BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO 10 Sept 2007 - 24 Sept 2007 ******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT************************* The ALMA Annual External Review panel met in Santiago for a major project-wide review. While the report is not yet available, the panel provided an in-depth look at the project with a fresh viewpoint. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The assembly of Vertex Antenna #1 reflector at the OSF is complete. Focus now shifts to commissioning of servo system. Antenna #2 pedestal is at the port in Chile awaiting approval from Chilean police for transport to OSF. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 and northern hemisphere days are about equal in length as the 23 Sept equinox draws near. Mars looms high in the morning sky, attracting the attention of ALMA prototype antennas. Jupiter does the same in the evening sky. C/2006 VZ13 (LINEAR) is now a southern hemisphere comet, fading beneath 9th magnitude, invisible to optical telescopes in the solar glare (a problem ALMA will not have). C/2007 F1 (LONEOS) is approaching the Sun, expected to reach naked eye visibility by Halloween (0.4AU from the Sun). SCO (Santiago Central Office): An ALMA Annual External Review took place in Santiago, as mentioned above. AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Excellent sky transparency closed out the period with PWV below 0.4mm PWV. OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): There are 490 people working at the ALMA site. A sixth antenna pad is scheduled to be installed in the Vertex SEF area, close to the Holography pad. The OSF weather station was installed, with sensors on the holography tower now operational. ATF: Radiometric pointing and computing tests continued. An initial test was made to evaluate correlation efficiency using static fringes on the planet Mercury in conjunction with antenna tipping curves to provide calibration of the atmosphere. AOC: Stephan Nuttall and Juan Salazar joined the backend group. NTC (NRAO Technology Center): Critical Design Review was held in Victoria for B3 (3mm) and will be held in Charlottesville at the beginning of October. Measurements of the FE assembly test station mechanical stability were made. The Computing IPT successfully communicated with a completed FE assembly. Mechanical and electrical assembly of Holography Receiver #2 continued. Assembly for the 2nd Quadrant of the correlator is nearly complete; its last tunable filter board card complement is in hand. NAASC: 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 9 Sep - Mon 10 Sep - All day: ALMA Annual External Review, Santiago 3:30PM: PSI/ATF telecon Cassini Iapetus flyby: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/events/iapetus/index.cfm Tue 11 Sep - All day: ALMA Annual External Review, Santiago 8:44AM: New moon; partial solar eclipse in Santiago Wed 12 Sep - All day: ALMA Annual External Review, Santiago Thu 13 Sep - Fri 14 Sep - Sat 15 Sep - Astronomy Day! Sun 16 Sep - Mon 17 Sep - Holiday Chile 4:00PM: ATF telecon Tue 18 Sep - Holiday Chile (Independence Day) 10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon Wed 19 Sep - Holiday Chile (Army Day) All Day: ESAC meeting, Garching 10:30AM: Science IPT telecon Thu 20 Sep - Requirements Review for the WVR Fri 21 Sep - Sat 22 Sep - Sun 23 Sep - 5:51AM: Equinox! Spring begins for ALMA. Mon 24 Sep - 4:00PM: 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*************************** The deadline for proposals to use NRAO telescopes (GBT, VLA, VLBA) is 1700 EDT Monday, 1 Oct 2007. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, including execution of a science research program. 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). 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