BIWEEKY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO 16 Jun - 30 Jun 2009 ******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT************************* Dynamic Fringes Achieved at the Operations Support Facility Please see: http://www.nrao.edu/news/newsletters/enews/enews_2_6/enews_2_6.shtml#alma The first two ALMA antennas were pointed at an astronomical source, Mars, on April 30 and 'static' fringes were observed, i.e., software did not control or follow the changes in the fringes as the source followed its diurnal path. Updated ALMA software (v6.1) has now been installed, and on June 12 'dynamic' fringes were obtained, for which computations are continually updated to drive the electronics and track the changes in the fringes as the source treks across the sky. The spectral lines from the silicon monoxide (SiO) maser in the heart of the Orion Molecular Cloud were observed at 86 GHz by a team that included Jeff Kern, Robert Lucas, and Lewis Knee. See Figures at link above. The two spectra differ because of the lack of calibration and because of intrinsic source structure. The interferometer is more sensitive to small-scale structure, and measuring these differences on many scales (baselines) leads to a high-resolution image of the source. In this case, the primary beamwidth of the 12m antenna is 72 arcsec, and the scales to which the interferometer is sensitive include those shorter than the baseline measured in wavelengths (3.5mm), or ~ 8 arcsec. Meanwhile, the surface of the Vertex antenna accepted in April was set to well within specifications. This antenna has also undergone rigorous pointing tests and been equipped with an ALMA Front End received from the European Front End Integration Center at Rutherford Appleton Labs, a Back End from the NRAO Science Operations Center in Socorro, and other equipment. Radiometric measurements will be conducted soon. ALMA equipment continues to be delivered to northern Chile. Vertex antenna No. 10 arrived in May and will be erected over the coming months. Figure 3 (link above) shows the exchange of two antennas at the Operations Support Facility using the two ALMA Transporters. Each loaded vehicle weighs about one-third million pounds. Water Vapor Radiometers are also arriving, and the fourth has now gone through acceptance. The second Test Correlator, the device used at the ALMA Test Facility in New Mexico, will arrive soon. At the high elevation Array Operations Site, the antenna foundation nearest to the Technical Building is receiving its electrical power and optical fiber connections in preparation for the arrival of the first antenna. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: 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 ************************* May 18-19 EU-Front End Integration Center meeting, RAL May 26-29 Advancing Chemical Understanding thru Astronomical Observations Jun 1-2 Ops software requirements review, Santiago Jun 8-12 mm and submm Astronomy at High Angular Resolution, ASIAA Jun 11-12 Front End Service Vehicle PDR, Taichung, Taiwan Jun 17 Correlator Quadrant 2 Provisional Acceptance In-house (PAI) Jun 22-25 Band 4 and 8 FE CDR & PAI Tokyo Sep 2-3 CSV Review, Santiago Sep 21-25 Assembly, Gas Content and 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*************************** CALL FOR OBSERVING PROPOSALS FOR NRAO TELESCOPES Deadline: 1 June 2009, 5:00 P.M., EST (21:00 UTC) Proposal preparation and submission are via the Proposal Submission Tool at http://my.nrao.edu. Several modifications to the PST have been made and will be in place starting 12:00 EDT (noon) Friday, 15 May 2009. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CALL FOR OBSERVING PROPOSALS FOR THE CALTECH SUBMILLIMETER OBSERVATORY The Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) encourages observing participation by astronomers from both U.S. and non-U.S. institutions. The observatory consists of a 10.4 m diameter telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Receivers are available from 200 to 400 GHz with noise temperatures of about 100 K (DSB) and, from 400 to 730 GHz at about 200 K (DSB). A receiver is available from 780 – 920 GHz with a noise temperature of about 250 K. AOS back-ends of about 1000 channels are available with 1 GHz and 50 MHz bandwidths. A new FFTS spectrometer with 8192 channels and a selectable bandwidth of 1 GHz or 500 MHz is also available. For further information please refer to the CSO web site at http://www.submm.caltech.edu/cso. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a special ATNF call for proposals for the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) for the 2009 JULS. This semester is for ATCA proposals ***ONLY***. The CLOSING DATE for ATCA applications for 2009 JULS is 15 May 2009. Applications must arrive no later than midnight, Australian Eastern Standard Time (equivalent to 14:00 UT). All applications must be submitted using OPAL. See http://opal.atnf.csiro.au. The 2009 JULS will run for a 10-week period from 15 July until 30 September 2009. We expect that three CABB observing modes will be available by September 2009, including a high resolution zoom mode that is available for the first time. For the latest information it is essential to read the CABB documentation on the ATNF web pages. http://www.atnf.csiro.au/observers/apply/avail.html ATCA proposals not completely scheduled in the 2009 APRS semester that require further observing time should be resubmitted for consideration in the 2009 JULS semester. Please note that because of the need for local knowledge in using the new CABB systems, remote observing is expected to be restricted. A further announcement will be made in mid-May 2009 for the 2009 OCTS. This will be a standard six-month semester and applications will be invited for all ATNF facilities. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** 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