BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO 21 May - 4 June 2007 ******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT*************************** ALMA will be featured in the NRAO exhibit at the AAS meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, 27 - 31 May 2007. The ALMA brochure has been updated and will be distributed at the meeting. A video will also be shown. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. Sergio Cabezón (scabezon@nrao.cl) has been appointed as Education and Public Outreach Officer for AUI/ NRAO Chile, reporting to E. Hardy, effective 1st of May, 2007. Sergio is a Journalist with extensive expertise in strategic and science communications. He will not only help in fostering AUI/NRAO's scientific and educational presence in Chile, but will also contribute to the common effort of projecting ALMA in Chile as a Joint Observatory. We join Eduardo in welcoming Sergio and wishing him success in his new position! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A new book 'Cerca del Cielo: Patriomonio Biologico en la zona ALMA' by Michaela Heisig and edited by Gonzalo Argandona, the ESO press officer in Chile on the ecology of the ALMA site soon will be published. The book begins with a very brief, very general description of ALMA, and then proceeds to a thorough description of the site, starting at 2.9 km elevation and proceeding to the 5 km elevation, with descriptions of the wildlife. The book is in Spanish and English, with a total of 84 pages. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: Venus is the evening star, reaching greatest distance from the Sun. Venus is nearly in a line with Castor and Pollux. Pollux is a red giant, 70% more massive than the Sun but with fewer atoms heavier than hydrogen in its gases. Usually such metal-poor stars are not accompanied by planets. Pollux has a planet, and it was the first naked eye star found to have one. This planet orbits is a nearly circular orbit about 1.6 times the Earth-Sun distance from the star with a period of about 590 days. This planet is a gas giant, with a mass about 2.3 times that of Jupiter. This planet will be warm, at least 380 Celsius (over 700 Fahrenheit). Pollux' planet is the best candidate for indirect exoplanet detection by ALMA currently known. Mars is closest to Earth, glimmering in the dawn twilight. Jupiter reaches opposition, opposite the Sun in the sky. Nearby and unusually bright is asteroid Vesta. AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Sky transparency has not been exceptional over the fortnight, with a long period of mean opacity (~1-2mm PWV). OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): There are 479 people working at the ALMA site. Platforms and cabline, including cablewrap, are being installed on the VertexRSI production antenna. ATF: An earthquake struck between Socorro and Magdalena, measuring 3.3. Holography tests concluded on the AEC antenna and the system will be shipped to the OSF very soon, along with the Optical Pointing Telescope (OPT). Vertex antenna elevation EEU/Encoder recalibration has restored the telescope's tracking. NTC (NRAO Technology Center): A decision was made to ship the first front end directly to the OSF rather than to the ATF. Front End Integration Center (FEIC): Automated noise temperature and image rejection measurements on the first FE began. Band 3 cartridge SN 3 was received at the NA FEIC and accepted. Band 6 cartridge: Cartridge B6-008 was delivered to the FEIC. Some B7 cartridge assemblies need modification to fit. Assembly of the last pre-production Band 7 Cartridge is half way. The Final Design Review of the robotic arm that will be used in the Amplitude Calibration Device is scheduled for 13-14 June 2007 at NTE in Barcelona, Spain. The 2-antenna correlator is 95% assembled. A Chilean technician, Enrique Garcia, began work with the correlator group in Charlottesville. NAASC: The Computing IPT Design Review 5 was held at the NTC and at the NAASC. A calendar of NAASC events may be found at: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/calendar/calendar.php A number of ALMA-related science discussions will occur during the next fortnight at the NAASC; see the listings below. Registration for the workshop 'Transformational Science with ALMA: Through Disks to Stars and Planets' to be held 22-24 June 2007 is under way: See http://www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/disk07/ for schedule. *************************************************************************** DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT/EST ) see https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar Sun 6 May - ALMA EPO Working Group meeting in Tokyo. D. Iono and K-I Morita have joined the ALMA EPO Working Group as S. Sakamoto and R. Kawabe have moved to new positions outside ALMA. Mon 7 May - ASAC face-to-face meeting, Tokyo 3:30PM: PSI/ATF telecon Tue 8 May - 10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon Wed 9 May - SSR Thu 10 May - Calibration Group Fri 11 May - Sat 12 May - Sun 13 May - Mon 14 May - FE Optics CDR. IRAM Tue 15 May - FE Optics CDR. IRAM Wed 16 May - 10:30AM: Science IPT Telecon Thu 17 May - 5:30pm: ALMA Board telecon Fri 18 May - Sat 19 May - Sun 20 May - Mon 21 May - Navy Day Holiday (Chile) ****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS **************************** May 23 Software CDR5 Cville Jun 13-14 Robotic Arm FDR Barcelona Jun 13-14 Nutator PDR Taipei Jun 18-21 NRAO 50th Bday Cville Jun 21-24 Thru Disks 2 Stars Cville Jun 27-28 ALMA Board Meeting Santiago Sep 12-13 B6 CDR Cville ******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS *************************** *****************************ALSO OF INTEREST***************************** *************************************************************************** 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