Newsletter from Onsala Space Observatory |
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Onsala Space Observatory
Astronomy newsletter | June 2024 |
Summer at Onsala Space Observatory: the 25-m telescope seen from the visitor centre. Credit: Chalmers/R. Cumming | From the director
Best summer greetings from Onsala! Before taking off for the holidays I would like to point you to the webpage and registration for the second Swedish National SKA Science days on 10-11 September. With the first SKA science possibilities only a few years away this is a great time to get involved in finding out more about this new global cornerstone astronomy project. Meanwhile, as described in this newsletter below, SKA’s higher-frequency older sibling ALMA continues to produce a wide range of first-rate science from Swedish users, in part enabled by the Nordic ALMA regional centre node at Onsala. Also described are observations using the Onsala 20-m single dish telescope made in combination with near-IR observations to detect molecular content and new stellar objects within cold dense clouds within our galaxy. In this issue you'll also find a report on the kick-off meeting of a new ESO-funded software development project for ALMA which exploits synergies with spectral line analysis software originally developed for SKA precursor telescopes.
John Conway | |
Calls for proposals
Calls for proposals for the 20 m telescope and APEX are issued only once per year.
Onsala 20-m telescope. The next deadline is expected to be in early December 2024. The Onsala 20 m telescope in Sweden is equipped with receivers which provide continuous frequency coverage in the ranges 18-50, 67-87 and 85-116 GHz with 4 GHz IF bandpass, dual polarisations and full mutual sideband rejection (<−13 dB).
APEX. The next deadline is expected to be in February 2025. APEX is a 12 m diameter submillimetre telescope in Chile. The receivers currently used on Swedish time are the heterodyne receivers SEPIA (159-211, 272-376 and 578-738 GHz) and nFLASH (200-270 and 385-500 GHz). In addition, the 7-pixel heterodyne receiver LASMA for 268-375 GHz is available under special conditions. Bolometer arrays are not available. Director’s discretionary time. Proposals for observations on director's discretionary time with APEX, the Onsala 20 m telescope, and single station observations with the Swedish LOFAR station in Onsala can be submitted at any time. European VLBI Network. The EVN is a network of radio telescopes located primarily in Europe and Asia. Next deadline 1 October 2024. |
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Join us for Sweden's second National SKA Science Days Sweden's second National SKA Science Days will be held on 10-11 September 2024 at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. Focusing on Swedish science and the Square Kilometre Array, it follows the success of the country's first National SKA Science Day in 2023, this time over two days.
Registration and abstract submission are open: abstract deadline is 21 June, registration deadline is 16 August.
We welcome contributions presenting results from SKA precursors and pathfinders across a broad range of astronomical topics, as well as theory and simulations. We encourage submissions on complementary data and techniques.
During the SKA Science Days are we want to showcase SKA activities currently underway in Sweden, including participation in SKA Science Data Challenges, industry contributions, and ongoing development towards the Swedish node of the SKA Regional Center Network. Results from SKA precursors and pathfinders, theoretical and simulation studies, will be reported, along with plans for of complementary use with other astronomical facilities (e.g. ALMA, Euclid, JWST and 4MOST).
We want the meeting to encourage scientific collaborations among groups interested in answering questions with SKA precursors/pathfinders and the next generation of SKA radio surveys.
The venue, Chalmers' unique Veras gräsmatta (Vera's Lawn), is ideal for stimulating discussion and lots of interactions. On the evening of Tuesday 10 September there will be a conference dinner. We hope to offer a hands-on session on Wednesday 11 September. If you have any questions, please feel free to email contact@swesrc.org. We look forward to welcoming you to Gothenburg! Kelley Hess and Franz Kirsten, on behalf of the SOC/LOC & SWE-SRC |
Science News Do you have recent science highlights related to telescopes operated or supported by Onsala Space Observatory? Let us know and we'll share in future newsletters!
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Spectacular magnetic windGorski et al (2024) have used ALMA to reveal a magnetically supported wind from the obscured nucleus of galaxy ESO320-G030. A press release from Chalmers will be available from 20 June 2024 (see our news page). | | |
Dusty quasars at redshift 3
Sun et al (2024) measured the spectral energy distributions of 16 hyperluminous quasars, showing how fast these objects consum gas and grow their central black holes. | | |
Hidden secrets of a cold clump
Using the Onsala 20 m telescope and other telescopes, Djupvik et al (2024) have explored the nature of the Planck cold clump PGCC 120.69+2.66, discovering evidence for several young stellar objects and a well-hidden red supergiant.
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Polarisation in AGB star envelopes With ALMA, polarisation measurements in molecular lines can tell us about how magnetic fields affect the circumstellar environment of evolved stars. Vlemmings et al (2024) have observed AGB stars CW Leo and R Leo. | | |
Better lines from ALMACan we make ALMA's spectral line data more accessible? In a new ALMA development study led by Onsala Space Observatory, we will automatically detect spectral line sources in ALMA data cubes and derive advanced data products from them. We held a kick-off meeting on 3 June 2024 (photo above, thanks to the Chalmerska huset staff member who took it for us); now the study will start by examining how to optimize the Source Finding Application (SoFiA) software to extract emission lines from ALMA data cubes. Later, we expect to produce publication-quality advanced data products, like moment 0, 1 and 2 maps, position-velocity diagrams and extracted spectra. We'll also investigate how to perform automated line identification based on redshift, improving source properties in advanced data products. The study will serve a broad range of science topics and aims to be able to be run on reduced data cubes in the ALMA archive.
Kelley Hess
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After the long maintenance period of the antenna transporters last autumn, ALMA Cycle 10 operations are proceeding normally. Last spring, the Cycle 11 call resulted in 1712 submitted
proposals, a similar number to previous cycles. However, the total number of requested observing hours in the 12-m array continuously increases every cycle, reaching this year a total of 31 610 hours. This translates into an oversubscription of 8.2 for Europe. A substantial number of joint proposals
were submitted to this call, together with JWST (50), the VLA (15) and the VLT (5), plus 42 Large Programs. The proposal review process is currently ongoing, and the announcement of its outcome is expected in August. For support using ALMA or the ALMA Science Archive: write to us at
contact@nordic-alma.se or visit nordic-alma.se. Subscribe to our mailing list to receive further ALMA news. Carmen Toribio & Daniel Tafoya, Chalmers, on behalf of the Nordic ARC node Below: On June 5th the Nordic ARC node hosted at Onsala our biggest community event of the year, the Nordic ALMA Day. We had the privilege to count with the presence of many special guests for this event, among them Pavel Jáchym (Czech ARC node), who gave a special colloquium, our GARD team, who shared their advances in receiver development, and colleagues from ESO (G. Popping and E. Villard) to present and discuss the future ALMA Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade with our user community. (Credit: Chalmers/D. Tafoya) |
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Support at Onsala Space Observatory
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Onsala Space Observatory offers a wide variety of
support to Swedish astronomers. We host the Nordic ALMA node, and offer support in several
other areas.
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Data Reduction: We support the reduction
of all types of radio/(sub-)mm interferometric
and single-dish observations. We welcome
visitors who need reduction support and offer
them the use of our National Facility
Computing Infrastructure (NaFCI) for
reduction of large data sets. Specialised Courses: We will be able to
assist with specialised lectures on for example,
interferometry, radio/(sub-)mm data analysis
and/or the use of National Facility instruments.
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Student projects: We also encourage visits
by students who want to learn how to reduce
and analyse their radio/(sub-)mm observations.
Workshop/School support: Similarly,
we can assist in planning and lecturing at
schools or workshops, when these include
topics related to National Facility activities and
instruments. This includes but is not limited to,
for example, radio/(sub-)mm interferometry
and single dish observing and analysis, ALMA,
APEX, LOFAR, SKA and EVN, plus our small SALSA telescopes for schools, students and the public. Seminars: National facility staff are also
available for scientific and technical seminars
on the aforementioned instruments. Michael Lindqvist, Chalmers
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Tell your colleagues about us! Onsala Space Observatory Astronomy Newsletter informs the astronomical community of current and planned instruments, support opportunities, and scientific highlights. It's published twice per year. Please encourage your colleagues to join us! Signing up is the best way of ensuring the newsletter gets to your inbox (and not to your spam folder!). Robert Cumming, editor, robert.cumming@chalmers.se
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