May eNews Contributions from the NAASC

Interstellar Medium in High Redshift Galaxies Comes of Age

Save the Date! NRAO has scheduled a workshop, "Interstellar Medium in High Redshift Galaxies Comes of Age", for September 14-16, 2012 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Brown and vanden Bout published a detection of CO emission from a galaxy at z=2.3 using the NRAO 12m telescope in 1991. In the 21 years since its detection, it has become an indispensable tool for tracing molecular gas throughout the Universe. Today molecular and atomic lines at many wavelengths provide complementary insights into the structure of the ISM in galaxies early in the history of the Universe. New observing capabili- ties enrich our understanding of the evolution of galaxies through galactic time, using modern instrumentation available at new and expanded facili- ties worldwide. The workshop will examine the current status and future directions of research using spectral lines to probe the high redshift Universe.

The registration website will open soon, so watch for announcements over the next few weeks.

ALMA News

* Thirty antennas on 2012 April 13, photo by R. E. Hills.:
ThirtyAntennas 2012Apr13.JPGApril marked the return of some good weather to Chajnantor, with occasional reversions to summer ‘Altiplanic Winter’ conditions. The array is now configured in the extended Cycle 0 Configuration, with baselines to 400m. As of this writing, there are 31 antennas at high site, seven of which are 7m ACA antennas. The most recent antenna to be relocated to the AOS was placed on a pad 2 km from the center of the array, to test phase correction on long baselines.

The Atacama Compact Array also operates in testing mode, along with a 12m antenna from the Total Power Array. At this writing, Early Science Session 13 observations are in progress, with good throughput. Data from the first extended configurations are being processed and assessed for quality. An early version of a Pipeline, which can perform calibration on newly acquired data, is being installed in Santiago. The standardization that this provides for data products has enabled some data processing to occur at the ALMA Regional Centers (ARCs). Products are copied back to the SCO central archive for Program Management Group validation and QA; when accepted they are mirrored worldwide. Products are then packaged for distribution to Principal Investigators.

On 10 April, Highway 31 in Kilgore Texas was blocked for the last time by the 26 feet tall and 20 feet wide base of an ALMA antenna. The 25th and final General Dynamics antenna pedestal made its way by truck to the port of Houston, on its 45 day journey to the ALMA Operations Support Facility in Chile for assembly into the final North American ALMA antenna.

Meet the NAASC

Alison Peck arrival - Probably June eNews (Welcome, Alison).

Cycle 0 updates or Cycle 1 news

Cycle 1 Notice of Intent deadline

To help ensure that the observatory is as well prepared as possible to assess the proposals submitted for Cycle 1, Principal Investigators are strongly encouraged to submit a notice of intent by May 15 using the following web form. One form should be completed and submitted for each planned Cycle 1 proposal. This should not require more than a few minutes since the information to be provided is minimal.

Please note that users need to be registered and logged in to the ALMA Science Portal to access the Notice of Intent form

-- AlWootten - 2012-04-23

-- LyndeleVonSchill - 2012-04-18

Topic attachments
I Attachment Action Size Date Who Comment
ThirtyAntennas_2012Apr13.JPGJPG ThirtyAntennas_2012Apr13.JPG manage 435 K 2012-04-23 - 10:51 AlWootten Thirty antennas on 2012 April 13, photo by R. E. Hilla.
Topic revision: r9 - 2012-04-25, AlWootten
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