BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO 5 June 2006 - 19 June 2006 ******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT**************************** During the past month, ALMA has been preparing for its eventual operations phase. Chris Carilli has been appointed Head of the North American ALMA Science Center, Paola Andreani has been appointed ARC Manager for ESO and John Hibbard continues as acting ARC Manager for NRAO. Also within the month, Ryohei Kawabe has been appointed acting ARC Manager for NAOJ. Advertisements for Head of Science Operations, Head of Technical Services and Head of Administration for the Joint ALMA Observatory have been placed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Eduardo Hardy informs us: On 1 June the Completion Package contract with ConPax was signed in Santiago. This is the largest individual contract so far concluded in Chile by NRAO for ALMA and will lead to the completion of the AOS Technical Building. The local merit for the succesful negotiation of this complex package, which also included a large amount of equipment purchasing, belongs to the team of Mauricio Pilleux, Eduardo Donoso, Claudio Navarro and Martin Mudnich, supported by the local Fiscal division of NRAO. By the end of next March we should be able to see the completed AOS TB sitting at 5000m (16570 ft) on the Chajnantor plateau, arguably the highest building in Chile and probably among the highest anywhere. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- There will be a special session (#28) of the American Astronomical Society meeting in Calgary on 'Imaging Star Formation in the Cosmos with ALMA'. Presentations will be made on ALMA and Distant Galaxies by Andrew Blain, Star Formation in Our Galaxy: The Need for ALMA by Douglas Johnstone and Imaging Star-Forming Gas in Nearby Galaxies by Jean Turner. Additionally, there will be a special poster session (#51) 'Imaging Star Formation in the Cosmos with ALMA II' with nine posters and one in session #56 on the 3mm cartridge. Posters will travel to the JAO in Santiago the following week. Invited session 30.01 will feature Christine Wilson speaking on 'Luminous Infrared Galaxies with the Submillimeter Array: Probing the Extremes of Star Formation' Monday 5 June, 4:10 pm. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The deadline for registration for the meeting 'Science with ALMA: a new era for Astrophysics' to be held 13 - 16 November 2006 in Madrid, Spain is 2006 July 1. 184 persons have registered; the meeting limit is 250. Please register to be ensured of participation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: The Evening sky hosts Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude): Approximately 91 people are working on the ALMA site. The Power Station feasibility report was submitted and evaluated, resulting in a decision to connect to the Chilean grid rather than to construct and operate a stand-alone facility. Vertex Site Erection Facility (SEF) pads will be complete end of 2006 July. ALMA has selected 'Sahara Tan' as building color. AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): From 26-30 May, the APEX tau measurements showed less than 1mm PWV. AOC: Upgraded second laser synthesizer and line length corrector units arrived. Several issues resulting from a meeting on timing of signals continue to be discussed. Move of hardware from the Socorro lab to the ATF is scheduled to begin 2006-Aug-28. ATF (ALMA Test Facility, VLA site): VxRSI antenna metrology tests were carried out. Bidders conference for nutator to be held 2006 May 31. Cloudsat avoidance software to be installed 2006 May 30. *************************************************************************** DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT ) see https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar Mon 5 Jun Special Session (#28) 'Imaging Star Formation in the Cosmos with ALMA' American Astronomical Society meeting in Calgary Tue 6 Jun American Astronomical Society meeting in Calgary 10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon Wed 7 Jun Special Session (#51) Imaging Star Formation in the Cosmos with ALMA II' American Astronomical Society meeting in Calgary 11:00 AM: ASAC telecon 5:30 PM-7:30 PM: Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF) 12th Annual Exhibition & Reception. AAS booth features ALMA Rooms B338-340 of the Rayburn House Office Building Thu 8 Jun American Astronomical Society meeting in Calgary Fri 9 Jun Sat 10 Jun Sun 11 Jun Full Moon Mon 12 Jun ALMA Board Meetings, Santiago Tue 13 Jun ALMA Board Meetings, Santiago 10:30 AM-11:30 AM: JAO IPT Telecon Wed 14 Jun ALMA Board Meetings, Santiago Thu 15 Jun ALMA Board Meetings, San Pedro de Atacama and ALMA site Fri 16 Jun Sat 17 Jun Sun 18 Jun Mon 19 Jun AIVCSV Meeting, Santiago ****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS **************************** 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 Jun 30 1800 UT ANASAC Meeting Telecon Aug 28 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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) *************************************************************************** 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