BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO 11 September 2006 - 25 September 2006 ******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT**************************** The Deadline for payment for attendance at 'Science with ALMA: A new Era for Astrophysics' November 13-17 in Madrid is Friday September 15th. Please see: http://www.oan.es/alma2006/calendar.shtml http://www.oan.es/alma2006/registration_fee.shtml ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), meeting in Prague (Czech Republic), has elected the ESO Director General, Dr. Catherine Cesarsky, as President for a three-year period (2006-2009). Dr. Cesarsky is the first woman to receive this high distinction. At the same General Assembly, Dr. Ian Corbett, ESO's Deputy Director General, was elected Assistant General Secretary for 2006-2009, with the expectation of becoming General Secretary in 2009-2012. ESO Director General Cesarsky heads the European ALMA Executive. Congratulations to Dr. Cesarsky and to Dr. Corbett on this election. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Sky: Jupiter slowly heads for the Sun during these late summer evenings. Uranus lies at opposition. Pluto has been banished--without fanfare, the September 7th batch of circulars from the Minor Planet Center assigns number 134340 to Pluto. If you're keen, it can be spotted these evenings at magnitude 13.9 near Xi Serpentis. Santiago: Al Wootten will take over as current JAO interim Project Scientist. Preparations for approaching significant reviews (Vertex/AEM P2DRs, Transporter FDR, ACA Correlator) AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Completion of design and engineering of the changed AOS antenna station layout, interconnecting road system and power and Fiber Optics distribution. The architectural finishes, mechanical and electrical installations work for the AOS TB is ongoing. OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): VVMO started excavation works at the OSF and has scheduled to complete those by mid of October. Site preparations for the Holography Tower and AIV building constructions. Currently there are approximately 166 persons working at the site of which approximately 140 uses the ALMA and Contractor’s lodging facilities. NAASC: Martin Mundnich has arrived in Charlottesville with his family and will start on Monday, September 11, 2006. NTC: One transmitter and one receiver were shipped to Socorro and have been received there. First 10 pre-production photomixers for Photonic LO have been received in C’Ville. Band 7 CDR panel report was prepared and released by System Engineering IPT. AOC: Design of the second generation on-axis fiber optic cable wrap is being reviewed. Walsh function phase switching was inserted at the 1st LO and removed at the DTS formatter. Spurious signals in the IF signal path were removed as expected. This successful demonstration completes one of the steps necessary for moving to the ATF. ATF: Holography software installed at the ATF. Holography to occur on VertexRSI antenna, which can be moved. *************************************************************************** DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT ) see https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar Mon 11 Sep - Patriot's Day, US Tue 12 Sep 10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon 4:00 PM-5:00 PM: NAScienceIPT teleconference Wed 13 Sep Thu 14 Sep 11:00 AM: Astrochemistry Discussion Group, UVa. A. Markwick-Kemper: Depletion of molecules in pre-protostellar cores 21:30 UT: Board telecon Fri 15 Sep Deadline for payment for attendance at 'Science with ALMA: A new Era for Astrophysics' November 13-17 in Madrid Sat 16 Sep All Day: ASAC Meeting, Florence Sun 17 Sep All Day: ASAC Meeting, Florence Mon 18 Sep - Holiday Chile: Independence Day Holiday Japan: Respect for the Aged Day All day: Alain Baudry visiting Charlottesville this week. Tue 19 Sep - Holiday Chile: Post-Independence Day Wed 20 Sep 10:30 AM: Science IPT Telecon Thu 21 Sep Fri 22 Sep - New Moon (Annular solar eclipse) The track of the Moon's antumbral shadow begins in northern South America and crosses the South Atlantic with no further landfall. A partial eclipse will be seen from a much larger region including South America, the eastern Caribbean, western Africa, and Antarctica. From Santiago, the eclipse, of magnitude 0.15, begins before sunrise, is maximal at 10:46 (with the solar elevation 2 degrees) and ends at 11:25. From the ALMA site, maximum magnitude is about twice as much. Sat 23 Sep - Holiday Japan: Autumnal Equinox Day 12:03 AM: Autumnal Equinox (Vernal in Chile). 07:00 pm: Dave Matthews Band, Charlottesville JPJ Arena Sun 24 Sep Mon 25 Sep All day: Alain Baudry visiting AOC this week. ****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS **************************** Sept 27-29 Vertex RSI PPDReview Essen Sept 29-30 all day ANASAC face-to-face CV Oct 9 Move of PSI to ATF Oct 8 - 11 all day WVR Workshop Wettzell, Bavaria November 8-10 all day ALMA Board Meeting Madrid Nov 13-16 all day Science with ALMA: a new era for Astrophysics Madrid ******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS **************************** Evaluation of the ALMA Prototype Antennas Authors: Jeffrey G. Mangum, Jacob W. M. Baars, Albert Greve, Robert Lucas, Ralph C. Snel, Patrick Wallace, Mark Holdaway The ALMA North American and European prototype antennas have been evaluated by a variety of measurement systems to quantify the major performance specifications. Nearfield holography was used to set the reflector surfaces to 17 microns RMS. Pointing and fast switching performance was determined with an optical telescope and by millimeter wavelength radiometry, yielding 2 arcsec absolute and 0.6 arcsec offset pointing accuracies. Path length stability was measured to be less than or approximately equal to 20 microns over 10 minute time periods using optical measurement devices. Dynamical performance was studied with a set of accelerometers, providing data on wind induced tracking errors and structural deformation. Considering all measurements made during this evaluation, both prototype antennas meet the major ALMA antenna performance specifications. To appear in PASP September 2006 issue Available on astro-ph as number 0609329 ******************************ALSO OF INTEREST***************************** ALMA PROJECT SCIENTIST The ALMA Project Scientist is responsible for ensuring that ALMA is constructed and commissioned in such a manner as to meet the scientific requirements of the ALMA Agreement. As a Key Staff Member of the JAO, the Project Scientist will contribute to decision making, overall policy development and strategic planning. The Project Scientist reports directly to the ALMA Director and interacts closely with the Project Manager and Project Engineer. Please see: http://www.nrao.edu/administration/personnel_office/careers.shtml#CL0005 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- CARMA (Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy) FIRST CALL FOR PROPOSALS Deadline: 14 October 2006 Proposals for observations using CARMA at 3 mm in the C and D configurations (beamsizes 1.8 and 4 arcseconds respectively) during the period 1 January to 30 June 2007 are due on 14 October 2006. CARMA is the merger of the Owens Valley Radio Observatory millimeter array and the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association array, and comprises 15 antennas on a 2200m elevation site, Cedar Flat, in the Inyo Mountains of California. CARMA is operated by the Universities of California (Berkeley), Illinois, and Maryland, and the California Institute of Technology, under a cooperative agreement with the University Radio Observatory program of the National Science Foundation. Approximately 30% of the observing time will be awarded to PIs outside the partner universities. Proposals should be submitted using the electronic form at http://carma.astro.uiuc.edu/proposals/ before 17:00 CDT 14 October, 2006. Detailed information, including sensitivities and proposal submission instructions, may be found at the CARMA website, http://www.mmarray.org. Questions may also be addressed to Dr. Douglas Bock (dbock@mmarray.org). There will in the future be twice yearly calls for 1 and 3 mm in all antenna configurations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jansky Fellowship The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) announces the 2007 postdoctoral Jansky Fellowship program that provides outstanding opportunities for research in astronomy. The Jansky Fellows formulate and carry out investigations either independently or in collaboration with others within the wide framework of interests of the Observatory. Prior radio experience is not required and multi-wavelength projects leading to a synergy with NRAO instruments are encouraged. The NRAO also encourages applications from candidates with interest in radio astronomy instrumentation, computation, and theory. Please see: http://www.nrao.edu/administration/directors_office/jansky-postdocs.shtml ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ESO has an opening for European ALMA Project Scientist. Please see: http://www.eso.org/gen-fac/adm/pers/vacant/alma_project_scientist_2006.html University of Cambridge ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Research Associate position in Department of Physics University of Cambridge Radiometric Phase Correction for ALMA Closing date: 30 September 2006 Limit of tenure: 31 December 2010 The Astrophysics Group of the Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, invites applications for a postdoctoral research associate to work on radiometric phase correction techniques, algorithms and software development for ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimetre Array. The Group conducts a broad programme of astrophysics research involving instrumentation, observation, theory and modelling. This post is funded by the European Union Framework 6 programme and ESO to further the groupís leading role in the development of phase correction techniques for ALMA. The work will involve analysis of existing test data from our 183GHz radiometers, development of novel algorithms for optimal phase correction, and implementation of these algorithms within the ALMA software system. In addition, the postholder may assist with the specification and commissioning of the ALMA meteorological instruments required to support the radiometer system. The appointment will be on the Research Associate scale (currently £23,457 - £30,607 per annum) at a level determined by skills and experience. Expenses for travel associated with the project are provided. The position is available immediately, and we hope the successful applicant will be able to start in the very near future. Further information may be obtained from: Mrs Karen Scrivener, Astrophysics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, J J Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, tel: (01223) 337294 (karen@mrao.cam.ac.uk). Informal enquiries may be made to Dr John Richer (jsr@mrao.cam.ac.uk). Applications should contain a full CV and list of publications, together with the names and contact details of two referees, a brief summary of research interests, and a completed copy of the PD18 Cover Sheet (parts I and III only), available from http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/personnel/forms/pd18/ The University is committed to equality of opportunity. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asian Radio Astronomy Winter School Second Circular Asian Radio Astronomy Winter School January 22-26, 2007 National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan Registration is open for the Asian Radio Astronomy Winter School. Please visit the on-line registration page on our web site (http://vsop.mtk.nao.ac.jp/RAWS2007/), and fill out all items in the registration form. The deadline for registration *with financial support* is October 6, 2006. The final deadline for registration is November 3, 2006. *************************************************************************** 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