MONTHLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO 11 January - 25 January 2010 ******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT************************* ALMA Capabilities Grow, Commissioning Period to Begin ALMA Test Sharpens the Vision of New Observatory See associated Press Release at URL: http://www.nrao.edu/pr/2010/phaseclosure/ As 2009 drew to a close, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) passed a key milestone to cap a year that had begun with the first detection of radio waves by a single antenna. ALMA astronomers and engineers worked together to successfully link three antennas at the 16500 ft Array Operations Site in northern Chile. This first step on the path the sensitive, precise, high-resolution imaging which will be an ALMA hallmark demonstrates the success of the full electronic and software system now being installed. The ALMA phase closure, as this test is called, came as part of an ongoing series of tests beginning in late November. It was a key step to the beginning of the formal commissioning period, which leads to Early Science and, of course, completion of the construction. "This successful test shows that we are well on the way to providing the clear, sharp ALMA images that will open a whole new window for observing the Universe. We look forward to imaging stars and planets as well as galaxies in their formation processes," said Fred Lo, director of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which leads North America's participation in the ALMA project. At a recent review, it was decided that the commissioning period will begin on 2010 Jan 22, coincidentally precisely one year from the establishment of âfirst light' at the OSF. This intense period will see the addition of the additional antennas already on-site. Twenty-two antennas are in various stages of erection on the site, five used by ALMA; additional antennas await their turn in the queue. The two ALMA antennas at the OSF will soon be linked together in a rebirth of the test interferometer there; testing of new software, new antennas and other new items normally will proceed on this instrument while commissioning tasks occupy the array at the AOS. Recently, a software upgrade has been tested at the AOS array. This upgrade will enable many new capabilities, such as phase correction using the WVRs and broadband spectroscopy. In a test of ephemeris capabilities, the interferometer recently observed all four of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter. Appropriately enough, the date of this observation was exactly four hundred years after Galileoâs 11 Jan, 1610 discovery of the these remarkable moons. --------------------------------------------------------------------- On 16 Dec 2009, President Obama signed into law H. R. 3288, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010. A Joint Explanatory Statement provides the appropriatorsâ recommendations regarding the NSF and ALMA. A selected Statement in House Report 111-366 provides $42,760,000 for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). This is the ninth consecutive year that Congress has funded ALMA construction at the level requested by the President. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Please see the current issue of the Joint ALMA Observatory Newsletter, January 2010 http://www.almaobservatory.org/en/newsroom/newsletter/179-newsletter-4 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/ NTC: Dr. Charles Cunningham from HIA has agreed to take over as the FEIC Leader with the previous lead transitioning into a technical support role. Mr. Antonio Perfetto will concentrate on resolving the outstanding technical issues associated with FEIC test and measurement equipment, and facilities. Mr. Stefan Michalski will assume responsibility for the management of Front End sub-assembly production operations. SCO: Nick Whyborn officially takes over the System Integration Lead position from Joe McMullin effective 6 January 2010. Joe will be returning to Socorro to help solve EVLA problems but remains in Chile for an overlap period beforehand. Construction on the new building adjacent to ESO continues, with work on the second story going on. *************************************************************************** DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT/EST ) see https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar Jan 18-21 ALMA Ops Plan Update Workshop II Jan 22 Beginning of Commissioning Phase of ALMA Feb 17-19 ALMA Front-End CDR Charlottesville Mar 9-10 ALMA Science Advisory Committee f2f meeting NAOJ ******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS ************************* *****************************ALSO OF INTEREST*************************** NRAO Call for Proposals The NRAO announces the Call for Proposals for observing from June through October, roughly, for semester 10B. The deadline for receipt of proposals will be 5:00pm EST on 1 February 2010. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CARMA Call for Semester 2010B Observing Proposals Deadline: 10 February 2010 Proposals should be submitted using the electronic form at http://carma-prop.ncsa.uiuc.edu/proposals/ . A detailed description of CARMA is available at http://www.mmarray.org . Questions may also be addressed to Dr. Nikolaus Volgenau (volgenau @ mmarray.org). The deadline for submitting proposals is 17:00 CST (23:00 UT) on 10 February 2010. *************************************************************************** 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