NRAONRAO NewsletterNewsletter The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. July 2002 www.nrao.edu/news/newsletters Number 92 DIRECTOR’S OFFICE California at Berkeley as a Miller Fellow. Two years later, he returned to Caltech where he held various research and teaching positions until 1986. Fred K.Y. Lo to Become NRAO In 1986, Lo accepted the position of Professor of Director Astronomy at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, and served as the chairman of that university's Associated Universities, astronomy department from 1995 to 1997. Lo accepted his Inc. (AUI), the not-for-profit current position at the Academia Sinica in 1997. He also corporation that operates accepted the post of Professor of Physics at the National the National Radio Astronomy Taiwan University in 1998. Observatory (NRAO) under Lo is an accomplished radio astronomer with very wide a cooperative agreement research interests. His studies range from star formation in with the National Science different environments such as dwarf galaxies, starbursts in Foundation, announces the nearby and very distant galaxies, to the determination of the appointment of Fred K.Y. Lo structure of Sagittarius A - the compact radio source at the as the director of the NRAO, center of the Milky Way Galaxy. He has been intimately effective September 1, 2002. involved in the construction and scientific use of all the mil- Lo is currently a Distinguished Research Fellow and the limeter-wave and sub-millimeter-wave interferometer arrays Director of the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics of in the United States, and he made the first millimeter-wave the Academia Sinica, located in Taipei. interferometric map of carbon dioxide emission from an Lo succeeds Paul A. Vanden Bout, who served as external galaxy. NRAO director from January 1, 1985, to June 1, 2002. In 1986 with Mark Claussen, now at NRAO, Lo made the Vanden Bout stepped down to become the interim director original suggestion that luminous water maser emission in of the Joint ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) Office. external galaxies is circum-nuclear instead of circumstellar, Miller Goss, former assistant director for New Mexico Operations for NRAO, has been appointed as acting direc- tor in the interim. Index We are delighted that Dr. Lo has accepted this critical and demanding position. The national and international Director’s Office 1-2 scientific community is indeed fortunate to have an astronomer of this caliber directing the NRAO as it begins a ALMA 3-4 new era of exploration and discovery. Green Bank 4-7 Martha P. Haynes of Cornell University, and chairman of Socorro 8-11 the AUI Board of Trustees, points out the AUI Board's strong In General 12-13 endorsement of Lo's appointment to lead the NRAO. "As New Results 14-25 an active radio astronomer, university professor, and direc- tor of an institute that is working on a number of novel proj- Proper Motion Measurements of Pulsar ects, Fred Lo has distinguished himself as a leading figure B1951+32 in the Supernova Remnant in the United States and international astronomical commu- CTB 80 page 14 nities," she said. Cassini Observations of Jupiter’s Synchrotron Emission page 17 Lo received his bachelor's and doctorate degrees in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in The Role of Interactions in Shaping Lopsided Galaxies page 20 1969 and 1974, respectively. He joined the California Institute of Technology in 1974 as a Research Fellow in Contact Information 26 Radio Astronomy. In 1976, Lo went to the University of July 2002 Director’s Office Number 92 and can serve as very high resolution probes of the very Stephane Guilloteau will take on the duties of the Project centers of galaxies. More recently, he has been leading an Scientist. An interim Project Engineer will be appointed effort in Taiwan to build an array to study the Cosmic soon. These appointments became effective on June 1, Microwave Background radiation – the echo of the Big and advertisements for permanent JAO staff will be Bang. In coming to NRAO, Lo will direct the daily operation placed soon. The recruitment and appointment process for and formulate the long-term goals of one of the world's lead- these permanent positions is expected to be completed by ing astronomical observatories. the end of this year. “The legacy left behind by Paul Vanden Bout is remark- While the AUI search for a new NRAO Director has able,” said Lo. “I look forward to the challenge and concluded (see article on page 1), AUI has appointed opportunity of continuing the outstanding operation of Miller Goss, former assistant director for New Mexico NRAO, while working to ensure the scientific and techno- Operations, to serve as Acting NRAO Director until the new logical excellence of the Observatory.” director begins his appointment on September 1. This appointment also became effective June 1. R. Giacconi In a message to the NRAO staff, Vanden Bout wrote: “The great strength of the NRAO is the people that make up Vanden Bout to Serve as Interim Director of the staff, their ability and skill, dedication to science, and New ALMA Office loyalty to the Observatory and its mission. I want to thank the staff for the support and teamwork given to me during The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) telescope the past 17 years. After a brief tour of duty with the JAO and project reached an important milestone on May 20, 2002, a year of research leave, I look forward to re-joining the life when the ALMA Coordinating Committee approved the and activities of the Observatory.” establishment of the Joint ALMA Office (JAO). This newly established entity will oversee the construction phase of C. E. Blue ALMA and coordinate the international collaboration for the project. NRAO and Institute of Radioastronomy Over the course of the next several years, as ALMA comes on line and begins operations, the Joint ALMA Office (Italy) Sign Agreement will evolve into the actual ALMA Observatory in Chile. This NRAO and the Istituto do Radioastronomia (IRA) in new structure for ALMA will be particularly beneficial Bologna, Italy, signed a Memorandum of Agreement on because it will allow for a more coordinated and centralized May 30, 2002. The observatories have agreed to study management during construction, and a smooth transition long-term arrangements that will facilitate joint VLBI and to regular operations. other science programs, share technology, and facilitate the The ALMA Coordinating Committee has appointed exchange of staff and visitors. The IRA operates two 34-m Paul Vanden Bout to serve as the interim director for the antennas for VLBI research, one near Bologna and the Joint ALMA Office. Vanden Bout has agreed to step down other in Noto, Sicily. They also operate the low-frequency from his duties as NRAO Director and to take on the interim “Northern Cross” near Bologna, and are building a 64-m directorship of the Joint ALMA Office, with the approval of fully steerable telescope with an active surface in Sardinia. the AUI Board of Trustees. We look forward to joint observations between NRAO tele- scopes and the 64-m in Sardinia upon its completion. Two other people were appointed to interim positions in the new ALMA management structure. Massimo Tarenghi P. A. Vanden Bout will serve as the interim Project Manager, and 2 July 2002 ALMA Number 92 ALMA ALMA Reorganizes for Construction The two million gates contained on these chips consume less than two watts at the operating frequency. Extensive At the April 2002 meeting in Venice, Italy, the ALMA testing is underway and preliminary results are extremely Coordinating Committee (ACC) voted to complete the encouraging. transition to the management organization that will lead the project through the construction phase. During the design Finally, erection of the first ALMA prototype antenna at and development phase, management of the project was the VLA site began in June. Major components of the carried out through the ALMA Executive Committee (AEC). VertexRSI antenna began to arrive at the site in May and The AEC was made up of the senior managers of the proj- erection of the antenna will be completed at the end of July. ect from each of the executives (NRAO and ESO). At the Alignments and acceptance tests performed by the con- April meeting, the ACC created the Joint ALMA Office tractor will occur in August. Integration of ALMA supplied (JAO), which will ultimately have an ALMA Director, Project hardware and software will be interleaved with contractor Manager, Project Scientist, and Project Engineer. These activities beginning in July. Formal handover of the antenna personnel will report directly to the ALMA Board (more on will occur during the first week of September. The the ALMA Board Later). An international search for the per- antenna will undergo extensive testing over the succeeding manent JAO staff has been started. While that search is months to verify that it meets all requirements. underway, interim appointments for three of the JAO M. D. Rafal positions have been made, as mentioned in a previous article. Paul Vanden Bout has been appointed ALMA Director. Massimo Tarenghi and Stephane Guilloteau have been appointed Project Manager and Project Scientist ALMA Antenna Assembly Begins at the respectively. They will serve for approximately six months ALMA Test Facility or until permanent staff are appointed. Assembly of the VertexRSI antenna has begun at the The creation of the Joint ALMA Office, particularly with ALMA Test Facility (ATF) located on the VLA site. This is the these uniquely qualified individuals, is a great step forward culmination of 28 months of design, development, and for ALMA.