BIWEEKY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO 30 June 2009 - 14 July 2009 ******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT************************* The majority of the parts for sixteen antennas are now at the OSF. The Early Science array is projected to consist of sixteen antennas; most likely it will consist of an array of the antennas now present. During a period of exceptionally good weather (~.75mm PWV) on 3/4th July the first band 9 (450 micron) observations were made, first detecting the Moon and then making a scan of Jupiter. This was followed by the first successful interferometric observations at band 6. The dry weather also provided an opportunity to test the water vapour radiometers under conditions resembling those expected at the AOS. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The upcoming "Assembly, Gas Content and Star Formation History of Galaxies" conference has over 200 pre-registrants, However, oddly, preregistration has little to do with registration. 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 and Mars rise near dawn; Saturn rules the evening from Leo's belly. SCO (Santiago Central Office): Excavation reached the 35% of completion mark on 10 July. The Contractor is preparing to start the first concrete work. AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Ethernet cable was installed in Room 127 of the AOS Technical Bldg on 2009-07-01. When the switch in is installed testing will proceed. OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): As mentioned above, with the arrival of the Backup Structure (BUS) and pedestal for the eleventh Vertex antenna, there are major structures for more than sixteen antennas on the site. At the AEM antenna area, preparation is on going for making foundations for removable shelters to be installed around pads during the assembly of the antennas. The first two BUS halves for the AEM antenna have been glued together. Integration of its legs, apex and subreflector mechanism has been completed. Lightning protection installation was completed on BUS. Work on panels and adjusters to be started this week. The yoke arms were also installed. Holography testing on Melco No 2 using Tower 2 continued. R6.1 software including the single baseline interferometry software, is in regular use at the OSF. Offices for astronomers at the OSF are fully furnished and assigned, and furniture is being deployed in the OSF Control Room with a view to using this for AIVC testing soon. AOC: Antenna Articles (AA) AA6, AA7, and AA8 modules were shipped and are expected at the OSF july 9. NTC: Preparations continued for the July NSF review, absorbing most of the energy of the group leaders at the NTC. Shipping of quadrant 2 of the correlator is scheduled for July 31; arrival at the AOS is scheduled for Aug 18. Construction of Quadrant 4 has begun. 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 : 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Todd Hunter reports that Scott Paine will temporarily move the terahertz FTS from Sairecabur to Cerro Toco to participate in the second phase of the Radiative Heating in Underexplored Bands Campaign (RHUBC-II). which takes place on Cerro Toco, a mountain rising from the Chajnantor Plateau in Chile. From August to October 2009, nearly a dozen instruments will operate continuously to obtain measurements\u8000uch as temperature, pressure, humidity, and incoming and outgoing energy\u5eb8or characterizing the atmospheric state. In addition, a combination of several spectrometers\u63faighly sophisticated optical instruments used to measure the properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum\u8b21ill obtain measurements from the infrared region of the spectrum. See: http://acrf-campaign.arm.gov/rhubcII/ *************************************************************************** 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