2 parts arrived in northern Chile; the pedestal came into port at the end of the biweek. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Proceedings of the First NAASC ALMA Workshop, From Z-Machines to ALMA: (Sub)Millimeter Spectroscopy of Galaxies, has been published as Volume number 375 of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series. A. Baker, J. Glenn, A. I. Harris, J. Mangum and Min S. Yun edited the volume. The focus of the Jan 2006 meeting was an important new category of instrument, the "z-machine", an ultrawide-bandwidth spectrometer optimized for the study of distant, dusty galaxies. In addition to detailed descriptions of four z-machines currently under development by different groups, and of the exciting spectroscopic capabilities ALMA will soon offer, this volume includes diverse perspectives on galaxy populations to be studied, spectral features to be targeted, methods to be used for data analysis, and connections to be forged with observational programs and technical efforts at other facilities and/or wavelengths. The 23 oral and 31 poster presentations represented here, along with audience discussion, come from a mixture of theorists, observers, and instrument-builders. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 *************************************************************************** General Happenings Photos of activity may be found at: http://www.alma.nrao.edu/almanews/almagallery/index.html Sky: Southern hemisphere days are growing longer by about a minute per day in the countdown to Spring; cherry blossoms adorn Santiago. # New Moon (exact at 8:44 a.m. EDT). A partial eclipse of the Sun happens for central and southern South America, including Santiago, early 11 Sept in celebration of Ade's birthday. Venus and Saturn are in the morning sky, Mercury in the evening sky. SCO (Santiago Central Office): ALMA Annual External Review commences at the end of the period. A lease has been signed for an annex to the current offices. Detailed design of the Santiago Central Office at Vitacura is under way. AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Excellent sky transparency closed out the period with PWV well below 1mm PWV. 95% design and engineering of AOS site layouts for antenna stations, roads, power and fiber optic received for review. Transporter hangar construction expected to begin next fortnight. OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): There are 473 people working at the ALMA site. Panels are under installation on Vertex antenna No 1; tier 2 and 3 are installed. Vertex antenna pedestal No 2 should arrive in port 2007 Sep 8. Panels are installed on Melco antenna No 1, pointing has been initiated. OSF technical facility construction continues; window panel placement is underway. ALMA Camp extension stages 3 and 4 in bidding process. Work continues on the AEM antenna lay down facilities, where five antenna pads will shortly be contracted. When complete the total number of antenna pads at the OSF will be 21. Holography System #1 was checked out at the OSF lab and is ready for installation. Transmitter will be installed in the tower in the coming fortnight, as will the weather station. ATF: AEC brake problem was resolved by Meadows, interface to VLA weather station re-established. Mangum and Emerson crafted a successful radiometric pointing model. Static fringes were re-established on Mercury by DuVall and Napier. The system included new backend components and the new 2-antenna correlator (which employs the tunable filter boards). AOC: Replacement CFRP section for damaged feed leg on Vx prototype arrived for installation. NTC (NRAO Technology Center): 330 CDR documents for the B6 (1.3mm) cartridge were completed and posted to EDM. Front End interfaces to Computing IPT software will be tested. Assembly of the second 2-antenna correlator has begun. NAASC: CASA beta testing proceeded in CV with generally positive report. Members of the NAASC traveled to Garching to attend the Science Operations IPT f2f meeting and participate in the ESO ALMA Community Days and Surveys with ALMA meetings. 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 Sun 26 Aug - Mon 27 Aug - 3:30PM: PSI/ATF telecon Tue 28 Aug - 10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon Wed 29 Aug - Thu 30 Aug - Fri 31 Aug - Sat 1 Sep - The Aurigid meteor shower made a strong showing on the morning of September 1st. The brief but intense peak occurred at roughly 11:15 Universal Time, within 15 minutes or so of the predicted maximum. These particles were shed by Comet Kiess (C/1911 N1) more than 2,000 years ago! A typical observer reported 1-2 dozen bright meteors per hour at peak. Sun 2 Sep - Mon 3 Sep - Labor Day Holiday US 10:32pm Last quarter moon Tue 4 Sep - 10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon 3:30PM: PSI/ATF telecon Wed 5 Sep - Thu 6 Sep - Fri 7 Sep - Sat 8 Sep - Sun 9 Sep - Mon 10 Sep - 8:30 AM - ALMA Annual External Review, Santiago 3:30PM: PSI/ATF telecon ****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS ************************* Sep 10-12 Ann. ALMA External Rev Santiago Sep 13 ALMA Board Telecon Sep 26 B3 CDR Victoria Oct 1-2 B6 CDR Cville Oct 28-31 ALMA Board Meeting Santiago&San Pedro Nov 1-2 AMAC Review Santiago Nov 6-9 Production Review Santiago ******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS ************************* *****************************ALSO OF INTEREST*************************** 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). Women and minority candidates are encouraged to apply. 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@cfa.harvard.edu. Online applications are due December 15, 2007. *************************************************************************** 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