Category Archives: News and Announcements

Submitted by Kathryn MacLeod (Senior Communications Advisor, Communications Branch National Research Council Canada / Government of Canada)

(Cassiopeia – Summer 2022)

Tom Landecker awarded the W.G. Schneider Medal

Dr. Tom Landecker, Researcher Emeritus, has recently been awarded the W.G. Schneider Medal – the highest expression of recognition for achievement at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). This award recognizes an employee who has made an outstanding contribution to the NRC above and beyond the expectations of their job duties, and who exemplifies the NRC’s values.

Dr. Landecker has been a major force in, and an inspiration to, Canadian astronomy for 5 decades. With expertise in both engineering and astronomy, he has pushed technological improvement in the service of science, working with academic partners to develop novel telescopes at the NRC’s Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO) which have enabled science, including some of the world’s foremost research on Fast Radio Bursts here in Canada.

He is a publishing powerhouse, authoring 150 refereed journal articles in science and engineering. He celebrated his 80th birthday with 9 new papers in 2021 alone.

He is highly respected among his peers in astronomy, not just for his expertise, but also for his enthusiasm, leadership and mentorship, inspiring and encouraging the next generation of Canadian astronomers.

A Legacy of Telescopes and the Discovery They Enable

Dr. Landecker first arrived at the DRAO as a postdoctoral fellow now a part of the NRC Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre, in 1969.

In that role, he helped build the Synthesis Telescope – a unique imaging radio telescope that is open to all Canadian and international astronomers. Later, as Director of the DRAO, Dr. Landecker used the Synthesis Telescope to lead the team carrying out one of the largest surveys of the interstellar medium (dust and gas), the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey (CGPS, 1995-2014). He developed techniques for wide-field polarization imaging that have become standard in the field. The project produced over 400 refereed publications, and continues to generate about 20 more each year. This success spawned an international era of wide-field radio surveys.

Following this, Dr. Landecker started the Global Magneto-Ionic Medium Survey (GMIMS), mapping out the polarization of the entire radio sky, and making this available to all astronomers via the NRC’s Canadian Astronomy Data Centre. The GMIMS consortium comprises 14 Canadian and 22 international scientists, including many experts in magnetic field studies.

All of Dr. Landecker’s projects have developed new technical capabilities to support science that previously was simply not possible, from telescope upgrades and new algorithms for the CGPS, to new feed concepts and on-site demonstrations leading to the success of the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME).

Supporting University Collaboration

Dr. Landecker has also played an instrumental role in the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), sited at the DRAO. He advised university partners on the development of CHIME’s unprecedented “half-pipe” design, to realize a valuable new tool for cosmology and the hunt for Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). CHIME has been spectacularly successful, receiving the Governor General’s Award for Innovation (2020) and the Berkeley Prize of the American Astronomical Society (2022). A CHIME result on FRBs was lauded among the top scientific results of 2020 among both Nature and Science magazines.

“Tom has been absolutely crucial to the success of CHIME, on account of his deep knowledge of radio instrumentation, his amazing expertise on Galactic emission, his enthusiastic appreciation and detailed knowledge of a very broad range of research topics, and his very deep respect for his colleagues.”

– Mark Halpern, University of British Columbia and Principal Investigator, CHIME

“Tom has been a major driving force behind Canadian radio astronomy for many decades… Tom has been absolutely essential to the development, construction, implementation, testing, calibration and scientific exploitation of CHIME.”

– Victoria Kaspi, McGill University and Principal Investigator, CHIME/FRB

Mentorship

Dr. Tom Landecker’s enthusiasm, technical expertise, scientific focus and hands-on work ethic have directly inspired generations of students and postdoctoral fellows. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Calgary and the University of British Columbia – Okanagan. He has supervised 17 graduate students at Canadian universities, and worked closely with many more, acting in particular as a strong advocate and mentor for women in engineering and science.

“Tom Landecker has been my mentor since I was in graduate school… In a world filled with competitive agents, he is the most collaborative and inclusive person I know. My graduate students and I have benefited immensely from his knowledge and wisdom; I am eternally grateful for his support and friendship.”

– Professor Jo-Anne Brown, University of Calgary

“Through mentorship, Tom has encouraged female students and postdocs, myself included, into the traditionally male-dominated fields of astronomy and engineering, always with a genuine trust in their abilities and their potential to contribute… His way of communicating empowers me to learn new concepts and fill in gaps in my understanding while feeling that I am part of a productive conversation.”

– Anna Ordog, current Postdoctoral Fellow, University of British Columbia-Okanagan

Congratulations Tom!

(Cassiopeia – Summer / été 2022)

by Dr. Ryley Hill
Thesis defended on March 15, 2022
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia
Thesis advisor: Prof. Douglas Scott

Abstract

The Lambda cold dark matter (Lambda CDM) model accurately reproduces many notable observations of our Universe, such as the existence of galaxy clusters embedded in a cosmic web. However, there remain many open questions about the physics governing baryons on galaxy cluster scales that the Lambda CDM model cannot address, such as how star-formation is triggered and quenched, and how feedback processes regulate structure growth. In order to investigate these questions we study SPT2349-56, a star-forming protocluster discovered at redshift 4.3, corresponding to a period when large-scale structure was actively forming. We use submillimetre observations to search for protocluster members, identifying 29 galaxies at z = 4.3. These galaxies are distributed into a central core 300 kpc in diameter, and a northern extension offset from the core by 400 kpc. We find three additional galaxies 1.5 Mpc from the main structure, suggesting the existence of other halos at the same redshift that are not covered by our data. An analysis of the velocity distribution of the central galaxies indicates that this region may be virialized with a mass of (9 ± 5)x10¹² solar masses, while the two separated galaxy groups show significant velocity offsets from the central group. We estimate the average star-formation rate density of SPT2349-56 to be roughly 40,000 solar masses per year per cubic Megaparsec; this may be an order of magnitude greater than the most extreme examples seen in simulations. We carry out a suite of optical and near-infrared observations in order to characterize the stellar content of SPT2349-56. Using the submillimetre positions of the protocluster members, we identify counterparts and perform detailed source deblending, allowing us to fit spectral energy distributions and estimate stellar masses. We show that the galaxies in SPT2349-56 have stellar masses proportional to their star-formation rates, consistent with other protocluster galaxies and field submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) around redshift 4. However, the galaxies in SPT2349-56 have on average lower molecular gas-to-stellar mass fractions and depletion timescales than field SMGs, although with considerable scatter. Hydrodynamical simulations predict that the core galaxies will quickly merge into a brightest cluster galaxy, thus our observations provide a direct view of the early formation mechanisms of this class of object.

By Gregg Wade (on behalf of the Canadian BRITE team)
(Cassiopeia – Summer 2022)

BRITE-Constellation is an international space astronomy mission consisting of a fleet of 20x20x20 cm nanosatellites dedicated to precision optical photometry of bright stars in two photometric colours. The mission continues in full science operations, with 38 datasets available in the public domain from the BRITE public archive. As of April of 2020, all data is made public as soon as decorrelation is complete, with no proprietary period.

The BRITE mission is a collaboration between Canadian, Austrian and Polish astronomers and space scientists. The Canadian partners represent University of Toronto, Université de Montréal, Mount Allison University, and Royal Military College of Canada. The mission was built, and the Canadian satellites operated by, the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies Space Flight Lab (UTIAS-SFL). The Canadian Space Agency funded the construction of the Canadian satellites, and continues to support their day-to-day operations.

Operations

There are five BRITE satellites in the Constellation, which work together to obtain well-sampled, long term continuous (~6 months) light curves in both red and blue band passes across a variety of sky fields.

As this issue of Cassiopeia went to press, the assignments of the BRITE nanosats were:

• BRITE Toronto (Canada): This satellite observes with a red filter. It is currently observing the Cyg V field. (As indicated by the roman numeral, Cygnus is a BRITE legacy field being observed for the 5th time.) The pointing performance of the satellites on this field has been poor, and an alternative field may be considered.
• BRITE Lem (Poland): Lem observes with a blue filter, but is currently idle due to unresolved stability issues.
• BRITE Heweliusz (Poland): Heweliusz observes with a red filter. It is currently observing the Cru-Car IV field with good performance.
• BRITE Austria (Austria): BRITE Austria observes with a blue filter. It is currently observing the Sgr VIII field.
• UniBRITE (Austria): Currently out of order.

The BRITE Constellation observing program is currently set through mid-2022. Details of the observing plan will be available on the BRITE photometry Wiki page.

Recent Science Results

“5 yr of BRITE-Constellation photometry of the luminous blue variable P Cygni: properties of the stochastic low-frequency variability” (Elliot et al. 2022, MNRAS 509, 4246)

Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) are massive stars that are likely to be a transitionary phase between O stars and hydrogen-free classical Wolf-Rayet stars. The variability of these stars has been an area of study for both professional and amateur astronomers for more than a century. In this paper, we present 5 yr of precision photometry of the classical LBV P Cygni taken with the BRITE-Constellation nanosatellites. We have analyzed these data with Fourier analysis to search for periodicities that could elucidate the drivers of variability for these stars. These data show some long-time-scale variability over the course of all six calendar years of observations, but the frequencies needed to reproduce the individual light curves are not consistent from 1 yr to the next. These results likely show that there is no periodic phenomenon present for P Cygni, meaning that the variability is largely stochastic. We interpret the data as being caused by internal gravity waves similar to those seen in other massive stars, with P Cygni exhibiting a larger amplitude and lower characteristic frequency than the main-sequence or blue supergiant stars previously studied. These results show evidence that LBVs may be an extrapolation of the blue supergiants, which have previously been shown to be an extension of main-sequence stars in the context of the stochastic low-frequency photometric variability.

Conferences, Resources, and Social Media

Conferences

The BRITE team will be holding their annual face-to-face strategic planning meeting during the TASC6/KASC13 meeting in Leuven in early July.

Resources and Social Media

The BRITE Public Data Archive, based in Warsaw, Poland, at the Nikolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre, can be accessed here.

The mission Wiki (including information on past, current and future fields) can be accessed here.

BRITE Constellation is on Facebook, at @briteconstellation.

The BRITE International Advisory Science Team

The BRITE International Advisory Science Team (BIAST), which consists of BRITE scientific PIs, technical authorities, amateur astronomers, and mission fans, advises the mission executive on scientific and outreach aspects of the mission. If you’re interested in joining BIAST, contact Catherine Lovekin, the chair of BEST.

By Patrick Côté, John Hutchings (NRC Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre)
(Cassiopeia – Summer 2022)

CASTOR continues to make progress on several fronts. The following list summarizes activities since the last e-CASS report in March.

1. The technical risk-retirement (STDP) contract has developed the detector work plan, involving the supplier T-e2v, the JPL doping and coating process, readout electronics from NRC-HAA, and lab testing at Honeywell, the Open University in the UK, and the University of Calgary UV vacuum lab.
2. The Phase 0 Science Working Groups (SWGs) and full science team are meeting monthly for science development work. Under NRC-HAA contracts, specific work is continuing at several Canadian universities.
3. The Industrial Phase 0 Mission Concept Review (MCR) is due later this month, where the mission requirements will be outlined and agreed on. The CASTOR science team has been closely engaged in preparing for this important milestone.
4. Partnership discussions have included a town-hall meeting in the UK, attended by the UK Space Agency to advise on funding opportunities later this year. Other individuals in Europe, United States and Asia have expressed interest and are contributing specific studies.
5. The FORECASTOR tools for exposure time calculations and data simulations continues development on several fronts with contributions from a number of students, postdocs and faculty members. SWGs will be using these tools to raise the science readiness levels of CASTOR’s planned surveys to a minimum of SRL=4 by conclusion of the Phase 0 study.
6. The mission business case is now in development by CSA, and will be completed later this year. ACURA and the Coalition have been briefed as part of their regular activities and CASTOR has been mentioned favourably in several of the CSA Topical Team meetings, and the recent Canadian Space Exploration Workshop.
7. Detailed education and public outreach plans are being developed by the science team. Those who are interested in being involved in these efforts are encouraged to contact Nathalie Ouellette.

By Kristine Spekkens (Canadian SKA Science Director) and the AACS
(Cassiopeia – Summer 2022)

We are now a year into the construction phase of SKA Phase 1 (= SKA1), and the project continues to evolve rapidly. Major milestones of the staged construction plan include the first correlated SKA1-Low stations and SKA1-Mid dishes in 2024, the first data from scientifically competitive arrays in 2026, and science readiness reviews of completed arrays underway by late 2028. The SKA Construction Proposal and Observatory Delivery Plans detail SKA1 science drivers, technical requirements and anticipated broader impacts, with the latter structured around the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In particular, the project is committed to building partnerships with Indigenous and local communities at the remote sites where the dishes and antennas will be located.

There are 16 partner countries of the SKA Observatory (SKAO) that is building and will operate SKA1: 8 are Full Members (Australia; China; Italy; the Netherlands; Portugal; South Africa; Switzerland; the United Kingdom) with voting rights on the SKAO Council which governs the project, and 8 are Observers (Canada; France; Germany; India; Japan; South Korea; Spain; Sweden) that witness SKAO Council meetings where governance decisions are made. In April, France signed an accession agreement to transition from SKAO Observer to Full Member once it ratifies the Observatory Convention, formalizing its long-term commitment to the project. Other Observers are completing their internal processes to become Full Members as well.

A cooperation agreement between NRC and the SKAO allows Canada’s scientific and engineering communities to continue participating in the SKA through March 2023, while longer-term SKAO membership is given full consideration by the federal government. Work under the cooperation agreement is fully funded and proceeding on schedule, with the Canadian correlator team from NRC and industry partner MDA on track to provide the backends to support the initial four-dish Array Assembly (= AA0.5) and the subsequent 16-dish Array Assembly (= AA1) for SKA1-Mid. In addition, the NRC digitizer team has delivered a qualification model system to South Africa for dish testing and is currently working towards the Critical Design Review for the SKA1-Mid Single-Pixel Feed and Receiver in July.

In order to maintain our leading role in SKA1-Mid correlator work, a Canadian commitment to construction and operations beyond the cooperation agreement will soon be required from our government. In this context, bilateral meetings between NRC and SKAO are underway to discuss topics including the accession process, the valuation of Canadian financial contributions in terms of observing time and fair work return, and the funding schedule for a 6% participation in SKA1 recommended by LRP2020. The goal of the meetings is to bring the most up-to-date information to our government as it decides on long-term participation in the SKA.

There has also been significant recent activity to develop the SKA Regional Centres (SRCs), a network of ~five data centres around the world managed through a partnership between SKAO and participating countries that will handle the global science processing (~20 PFlop/s), science archive (~700 PB/yr) and related user support needs. The SRC Steering Committee (SRCSC) is initiating a round of trilateral discussions between the SKAO Council, the SKAO Project Office and the SRCSC national representatives in the different partner countries to develop a common understanding of the SRC Network concept, along with the planning and decisions required to deploy it at scale by the onset of full SKA1 operations at the end of this decade.

Preparatory SRC Network activities are ramping up significantly, with all partner countries contributing personnel to develop an SRC Network Implementation Plan to present to the SKAO Council in mid-2023. The requirements phase is nearly complete, and an architecture phase is now ramping up in parallel with a major prototyping effort. In Canada, the CADC is contributing 1 full-time equivalent (FTE) of effort as well as software to the prototyping activity, with in-kind support from the Digital Research Alliance (the successor organisation to Compute Canada). The costing presented to the federal government for long-term Canadian participation in SKA1 includes a Canadian SRC to leverage our digital research infrastructure expertise and support Canadian science using SKA1.

Now that the construction phase has begun a significant ramp-up in staffing across the project is also underway, and many scientists, engineers, software designers, and support and administrative personnel are being hired. Individuals from all nationalities are welcome to apply. Those interested should keep an eye on the SKAO Recruitment Portal, which includes a “job alert” tool to set up personalized emails filtered by field of expertise, location, duration, and employment type.

For more information and updates on Canada and the SKA:

• subscribe to the Canadian SKA email list by sending a blank email to all+subscribe@skacanada.groups.io
• visit the Canadian SKA WWW site

By Brenda Matthews (ALMA)
(Cassiopeia – Summer 2022)

Cycle 9 Proposal Statistics

Cycle 9 set yet another record for the amount of time requested on ALMA. There were 1769 proposals requesting a whopping 51,370 hours of observing on the 12m-, 7m- and TP-arrays, an overall oversubscription rate of 7.0. Forty Large Program proposals were submitted.

Proposals with PIs/co-PIs from Canadian institutions also requested a record amount of time. There were 46 Canadian-PI proposals, requesting 4,721 hours of time, more than 3.5 times the previous record of 1335 hours set in Cycle 5. This is over 20% of the time requested by the entire North American community in Cycle 9.

For a more complete summary of global Cycle 9 proposal submissions, see here.

Cycle 8 Status

Cycle 8 observations began on September 30, 2021. The array is currently in Configuration 5, and the array configurations will gradually expand over the coming months.

Science Ready Data Products

Not an interferometric expert, or short on time to reduce your own or archival ALMA data? No problem!

The North American ALMA Science Center can produce Science Ready Data Products for you, to your specifications! For ALMA data, this includes a calibrated measurement set (Cycles 5 and later) and via the AUDI (ALMA User-Defined Imaging), continuum or spectral imaging with modified spatial and spectral resolution.

These are great ways to optimize your use of ALMA data!

Visualize Data in the ALMA Archive with CARTA

The ALMA Archive has recently incorporated the Cube Analysis and Rendering Tool for Astronomy (CARTA) into the ALMA archive. With CARTA you can quickly visualize ALMA data products interactively in the archive without spending the time and bandwidth downloading them to your personal computer. In particular, some imaging products are being stored in the ALMA archive, like the ARI-L imaging products from early ALMA cycles. ARI-L images can be explored with CARTA and the downloaded in a science ready form. The successful integration of CARTA is nationally exciting since CARTA was initially developed in Canada using ALMA Development funding based on prototype work from Canada’s CyberSKA project. For more information on using CARTA in the ALMA archive, see here and for more information about the CARTA project in general, see the CARTA page.

Video Tutorials for ALMA Users

At the end of 2021, the NAASC announced a new YouTube channel for the ALMA Primer Series of video tutorials. The platform currently hosts several short video tutorials designed to explain aspects of ALMA and interferometry, such as estimating sensitivities for proposals, understanding the largest angular scale, and the ins and outs of weighting schemes.

The site will be populated as well with short animations from the videos suitable for use in seminars and live training. New videos will be added from time to time.

Check out and subscribe, here!