BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO 19 November 2007 - 3 December 2007 ******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT************************* On 2007 Nov 30 a milestone was reached at the ALMA Test Facility. Interferomety under control of ALMA software was improved to the point that interferometric determination of the baseline between the two antennas and pointing will become possible. Kudos to the correlator team J. Pisano, R. Amestica, J. Perez, and D. Guo and to J. Kern, R. Hills, A. Peck, D. Emerson, A. Hales, J. Meadows and R. Ridgeway for their efforts on the hardware, the software and the synthesis of the system despite heavy clouds and rain. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Changes have occurred on the ALMA Board and its committees. V. Heyl, the President of CONICYT, has appointed Neil Nagar of U. de Concepcion to take over the ASAC seat being vacated by Diego Mardones, of U. De Chile. Also, Prof. Monica Rubio (U. de Chile) will assume the seat on the ALMA Board which is being vacated by Prof. Leo Bronfman (U. de Chile). Welcome to them, and many thanks to Bronfman and Mardones for their work and advice over the past years. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: Mars is reaching closest approach to Earth in mid-December, followed by opposition on 24 Dec. SCO (Santiago Central Office): Many Science team and Assembly, Integration and Engineering personnel move to the Alsacia Building across the street from the overcrowded main ALMA office at 40 El Golf. The address is Avda. Apoquindo 3846, Piso 19 Edificio Alsacia, Las Condes Santiago, Chile Fax #: (56) (2) 467-6104 A directory may be located at: http://www.alma.cl/aiv/AIVTeam.html AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Nighttime transparency has generally been good, with the exception of a period around Thanksgiving. OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): There are 431 people working at the ALMA site. Gatehouse building was accepted. The Warehouse should be accepted during the next fortnight. Emerson designed a fence to screen reflections of the holography signals at the OSF. A fourth antenna from Japan is expected in port at the end of this fortnight. Holography, optical pointing, fast motion and other antenna tests continue with the first 12m antenna from Japan. ATF: An elevation motor segment is due to be reinstalled during this biweek. Stable fringes demonstrate that the full system works properly, though with improvement possibilities evident. AOC: The Back End (BE) test racks and accessories were crated, boxed and shipped; they have arrived at Santiago. ALMA Logistics will transport the racks to the OSF no later than 2007-12-10. NTC (NRAO Technology Center): Following the Production workshop held last week concrete steps are being made towards increasing the production rate of Front End (FE) sub-assemblies. Acceptance testing for FE#1 commenced following a cryostat swap. A FE Test Readiness Review will be held on 2007 Dec 6.There are now 4 tested ALMA Band 6 (1.2mm) cartridges awaiting Provisional Acceptance In-house (PAI). ESO: A generally successful Factory Acceptance Review for the tranpsorter vehicles was held on November 29th. They will begin their trek to Chile shortly. The kick-off meeting for the EU Front End Integration Center (FEIC) was held on 22-23 Nov. at Rutherford Appleton Labs, UK. NAASC: A pdf of a recent ALMA talk may be found at: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/NWU.ppt.pdf 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 18 Nov - Mon 19 Nov - 4:00PM: ATF telecon Tue 20 Nov - 10:30AM: JAO/IPT telecon Wed 21 Nov - 9:30AM: Sci IPT telecon Thu 22 Nov - Thanksgiving Day Holiday (NRAO) Fri 23 Nov - Thanksgiving Day Holiday (NRAO) Sat 24 Nov - Full Moon Sun 25 Nov - Mon 26 Nov - Tue 27 Nov - 10:30AM: JAO/IPT telecon Wed 28 Nov - Thu 29 Nov - Fri 30 Nov - Sat 1 Dec - 7:44am First quarter moon Sun 2 Dec - Mon 3 Dec -"Submillimeter Astronomy in Chile during the Pre-ALMA Era U de Chile, Cerro Cal‡n 4:00PM: ATF telecon ****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS ************************* Dec 6 Front End Test Readiness Review Cville NTC Dec 6 ALMA Board Telecon --- Dec 12 ESAC telecon Jan 10 NRAO Town Hall 12:45pm Austin Tx AAS Jan 15 ESAC face-to-face meeting Garching Jan 18 ANASAC telecon --- Jan 23-24 Nutator CDR ASIAA Feb 1-2 ASAC face-to-face Santiago Feb 7-8 WVR CDR ******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS ************************* *****************************ALSO OF INTEREST*************************** The Cosmic Agitator - Magnetic Fields in the Galaxy 60 years of studies of the interstellar magnetic field 2008 March 26-29 Lexington. The magnetic field of the galaxy was discovered in observations made in 1948. Since that time, the galactic magnetic field has challenged (and often annoyed) observers and theorists alike. This meeting will celebrate sixty years of studies of the interstellar magnetic field, a field ALMA's transformational capabilities will revolutionize. See http://thunder.pa.uky.edu/magnetic/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tenure Track Astronomers REQ NO: CV3631 SUMMARY: The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) invites outstanding applicants for one or more tenure-track astronomer positions, especially in the areas of time-domain astronomy, solar system research, exo-planets, Epoch of Re-ionization, structure formation, Dark Energy and Dark Matter. Candidates will be selected on both the basis of excellence in research and on their ability to further the mission of the Observatory. URL below. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Assistant Scientist REQ NO: CV3463 SUMMARY: To build up the NRAO scientific staff at the NAASC to support ALMA users and ALMA, 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). These positions include 25% time for independent research. Commissioning of the first ALMA antennas in Chile will commence in 2008, in preparation for early science in 2010. The first few years will require substantial time spent in Chile (roughly 30% to 50%), training and functioning as part of the CSV team. Successful participation in CSV activities in Chile places the candidate in a strong position to play a leading role in user and telescope support at the NAASC once early science begins. URL below. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Assistant Scientist (CASA) REQ NO: CV3682 SUMMARY: The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) invites applications for an astronomer, software engineer, or physicist with experience in astronomical data processing to develop data reduction software for the Atacama Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA). The Common Astronomy Software Applications (CASA) package is written primarily in C++ under a Python wrapper (for more information on CASA, see http://casa.nrao.edu/). This is an NRAO Scientist position, with 25% of time available to pursue independent research. The position will be based in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, at the North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Jansky fellows (2008) REQ NO: CV3455 SUMMARY: The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) announces the 2008 postdoctoral Jansky Fellowship program that provides outstanding opportunities for research in astronomy. 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. See URL below. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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