BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO 22 May 2006 - 5 June 2006 ******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT**************************** Dear Colleagues, ESO has selected Dr. Paola Andreani as the ARC Manager for ESO. Dr. Andreani will begin work at ESO Garching on 1 June 2006. Dr. Andreani is presently an Associate Astronomer at the Astronomical Observatory of Trieste, a part of INAF. Dr. Andreani is also a Co-I of Herschel/PACS and the local Project Manager of Herschel/SPIRE. She has been a working group manager of the Italian Herschel community, participating in the Herschel GTO process. Dr. Andreani is a well known researcher in the field of extragalactic astronomy, and has carried out significant work on the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect using the SEST. Regards, Tom Wilson European ALMA Scientist ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The AAS Council has released the following statement on the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). The National Science Board made the following statement at its most recent meeting on May 9 and 10, 2006. "The National Science Board authorizes the Director, at his discretion, to increase the spending authority for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) under cooperative agreement AST-0223851 and its successor agreements to extend the duration of the award through September 30, 2012." AAS Statement on the Atacama Large Millimeter Array The American Astronomical Society (AAS) applauds the National Science Foundation for moving forward with a rebaselined, fifty-antenna Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). This decision will enable ALMA to do the transformational science that made it a high priority project in the past two National Academy Decadal Surveys of Astronomy and Astrophysics. ALMA will lay the groundwork for future global science projects, both in astronomy and in other disciplines. As a world project involving multiple regions - Asia, Europe and the Americas - and operating under a fully international governance structure, ALMA has successfully overcome many hurdles and is now poised for completion in 2012. We are very pleased that the NSF continues its strong support of ALMA. ALMA will enable important discoveries about the origin of galaxies, stars and planetary systems. The AAS stands ready to work with Congress, the Administration and the NSF to fully implement the prioritized projects described in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- On 2006 June 1, Ryohei Kawabe assumes the rotating post of JAO Project Scientist. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Last week, Science Magazine published an article on ALMA's path to its rebaselined budget, which may be read online at: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/312/5776/990 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: Cloudsat has briefly operated its downward looking radar. CloudSat is not expected to be in its final orbit until June 6, 2006. Radar will be turned on continuously beginning 2 June. OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): Approximately 66 people are working on the ALMA site. ALMA Camp Rec Room under construction, to be finished by early June 2006. Santiago: T. Wilson arrives at JAO for visit through 20 June. AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Work under way on finish work for AOS Technical Building. There have been many submillimeter days the past month, judging from the APEX measurements. AOC: Successful fringing tests using IF downconverters done. The IF output from two Warm multiplier assemblies were passed through the Backend Analog and Digital subsystems to the Correlator where cross-correlation power spectrum and phase plots were run. The final connectivity and configuration of this test occurred in less than two hours. This reflects the remarkable progress made the past few weeks and bodes well for future goals. Congratulations to the PSI team! CDR4; leaders conducting telecons from NAASC. ATF (ALMA Test Facility, VLA site): Maintenance work on VxRSI antenna. NTC: B6 phase drift measurements completed; cartridge meets specs. Installation and test of the Front End Integration Center Environmental Chamber completed. Second quadrant racks have been moved into the correlator test room and the power rack was powered up; thermal tests will occur next. Elsewhere: The Band 7 (0.87 mm) cartridge CDR is planned to take between 6th and 14th July. FE Water Vapor Radiometer: Meetings were held with CA and OSO on the close out of the current WVR R&D work package. This activity will be completed, largely dependent on availability of staff at CA, by July \u201906. *************************************************************************** DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT ) see https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar Sun 21 May Navy Day, Chile Mon 22 May Victoria Day Holiday, CA Great Observatories, Pasadena (ALMA--Carilli) Tue 23 May The Red Rectangle. 23-25 May 2006, Charlottesville, Virginia 10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon 4:00 PM-5:00 PM: NAScienceIPT teleconference (open to all interested parties) (434)296-7082 Wed 24 May The Red Rectangle. 23-25 May 2006, Charlottesville, Virginia 1:00 PM: ALMA NA Telecaucus 5:30 PM: ALMA Board Telecon All day: SPIE: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, Orlando Several ALMA presentations: ESO (Cesarsky); ALMA (Beasley); Phase Correction (Richer); System (Haupt); ALMA Common Software (Chiozzi & Caproni & Cirami); Time Synchronization (Amestica); Facility Operations (Silva) Thu 25 May The Red Rectangle. 23-25 May 2006, Charlottesville, Virginia Ascension Day Holiday, Germany 16:30 PM E.S.O. ASTROPHYSICAL SEMINAR Prof. Tom Wilson, Max-Planck-Institut fuer Radioastronomie, Bonn/ALMA European Project Scientist. "Science with ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array)" ESO Conference Room, Vitacura. Fri 26 May Sat 27 May New Moon Sun 28 May Mon 29 May Memorial Day Holiday, US Tue 30 May 10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon 12:00 PM: Lunch talk: Review of 'Complex Molecules in Space: present status and prospects with ALMA May 8 to 11, 2006, Fuglsoecentret, Denmark (A. Wootten) 4:00 PM-5:00 PM: NAScienceIPT teleconference (open to all interested parties) (434)296-7082 Wed 31 May CSO Proposal deadline Extended! Registration Deadline, IAU XXVI General Assy Events of ALMA interest compiled at: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/IAUALMA.txt Thu 1 Jun NRAO Proposal deadline Fri 2 Jun CASCA Meeting, Calgary Sat 3 Jun CASCA Meeting, Calgary Sun 4 Jun AAS Meeting, Calgary Mon 5 Jun AAS Meeting ALMA Special Session Whit Monday holiday, Germany ****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS **************************** May 24 2130UT ALMA Board Telecon June 2-8 all day CASCA/AAS meeting Calgary, CA June 7 1730 ALMA Booth Capitol Hill, DC June 13-14 all day ALMA Board Meeting Santiago June 13 all day ALMA Master Laser SpcR CV Jun 19-20 all day AIVCSV Meeting Santiago Aug 1 Move of PSI to ATF Sept 22-23 evening Dave Matthews Band CV JPJ Arena opening November 9-10 all day ALMA Board Meeting Madrid TBD Nov 13-16 all day Science with ALMA: a new era for Astrophysics Madrid ******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS **************************** ******************************ALSO OF INTEREST***************************** ALMA has openings for Head of Science Operations, Head of Technical Services, and Head of Administration. Please see: http://www.nrao.edu/administration/personnel_office/careers.shtml --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The deadline for proposals to use NRAO telescopes (GBT, VLA, VLBA) is 1700 EDT Thursday, 1 June 2006. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) encourages observing participation by astronomers from both U.S. and non-U.S. institutions. Lodging, subsistence and transportation on the mountain are provided free by the CSO, for two observers per program. A limited amount of travel money may also be available. Proposals for observing time should include the CSO cover form (please use the latest version available at http://www.submm.caltech.edu/cso/cso-call.html . The proposals will be reviewed by an external peer group committee and should be sent by 31 May for the observing period 1 September through 31 January. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd pan-ALMA Conference : 2nd Announcement Dear Colleague, The 2nd pan-ALMA conference on "Science with ALMA: a new era for Astrophysics" will be held 13-16 November 2006 in Madrid, Spain. The venue will be the campus of the CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas), in the centre of town. Information on the 2nd pan-ALMA meeting is available via http://www.oan.es/alma2006/ (final slash is mandatory) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anne Dutrey informs us of a CNRS post-doctoral position at the Observatory of Bordeaux. The position is opened for two years and will start on September 2006 at the Observatory of Bordeaux. The application deadline is June 2006. The position is dedicated to the modelling of chemistry in proto-planetary disks in order to interpret observational data obtained with the IRAM array. Interested people can read the dedicated CNRS web page http://www.k-projects.com/cnrs_postdocs/public/departement_details.php?IdDpt=9&Dep=SDU&NumOffre=2&Langue=en --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** 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