BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO 11 Feb - 25 Feb 2008 ******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT************************* "Most of the photons in the Universe are in the wavelength range that ALMA will receive, and ALMA will give us our first high-resolution views at these wavelengths. This will be a tremendous advancement for astronomy and open one of our science's last frontiers," Anneila Sargent, a Caltech professor and ALMA Board member, told the American Association for the Advancement of Science at its meeting in Boston, Mass in a session on Large-Scale International Collaborations and the Future of Physics held 15 Feb. A new 15-minute video overview of ALMA science and technology also debuted at the meeting; it will be available soon on the NRAO website. --------------------------------------------------------------------- On 2008 February 21 the Science and Technology Facility Council's UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh shipped its biggest and most complex ever instrument. The giant camera known as SCUBA-2 will be transported to the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) on top of a 14,000 foot mountain in Hawaii where it is expected to make major discoveries related to the origins of galaxies, stars and planets. ALMA will provide higher sensitivity, higher resolution images of objects which appear only as fuzzy blobs in SCUBA-2 images. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: A Total Eclipse of the Moon occurred SCO: A Call for Tender for securing power from the Chilean grid for ALMA was released. AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Preliminary antenna foundation works continue. The ASAC visited the site and the OSF. OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): Antenna foundations have been built at the AEM antenna contractor laydown area. An Optical Pointing Telescope was installed on ACA 12m antenna No 2 and a pointing model established. Main reflector panels being installed on ACA 12m antenna No 4. AOC/ATF: Performance of the receivers was improved; observations over the 4-12 GHz IF enabled observations to be made of the Orion SiO maser with the Vertex antenna; issues remain with the other receiver. The remaining Optical Pointing Telescope was shipped to the OSF. NTC (NRAO Technology Center): Provisional acceptance In-house (PAI) for Band 6 (1.3mm) cartridge SN004 was held on 30 Jan 2008 and it will ship to the East Asian Front End Integration Center (EA FEIC) in Taiwan Feb 19. Construction of the second holography receiver will begin 25 Feb. PAI for the 2-antenna correlator destined for the OSF was held Jan 31. The correlator left the lab to be packaged for shipping Feb 1 and is scheduled for shipping from Richmond to Chile on Feb 11. ASIAA: Outfitting of the EA FEIC continues. 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 This feature is being discontinued, based on feedback. Only important dates will be featured in the future. ****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS ************************* Feb 18-23 IAU Symp 251: Organic Chemistry in Space Hong Kong Feb 26-7 Band 10 PDR Mitaka Mar 14 ANASAC Telecon -- Mar 26-9 The Cosmic Agitator - B Fields in the Galaxy U. Ky ******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS ************************* Memo # 575 has been approved and posted. Title: Flux Concentration During Solar Observation For Alma Antennas Authors: Fred Schwab and Jingquan Cheng Abstract: This memo describes the calculation of the incident heat flux on the subreflector surface of an ALMA antenna when the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of the main reflector panels is known. Theory and related formulae are provided for the calculation. A convolutional approach is used in this memo. When the FWHM of the bidirectional scattering distribution function (BSDF) of the primary panel surface is large, the flux on the subreflector during solar observation is relatively small. The memo provides the flux numbers and the flux intensity on the subreflector. View a pdf version of ALMA Memo #575: http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma575/memo575.pdf *****************************ALSO OF INTEREST*************************** The Allen Telescope Array is accepting proposals from the general user community for the second half of 2008. Proposals are due April 18, 2008 at 5pm PDT. A full set of instrument parameters and proposal forms is available at http://ral.berkeley.edu/ata/Proposal/Proposals.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The deadline for submission of observing proposals on IRAM telescopes, both the interferometer and the 30m, is 13 March 2008, 17:00 MET (UT + 1 hour). The scheduling period extends from 1 June 2008 to 30 November 2008. Proposals should be submitted through our web-based submission facility. Instructions can be found on our web page at URL: http://www.iram.fr/GENERAL/submission/submission.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CARMA Call for Proposals. Proposals for observations using CARMA during the period 1 July to 31 December 2008 are due on 13 March 2008. CARMA comprises 15 antennas operating at 1mm and 3mm on a 2200m elevation site, Cedar Flat, in the Inyo Mountains of California. Proposals will be accepted for the B, C, D, and E antenna configurations. These configurations have resolution 0.35", 0.8", 2", 5" at 230 GHz. http://www.mmarray.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SMA Call for Proposals. Following the direction of the SMA steering committee, the CfA SMA Time Allocation Committee (TAC) solicits proposals for observations in the 230, 345, 400, and 690 GHz bands for the period 2008 May 16 - 2008 Nov 15. The deadline for submitting proposals is 2008 March 13 (16:00 EDT = 10:00 HST). In addition, large (legacy) proposals must be preceded by a brief "Notice of Intent" by 2008 March 6, 15:00 EST. http://sma1.sma.hawaii.edu/call.html *************************************************************************** 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