ALMA NRAO News 2006

ALMA News - 2006

• Nov 15, 2006: ALMA Project Progress Report From October 2006 NRAO Newsletter

• Contents:
  • Initial Observations with an ALMA Band 6 Mixer-Preamp: Exciting Prospects for the Future
  • ALMA Construction
  • Transitions
  • North American ALMA Science Center
  • NAASC ALMA Workshop: "Transformational Science with ALMA: Through Disks to Stars and Planets"

• Nov 7, 2006: ESO ALMA Newsletter (10th edition)

• Contents:
  • Initial Observations with an ALMA Band 6 Mixer-Preamp: Exciting Prospects for the Future
  • Array Operations Site building
  • ALMA and Joint ALMA Office people
  • Antenna Jig
  • Water Vapour Radiometry
  • Upcoming events

• November 1, 2006 - Recent Progress at the ALMA site.

• Foundation work for the Operations Support Facility (OSF) Technical Building is underway at the 9600 foot level. This building will be the nerve center of ALMA. ALMA personnel will work here, directing the operation of the Array at the 16,570 foot elevation Array Operations Site, collecting data and sending it onward to astronomers around the world. This building will be finished in 2008. For a larger picture of the site visit:OSF Building

  Nearby is a temporary building for Assembly, Integration and Verification (AIV), under construction and scheduled for completion 2006 Nov 7. For a larger picture of the site visit:AIV Building

  Final interior work continues at the Array Operations Site (AOS) Technical Building, which will house the electronics which bring together the signals from the antennas to be located nearby. For a picture of the site visit: AOS Building

  There are about 183 persons working at the site. Most of these people live in ALMA lodging facilities elsewhere on the OSF site.

  Images compliments of Dr. Seiichi Sakamoto of the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) Project Office, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

  
  

  (left) Foundation work for the Operations Support Facility (OSF) Technical Building. (right) Temporary building for Assembly, Integration and Verification (AIV).

• August 28, 2006: New Position Announcement - ALMA PROJECT SCIENTIST

• The ALMA Project Scientist is responsible for ensuring that ALMA is constructed and commissioned in such a manner as to meet the scientific requirements of the ALMA Agreement. As a Key Staff Member of the JAO, the Project Scientist will contribute to decision making, overall policy development and strategic planning. The Project Scientist reports directly to the ALMA Director and interacts closely with the Project Manager and Project Engineer. For more information visit: ALMA Project Scientist

• Aug 1, 2006: European ALMA Newsletter (9th Ed.)

• Contents:
  • Site Construction
  • Vacancy for European Project Scientist
  • Front end news
  • Japan finalized agreement to join ALMA
  • ALMA and Joint ALMA Office people
  • Upcoming events

• July 31, 2006 - ALMA Welcomes Japan into the Consortium

• • Amendment #2 to the Agreement Concerning the Construction of the Enhanced Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) Between ESO, NSF and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences of Japan has been executed by all of the parties. We welcome our East Asian colleagues to ALMA, now enhanced in capability as well as in name.

• July 1, 2006: ALMA Project Progress Report From July 2006 NRAO Newsletter

• Contents:
  • ALMA Construction
  • North American ALMA Science Center
  • ALMA North American Science Advisory Committee
  • ALMA Special Session at Calgary AAS Meeting

• May 10, 2006: U.S. National Science Board Approves Funding for Revised ALMA Baseline

• On May 10, 2006, NSF's Judith Sunley (Acting Assistant Director for Mathematical and Physical Sciences) notified the ALMA board that the U.S. National Science Board (NSB) has approved NSF's request for additional funding for ALMA, providing the NSF Director with spending authority that covers the revised ALMA baseline.

  Minutes from the NSB meeting will be posted to http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/meetings/mtg_list.htm.

• May 5, 2006: European ALMA Newsletter (8th Ed.)

• Contents:
  • Site Construction
  • ALMA Water Vapour Radiometer Field Tests progressing well
  • ALMA and Joint ALMA Office people
  • Upcoming events

• April 13, 2006: ALMA Project Progress Report From April 2006 NRAO Newsletter

• Contents:
  • ALMA Construction
  • North American ALMA Science Center
  • ALMA North American Science Advisory Committee
  • NAASC ALMA Workshop: "From z-Machines to ALMA"
  • ALMA Town Meeting at January AAS Meeting
  • ALMA Special Session at Calgary AAS Meeting

• April 1, 2006: 2nd pan-ALMA conference on "Science with ALMA: a new era for Astrophysics"

• 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/.

• March 1, 2006: ALMA Special Session at Calgary AAS Meeting: "Imaging Star Formation in the Cosmos with ALMA"

• The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) will provide quantum leaps in improvement compared to existing facilities, enabling entirely new science at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. Star formation in the Milky Way will be revealed with a hundred-fold increase in sensitivity and resolution, making it possible to see evidence of protoplanets in protostellar disks and to measure disk chemical differentiation. Star-forming molecular gas in nearby galaxies will be imaged with high sensitivity at parsec-scale resolution, providing new insight into the structure and evolution of galaxies. Multiple transitions of molecular and atomic gas will be imaged in distant galaxies back to the era of recombination, providing information on the chemistry, structure, formation and evolution of the earliest galaxies.

  The North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC) is sponsoring a special session at the 208th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, to be held 4-8 June 2006 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The special session will take place from 2:30-4:00pm on Monday June 5, in order to adjoin the meeting of the Canadian Astronomical Society (CASA). It will feature review talks highlighting ALMA's capabilities and scientific potential in three key research areas.

  Speakers & Topic:

  • Doug Johnstone (NRC-HIA): Star formation in our galaxy: the need for ALMA
  • Jean L. Turner (UCLA): Imaging star-forming gas in nearby galaxies
  • Andrew W. Blain (Caltech): Imaging high-z starburst galaxies

  Copies of the presentations and some of the posters are available at the NAASC website at http://www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/AAS/.

• February 02, 2006: ALMA article by Jeff Kanipe in February Nature

• January 31, 2006: ALMA Project Progress Report From January 01 NRAO Newsletter

• Contents:
  • NAASC Workshop "From z-Machines to ALMA: (sub)millimeter Spectroscopy of Galaxies
  • ALMA Town Meeting
  • The North American ALMA Science Center
  • ALMA Project Status

• January 31, 2006: European ALMA Newsletter (7th Ed.)

• Contents:
  • Contract signatures
  • The ALMA back-end
  • ALMA and Joint ALMA Office people
  • The ALMA Design Reference Science Plan (DRSP)
  • Upcoming events

• January 15, 2006: NAASC ALMA Workshop: "From z-Machines to ALMA: (Sub)millimeter Spectroscopy of Galaxies"

  
  On January 13-14, Charlottesville welcomed 75 scientists from 37 institutions in nine different countries to the first NRAO North American Science Center Workshop, "From Z-Machines to ALMA: (Sub)millimeter Spectroscopy of Galaxies". In 26 oral and 23 poster presentations, the participants assessed the technical challenges and scientific promise of using wide-bandwidth spectroscopy to study distant, dusty galaxy populations. The first day closed with a reception sponsored by the NRAO Director, while the second ended with a freewheeling discussion of the role played by current NRAO facilities in this exciting scientific area, plus a view of the future provided by North American ALMA Project Director Adrian Russell. Proceedings for the workshop will be published by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific before the end of 2006. The meeting program, electronic versions of some of the presentations, and the conference photograph (left) and candid pictures of participants (all courtesy of Jim Condon) are available at
• www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/zmachines/.

• January 9, 2006: ALMA Town Meeting

  ALMA held a Town Meeting at the

• 207th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, D.C. The town meeting was held on Monday January 9th from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in the Cotillion Ballroom and was attended by over 200 AAS members. The NRAO Director, Fred K.Y. Lo, kicked off the meeting with a welcome and introduction, followed by a dynamic presentation by the North American ALMA Project Manager, Adrian Russell. This included a list of the impressive accomplishments achieved by ALMA over the past year, as well as current pictures of the on-going construction at the ALMA sites in Chile. Chris Carilli gave a presentation on the main science goals of ALMA, and Crystal Brogan described the plans for the North American ALMA Science Center. These presentations were followed by 30min of discussion. All of the above presentations are available for download from www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/TownMeetings/. After the meeting, members of the ANASAC joined Fred Lo and NRAO staff members for a lunch to discuss the ALMA project, the science center, and the NA community.