BIWEEKY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO 14 July 2009 - 28 July 2009 ******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT************************* Early ALMA Interferometry Continues Please see: http://www.nrao.edu/news/newsletters/enews/enews_2_7/enews_2_7.shtml#alma Interferometry at the Operations Support Facility (OSF) with the first two antennas on their 69.7m baseline continued under the guidance of Joint ALMA Office (JAO) personnel after the first dynamic fringes were obtained. Fringes were demonstrated at 1.3mm during the period as instrumental and software tests continued. A second single baseline correlator, previously used at the Antenna Test Facility on the NRAO VLA site in New Mexico, was updated and delivered to the OSF from the NRAO Central Development Laboratory as preparations there were made to ship the second quadrant of the 64 antenna correlator. The first of the water vapor radiometers delivered by ESO was deployed for atmospheric water vapor measurements through a window in one of the buildings. Measurement of 0.75 mm of precipitable water vapor on 4 July over the 2900m elevation site suggested observations could be made for the first time in the deep submillimeter Band 9 (0.45 mm). A beam profile of Jupiter was made with both of the first two antennas. Some astronomical validation tests have now been achieved at the OSF with all four bands installed in the dewar. Total power tests of the third, most recently accepted antenna continued and a third front end dewar was installed for radiometric tests. As this is the first austral winter available for antenna testing, advantage was taken of the cooler night temperatures to investigate surface performance of antennas still in the contractor camps; the next of the twelve antennas in those camps at the site are scheduled to be accepted during August. Preparations for operations at the 5000m Array Operations Site (AOS) continue. At the NRAO CDL in Charlottesville the first element of the critical Central Local Oscillator (LO) system passed its tests and was shipped to the AOS for installation. Providing reference signals to sixteen antennas, this system is key to multi-antenna interferometry. With 86 foundations now past provisional acceptance at the AOS the critical electrical and fiber optic cable connections from those pads to the AOS Technical Building (TB) have begun. Station 106, near that building, will receive its first antenna for tests soon and is the first to have been connected to the TB. In Santiago, the JAO has been spread over several buildings, and a lease will soon expire on one. Accordingly, the effort to provide a permanent home adjacent to the ESO offices in nearby Vitacura has proceeded, led by ESO. Preparatory work--the resiting of eleven mature trees elsewhere on the property--has been completed. Early in July, excavation work began for the Santiago Central Office building to house the JAO. The building will include almost 7000 square meters of space on two floors, with underground parking for 130 vehicles. This additional parking allows some surface parking to be restored to green space. Construction is expected to last several years. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Thirty Meter Telescope Project has selected Mauna Kea as the site for this gargantuan optical telescope. Superior weather and political support over a competing Chilean site, 3064m elevation Cerro Armazones, (40 km E of Paranal) were cited as important elements in the choice. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The upcoming "Assembly, Gas Content and Star Formation History of Galaxies" conference has over 200 pre-registrants, Note that preregistration is merely an expression of interest. To attend you must actually register at http://www.nrao.edu/meetings/galaxies09/registration.shtml Registration for scientific presentations (oral or posters) will continue until August 7, after which (space permitting) general registration will be open. Late registration (space permitting) will start on August 21, with a significantly higher registration fee. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: Venus is rising with Orion while Mars and Aldebaran precede it in the morning sky. Jupiter is near opposition, in Capricorn and in fact occulting the 6th magnitude star 45 Cap on Aug 3 as seen from Europe or North America. From South America or Europe a faint penumbral eclipse of the moon may be perceived around a midtime 0f 0:39 August 6th UT. A calendar of NAASC events may be found at: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/alma_calendar.shtml *************************************************************************** DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT/EST ) see https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar ****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS ************************* Jul 15-17 NSF ALMA North America Schedule Review Jul 21-23 Expanded Management IPT meeting, Garching Jul 30 ALMA Board Telecon Sep 2-3 CSV Review, Santiago Sep 21-25 Assembly, Gas Content & Star Formation History of Galaxies Sep 28-30 IRAM 30th Oct 4 Spectral Line workshop, Koln Nov 11-12 ALMA Board face-to-face meeting, Santiago Nov 16- Annual ALMA External Review, Santiago ******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS ************************* *****************************ALSO OF INTEREST*************************** The deadline for submission of observing proposals on IRAM telescopes, both the interferometer and the 30m, is 17 September 2009, 17:00 CEST (UT + 2 hours). The scheduling period extends from 1 Dec 2009 - 31 May 2010. Proposals should be submitted through our web-based submission facility by following the links from our new website http://www.iram-institute.org to Science users and then Proposals. This page also gives links to the proposal templates and to detailed information on time estimates, special observing modes, technical information and references for both the IRAM interferometer and the IRAM 30m telescope. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * Nobeyama 45-m telescope call for proposals * Deadlines: General program (1st): 2009-09-01 (Tue) 6:00UT scheduled during Jan to Mar 2010 General program (2nd): 2009-12-10 (Thu) 6:00UT scheduled during Mar to May 2010 Short program (<20 hr): 2009-12-22 (Tue) 6:00UT scheduled during Mar to Apr 2010 Details will soon be posted at: http://www.nro.nao.ac.jp/~nro45mrt/prop/index-e.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