ALMA Matters – ARCADES, New Horizons, and Cycle 6

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From / de Gerald Schieven
(Cassiopeia – Summer / été 2018)

ARCADES, A New Facility for ALMA Data Reduction/Analysis

NRC’s Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre is pleased to announce a new project which aims to make all aspects of ALMA data analysis easier. The ARCADES (ALMA Retrieval with the CANFAR Data System) project has several different components which we are starting to roll out. The first component is aimed primarily at astronomers who have some experience with ALMA’s data reduction software, CASA. For this component, we are making available one-click virtual machines on the CANFAR computing environment which have CASA pre-loaded and easy mechanisms to download raw ALMA data. These virtual machines will have ample computing power and storage space, and are fully interactive (e.g., for running CLEAN). We are looking for several beta testers for this system – please contact Helen Kirk if you are interested.

New Horizons in Planetary Systems 13-17 May 2019

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Members of the Millimetre Astronomy Group at Herzberg and their counterparts at NRAO are jointly organizing (as part of their roles within the North American ALMA Science Centre) a science conference entitled “New Horizons in Planetary Systems” to be held from 13-17 May 2019 in downtown Victoria BC.

The meeting is planned to have a broad scope, including planetary systems in formation within protoplanetary disks, minor objects in the solar system, debris disks and exoplanets. Experts will be asked to provide insights from all these fields to enhance our understanding of how planets form and evolve. Although it is organized by the NAASC, the meeting is not ALMA-centric, with a strong focus on the impact of the New Horizons mission flyby of a KBO in January 2019, as well as experts from TESS and other facilities who will be asked to provide a multi-chromatic picture of the current understanding in their fields. Invited speakers have been asked to provide broadly accessible talks.

Confirmed invited speakers include:

  • Brett Gladman (UBC): theory of planet formation
  • Grant Kennedy (U Warwick): debris disk constraints on planet formation
  • Heather Knutson (Caltech): exoplanet atmospheric composition
  • Emmanuel Lellouch (Observatoire de Paris): solar system objects, constraints on formation
  • Karin Öberg (Harvard U): protoplanetary disk composition and chemistry
  • John Spencer (SWRI): New Horizons KBO flyby: first results

We will also host a public talk on New Horizons by Deputy Mission Scientist Kelsi Singer (SWRI).

For more information, contact LOC Chair Brenda Matthews. Pre-registration will open in July with registration and abstract submission in October 2018.

Cycle 6 Canadian Submission Statistics

A record 1839 proposals were submitted requesting over 33K hours of ALMA time in Cycle 6, corresponding to an oversubscription rate of 4.8. Canadian PIs also submitted a record 44 proposals, requesting nearly 1000 hours. Canadian astronomers have full access to the North American fraction of ALMA time (~33%). The results from the Cycle 6 proposal review process are expected to be released in late July. Cycle 6 runs October 2018 through September 2019.

ALMA Publications

Over 1000 refereed publications have now appeared using ALMA data. Of these, more than 13% have had authors or co-authors from Canadian institutions.

Pour marque-pages : Permaliens.

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