ALMA-VLBI QA2 Workshop– Leiden Lorentz Center, 24-28 February 2020

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Allegro is hosting a QA2 training workshop for phased-ALMA data acquired during VLBI observations, which will be held in Leiden (the Netherlands), on February 24-28 2020.
VLBI is an observing mode offered since Cycle 4, and the first observations were conducted in Apr 2017. The QA2 process for VLBI projects is significantly more complex than the procedure for standard projects, requiring a close loop between ARCs, JAO and VLBI correlators.
The main goal of the workshop is to train ALMA astronomers so that the QA2 work load can be distributed across different regions. The training workshop will involve hands-on work on past cycles datasets.
This workshop is restricted to the trained QA2 analysts in ALMA Regional Centers (ARCs).

 

 

SOC / LOC:

 

Ciriaco Goddi (Chair) Allegro/Dutch ARC node
Geoff Crew Haystack/MIT
Ivan Marti-Vidal University of Valencia
Hugo Messias JAO
Stefanie Muehler German ARC node
Dirk Petry ESO
Helge Rottmann MPIfR
Registered participants:Abhijeet BorkarCzech node

 

European ARC nodes  
Lydia Moser German node
Rosita Paladino Italian node
Kazi Rygl Italian node
Andres Perez Allegro/Dutch node
Daniel Tafoya Nordic node
Tobia Carozzi Nordic node
Ciro Pappalardo PACE/Portuguese node
Adam Avison UK node
Anita Richards UK node
East Asia ARC  
Atsushi Miyazaki Japanese node
Jihyun Kang Korean node
Alfonso Trejo-Cruz Taiwanese node
North America ARC  
Brian Mason NRAO
Erica Keller NRAO
JAO  
David Rebolledo JAO
VLBI Correlators  
Jan Wagner MPIfR
Yurii Pidopryhora MPIfR
HOTELSYou could consider staying either close to the Lorentz Center (about 2.5 km from the center), or near the railway (Leiden Centraal) station (where the center begins).
There are regular buses from the Leiden Centraal station to the Lorentz Center (see the links below for more specific details if you will be coming by bus).
In alternative, you can look into renting a bike for your stay. You can pick this up at the railway station, at the rear (exit towards the hospital). Bikes costs 7.50 euro per day or 37.50 for a week.Near the workshop venue:

 

Hilton Garden Inn (500-m to the Lorentz Center, 4-stars)
Holiday Inn (950-m to the Lorentz Center, 4-stars)
Van der Valk Hotel (1.6-km to the Lorentz Center, 4-stars)

Near the train station / center of Leiden.

Golden Tulip Leiden-centre (Central station, 4-stars)
Fletcher Wellness-Hotel (Central station, 4-stars)
Tulip Inn Leiden-centre (Central station, 3-stars)
Ibis Leiden-centre (Central station, 3-stars)

Boutique Hotel d’Oude Morsch (Near Central station, 3.5-stars)
Best Western City Hotel (Center, 3-stars)

DIRECTIONS

 

-Directions to Leiden ObservatoryNote that this is not the old Observatory in the center of Leiden.There are regular buses from the Leiden Centraal station, buses 43 (direction Den Haag) or bus 57 (direction Nieuw Vennep). These take around 7 minutes. Please see the link below for more specific details if you will be coming by bus.

 

Instructions on how to get to Leiden Observatory, including transportation from Schiphol Airport, can be found here:
https://www.lorentzcenter.nl/howto.php
And a site map can be found here:
https://www.lorentzcenter.nl/map_LC_hotels_stat_web.php

lorentzcenter

The venue of the workshop is the Snellius building of the Lorentz Center. The Leiden Observatory and Allegro offices are located on the 4-5th and 11th floor, respectively, of The Huygens building (in front and to the right with respect to the Snellius building).

-Directions inside the building:

 

  • Room TBD on the 2nd floor of the Snellius building:
    hl_226
    At the entrance of the building there is a reception were they can provide you with directions.

EAS2020 – Special Session Nr. 13: Eight years of ALMA ground-breaking results.

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We would like to bring to your attention the special session ‘Eight years of ALMA ground-breaking results: A joint venture between the ALMA user community and the ALMA Regional Centres‘ that is organised as part of the yearly meeting of the European Astronomical Society. The conference will take place in Leiden, The Netherlands, on June 29 – July 3, 2020. The Special Session No. 13 will be held on the last day of the conference (July 3rd).

The Special Session SS13 will focus on scientific results that emphasise the connection between the ALMA users and the EU ARC network, and include:

  • Scientific highlights from large programs.
  • Scientific results from special modes with EU-specific strengths:
    high frequencies, polarization, solar observations, deep fields, data combination.
  • Results based on archival research and data mining.
  • Community and EU ARC network software/tools development.
  • Optimization of observations setup and data calibration.
  • Computing facilities for data reduction and analysis.

For more information on the SS13, please visit this link.

For general information on the EAS 2020, please click here.

Abstract submission is open for the SS13 in a form of oral or poster presentations. In order to submit your abstract, please visit the Abstract portal:

Sincerely,
The EAS2020 SS13 SOC.

Netherlands ALMA Science Day — 22 November 2019.

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Allegro is organizing an ALMA Science Day on Friday November 22, 2019, at Leiden Observatory.

Allegro organizes this meeting for the Netherlands ALMA community to share their exciting new science, hear the latest news from the telescope, and discuss user experiences and ALMA-related topics.

  • Program
  • Participants

  • Directions

     

    Program

    The third edition of the Netherlands ALMA Science day will be held in the 2nd floor of the Huygens Building (HL), room HL-226. We will start the program at 11:30 am with lunch. All the registered participants are invited to join us. We will offer sandwiches and fruits for the registered participants. Then, the science talks will start at 12:30. The first afternoon block of talks will finish with the presentation by this year’s invited speaker Dr. M. Zwaan (ESO). Our program is full of exciting topics including results from high-redshift studies, as well as studies of dust and molecular gas in proto-planetary disks. During the second block of talks, we will have a presentation by Dr. C. Goddi (Allegro) on the results of the Event Horizon Telescope!
    We will finish the day with a Borrel at the 11th floor, next to the Allegro offices. We look forward to seeing you!

    Follow this link to see the Program.

    Registered participants: (Last update 13-11-2019)

    Michiel Hogerheijde Leiden Observatory
    Jim Morrison University of Groningen
    Rudolf Le Poole Leiden Observatory
    Dazhi Zhou Leiden Observatory
    Shota Notsu Leiden Observatory, Leiden University
    Zhenlin Zhu SRON/Leiden University
    Prof. Harry van der Laan Leiden Observatory, ASTRON, ESO
    Ruslan Brilenkov Kapteyn Institute, University of Groningen
    Yuan Chen Leiden Observatory
    Gerard Pujol Hernandez API
    Margot Leemker Leiden University
    Huub Rottgering Leiden Observatory
    Marta Frias Castillo Leiden Observatory
    Alvaro Hacar Leiden Observatory
    Rychard Bouwens Leiden University
    Ewine van Dishoeck STRW-UL
    Stefan van der Giessen Leiden University
    Leon Trapman Leiden Observatory
    Gleb Fedoseev Laboratory for Astrophysics, Leiden Observatory
    Huib Intema ICRAR – Curtin University
    Jeroen Terwisscha van Scheltinga Leiden Observatory
    Kirsty Butler Sterrewacht Leiden
    Schuyler Wolff Leiden Observatory
    Sander Schouws Leiden University
    Leindert Boogaard Leiden Observatory
    Robin Mentel Leiden Observatory
    Lukasz Tychoniec Leiden Observatory
    Jozsef Varga Leiden Observatory
    Tabone Leiden University
    Yijun Wang University of Science and Technology of China & Leiden Observatory
    Andrew Barr Leiden Observatory
    Matthew Kenworthy Leiden Observatory
    Alexandru-Daniel Taun University of Groningen
    Vincent Icke Leiden University
    Violeta Gámez Rosas Leiden University
    Pengyu Liu Leiden University
    MARIANNA PATATOUKOU Leiden University
    Martijn van Gelder Leiden Observatory
    Micha Heilman Leiden University
    Pooneh Nazari Leiden University
    DIRECTIONS

    -Directions to Leiden Observatory

    Note that this is not the old Observatory in the center of Leiden.

    There are regular buses from the Leiden Centraal station, buses 43 (direction Den Haag) or bus 57 (direction Nieuw Vennep). These take around 7 minutes. Please see the link below for more specific details if you will be coming by bus.

    Instructions on how to get to Leiden Observatory, including transportation from Schiphol Airport, can be found here:
    https://www.lorentzcenter.nl/howto.php
    And a site map can be found here:
    https://www.lorentzcenter.nl/map_LC_hotels_stat_web.php

    lorentzcenter

    Note these specify the route to the Lorentz Center, which is in the forward leaning building in the photo. The event will be held in the joining taller building – The Huygens building. Leiden Observatory and Allegro offices are located on the 4-5th and 11th floor of that same building, respectively.

    -Directions inside the building:

    • HL-226 on the 2nd floor of the Huygens building:
      hl_226

    At the entrance of the building there is a reception were they can provide you with directions.
    The afternoon session will be held on the 2nd floor of the Huygens Building (HL), room HL-226.
    The borrel will be held on the 11th floor of the Huygens Building (HL), next to the Allegro offices (HL-11.22).

ACA Supplemental Call for Proposals Pre-announcement

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The Cycle 7 Supplemental Call for Proposals is anticipated to open at 15:00 UT on September 3 with a proposal deadline of 15:00 UT on October 1. ALMA expects to allocate approximately 2500 h of observing time on the ACA in the Supplemental Call.
Preliminary information is currently available here.
Complete details of the Supplemental Call will be posted on the ALMA Science Portal on September 3.

Improving Image Fidelity on Astronomical Data: Radio Interferometer and Single-Dish Data Combination

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The Lorentz Center will be hosting the meeting:
Improving Image Fidelity on Astronomical Data: Radio Interferometer and Single-Dish Data Combination
from the 12th to the 16th of August, 2019.
Please find all the information needed on this link.

The black hole at the heart of our Galaxy

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Including the powerful ALMA into an array of telescopes for the first time, astronomers have found that the emission from the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) at the center of our Galaxy comes from a smaller region than previously thought. This may indicate that a radio jet from Sgr A* is pointed almost toward us. Please find more information on the Press Release.

Issues affecting CASA mosaic imaging

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The ALMA Observatory circulated a report of issues affecting mosaic images produced with CASA in ALMA Cycles 1-5.

Over the course of the last several months an issue in CASA mosaic imaging was recognized. The Observatory elected to understand and characterize the issue before informing the user community of potential impacts on the resulting images. The CASA team has now identified a couple of issues using both the 7-m and 12-m arrays over the course of the past few cycles and CASA releases. The full extent of the data affected is still being investigated.

You can read further details on the identified issues in this link to the Science Portal.

ALMA Cycle 6 Proposal Review: Detailed Report

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A detailed report on the outcome of the ALMA Cycle 6 Proposal Review Process is now available. The report details the proposal review process, proposal statistics, and regional distributions, as well as the proposal distribution across science categories and receiver bands.

The report can be downloaded as a pdf document.

The highest priority Cycle 6 projects are listed at this link.

You can find the original announcement in the Science Portal.

New ACA observatory filler programs for Cycle 5

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The ALMA Observatory announces four filler programs that have been approved on the Atacama Compact Array (ACA), also known as the Morita Array. The programs were designed to fill a gap in the ACA observing schedule in the remainder of Cycle 5 between LST of 22 and 1.5 h. The programs were selected based on input from scientists at the Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) and the ALMA Regional Centers (ARCs). The proposed programs were reviewed by the ALMA Integrated Science Team (IST) with final approval by the ALMA Director.

The approved programs are:

2017.A.00043.T: Time evolution of CO & H2O in the Martian atmosphere during a large-scale dust storm.
This project will monitor the evolution of CO and H2O in the Martian atmosphere during the recent dust storm.

2017.A.00053.S: ALMA ACA Band-8 observatory project: Mapping fine structure lines of neutral atomic carbon in local bright galaxies
This project will map the spatial distribution of the 492 GHz neutral carbon line in four nearby galaxies. The galaxies and map sizes are listed in the Table.
Galaxy Map size
NGC 7862 125″× 20″
NGC 55 90″× 30″
NGC 660 105″× 30″
ESO 353-G020 55″× 10″

2017.A.00054.S: ACA Observatory Project: SMC Band 6 CO and continuum mapping
This project will map a large area (~ 0.34ox 1o) toward the North bar in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) in 12CO(2-1), H(30) alpha, and the continuum.

2017.A.00056.S:The nature of Planck compact sources at 353 microns
This project will conduct a survey of Planck sources at high galactic latitude in the Band 6 continuum to determine the nature of these sources. These observations could also potentially identify new calibrators for ALMA high frequency observations.

The data from the proposals will be quality assessed by the JAO and released through the ALMA Archive with no proprietary period. Any remaining PI science programs and activities to commission new capabilities on the array will have priority, and therefore the above programs may not be completed in full.

Link to the announcement in the Science Portal:
https://almascience.eso.org/news/alma-announces-new-aca-observatory-filler-programs-for-cycle-5

ALMA development roadmap for the next decade

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The ALMA Board approved the ALMA Development Roadmap for the next decade. The current development priorities as based on scientific merit and technical feasibility, are:

  • to broaden the receiver IF bandwidth by at least a factor two, and
  • to upgrade the associated electronics and correlator.

These developments will advance a wide range of scientific studies by significantly reducing the time required for blind redshift surveys, spectral scans, and deep continuum surveys. In order of scientific priority, receiver upgrades are recommended for intermediate (200-425 GHz), low (< 200 GHz), and high (> 425 GHz) frequencies. The Board acknowledges that there are other potential development areas for the future for which the science cases and technical feasibility need to be further demonstrated.

A document summarizing the development priorities for the Observatory out to 2030 is presented here:

https://www.almaobservatory.org/en/announcement/alma-sets-development-objectives-for-the-next-decade

You can directly access the PDF document at alma-development-roadmap.pdf.

Picture: ALMA 7-metre antenna on a transporter. Credit: ESO