241st American Astronomical Society Meeting

	Tuesday, 10 January 2023, 6:30-8:30 pm PST Seattle Convention Center, Ballroom 6A  Chair: Tony Beasley

This NRAO Town Hall will inform the AAS membership about the status of science, science operations, and development programs at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). Three presentations will update the membership regarding:

1. scientific opportunities and technical development at the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA); 
2. recent science results from across the community and the Observatory; and 
3. scientific and technical planning for future radio astronomy research facilities, including a next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA).

The NRAO Town Hall will include time for discussion and answering audience questions.

Speakers: Tony Beasley (NRAO Director), Amy Kimball (VLA Sky Survey), Eric Murphy (ngVLA)

	American Astronomical Society winter meeting Monday, 9 January 2023, 2:00-3:30 pm PST Seattle Convention Center, Ballroom 6A Chair: Phil Jewell

Beginning early science operations over a decade ago in 2011, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is now in the midst of Cycle 9 observations. Over the past ten years, ALMA has provided unprecedented sensitivity, image fidelity, and resolution at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths, supporting the research interests of more than 10,000 PIs and co-Is. From solar system objects to the earliest galaxies, ALMA observations have produced breathtaking images and opened new discovery space. ALMA data have been published in over 2900 refereed publications.

This AAS 241 Special Session will describe for the membership ALMA news, capabilities, and expectations for ALMA performance and science in the next few years and plans for its upgrade in the 2030 timeframe. In that period, ALMA will complete its frequency coverage of the millimeter window. ALMA's bandwidth will be increased to enhance continuum sensitivity even as its line sensitivity is increased via receiver upgrades, an upgraded correlator and upgrades of the systems connecting them. Higher resolution imaging is being explored, both on the exceptional site and as part of the extremely long baseline imaging arrays.

The session also features a set of science talks presenting a wide range of recent, exciting ALMA results and highlights the support available to the community from the North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC) at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO).

	American Astronomical Society winter meeting Wednesday, 11 January 2023, Seattle Convention Center Oral Session 10:00-11:30 am PST, Room 607, Chair Eric Murphy iPoster Session 5:30-6:30 pm PST, Exhibit Hall and Online

Astrochemistry has become a critical investigative tool for a large range of astrophysical studies, spanning Solar System objects to the most distant galaxies.  The investigation of extrasolar planetary systems is one of the defining pursuits of contemporary astronomy, using complex chemical tracers to identify the conditions that ultimately lead to habitability.  Extraterrestrial amino acids, the chemical building blocks of the biopolymers that comprise life on Earth, are present in meteoritic samples and in comets, but our understanding of the chemical and physical pathways to the formation of (pre)biotic molecules remains incomplete.   On galaxy scales, the presence of various molecules and associated isotopes indicate the role of energetic processes (e.g., shock, UV, and cosmic-ray heating) affecting interstellar medium conditions and pathways to the formation of the next generation of stars.  While existing facilities are making transformative discoveries by pushing their capabilities to the limit of what can be detected, sample sizes remain small as detections of individual systems are limited to the nearest luminous sources.  Informed by these pioneering efforts, next-generation ground- and space-based facilities will deliver large, multi-wavelength surveys that will produce spectroscopic information across the entire electromagnetic spectrum.  These data will deliver a much-improved theoretical understanding of the fundamental physics driving the formation of habitable planetary systems as well as the formation and evolution of galaxies over cosmic time. 

This Special Session:

• Highlighted recent scientific breakthroughs in astrochemistry enabled by current investigations using large optical/IR, (sub-)millimeter, and radio facilities;
• Described planned near- and long-term improvements for ground- and space-based facilities;
• Discussed major scientific leaps likely to result from next-generation facilities across the electromagnetic spectrum; and
• Reviewed the highest-priority themes in the field of astrochemistry that will be accomplished by the state-of-the-art observatories that will be commissioned in the next decade.

This Special Session featured invited oral presentations and contributed iPoster presentations. The program appears below. Its presentations can be accessed by clicking on their titles.

	Monday, 9 January 2023, 1:00-3:00 pm PST Seattle Convention Center, Room 303 Chair: John Tobin

The NRAO Science Ready Data Products (SRDP) initiative aims to simplify and streamline the way users interact with radio interferometer data products. As part of this effort, we provide several services to users providing them with easier access to calibrated visibility data and reimaging/reprocessing services. At the same time, the VLA Sky Survey, an all-sky survey at 3 GHz and ~2.5” resolution, is providing science ready data for the entire survey. There are multiple classes of data products to support the various science themes of the survey. We will show how the SRDP services for ALMA data (delivery of a calibrated measurement set and reimaging of cubes) can be accessed from the NRAO archive. We will also show images processed using the new VLA imaging pipeline, and how to retrieve a calibrated VLA measurement set from the archive. The data products from the VLA Sky Survey will be described and demonstrated (including images and catalogs), and the tools that have been developed by the community to facilitate the use of VLASS data will be demonstrated.

This will be a hybrid meeting and members of the community not attending the AAS meeting will be able to join via Zoom. The meeting link will be posted shortly before the start of the session. The recording will also be available following the meeting.

Meeting link (to be active 30 mins before session): Zoom link

Light refreshments will be provided to in-person attendees.

Agenda: