Newsletter from Onsala Space Observatory |
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Onsala Space Observatory
Astronomy newsletter | November 2023 |
Chile's consul general in Gothenburg, Manuel José Saldías, visited Onsala in November. Here, he is pictured with Michael Lindqvist, John Conway, Eva Wirström, Karolina Strandsäter and Daniel Tafoya. Credit: Chalmers/R. Cumming | From the director
We were honoured this month to host the Chilean consul General in Gothenburg during his visit to the observatory (photo above). We celebrated with him the long history of collaboration between Onsala Space Observatory and Chile. As well as being the 10th anniversary of the start of ALMA operations the visit marked almost to the day the 60th anniversary of the signing of the first Chile-ESO agreement. The first involvement of ESO in (sub)millimetre wavelengths came from the OSO initiative to build the Swedish-ESO-Submillimetre Telescope (SEST) which began operation in 1987. This was followed with the APEX telescope, a joint project together with MPIfR and ESO, and OSO’s important role in establishing ALMA as global project. Today, our staff are contributing in key areas to the ongoing ALMA Wide Sensitivity Upgrade. We are also developing large computational resources, including exploiting synergies in software and user support experience, to allow Swedish users to optimally exploit the vast data sets that will come from both the enhanced ALMA and the SKA - see our news item below on the Swedish SKA Regional Centre.
John Conway | |
Available for spring and summer proposals: the Onsala 20-m telescope (Credit: Chalmers/R. Cumming) |
Calls for proposals
Proposals are invited for observations with the Onsala 20 m diameter telescope in 2024. Deadline: 8 December 2023.
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). We welcome proposals for Large programmes, i.e. spanning more than one semester and/or requiring >~ 500 hours.
Before submitting the proposal, the authors must contact the telescope scientist Henrik Olofsson henrik.olofsson@chalmers.se to arrange with a local collaborator to support the observations. Calls for proposals for the 20 m telescope are issued only once per year. |
More telescopes and observing applications 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 February 2024. | | | APEX proposals in 2024A call for proposals for observations with APEX in 2024 will be issued in January 2024, with deadline in mid-February 2024. APEX is a 12 m diameter submillimetre telescope in Chile. Proposals for Swedish time on APEX must have a PI with a Swedish affiliation. Calls for proposals for APEX are issued only once per year.
For more information on all these, see the full Call for proposals. | | | | |
A start for Sweden's SKA Regional Centre In November, we asked for input from the community toward the development of the Swedish SKA Regional Centre. The new centre, SWE-SRC for short, is a node in the global SRC network collaboration, SRCNet. The Swedish SRC will provide user support to the Swedish astronomical community for precursors, preparation activities, and eventually the SKA itself. It's still early in this process, so we want to learn about the community that we will serve, so we've been looking into the current and future computing needs of the Swedish radio astronomy community. We recently send out a survey to current or potential future users of radio astronomy facilities, including mm- and submm-facilities, and people engaged in related activities like simulating radio data, data visualization, and source modeling. We received responses from researchers at six different institutes around Sweden who use data from more than 20 different telescopes around the world and simulate a range of astrophysical phenomena. To be sure of updates on the SKA, its precursors and pathfinders you can join the Sweden SKA mailing list. This is a new name for the SKA/LOFAR mailing list - no changes required if you're already on it. To join, send your name and email address to kelley.hess@chalmers.se and we'll add you. Kelley Hess PS. We're in the early planning stages of the second national SKA Sweden Day. Watch for more information early in 2024! |
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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Deep limits on glycineCarl et al (2023) have used the Onsala 20-metre telescope to put new, stringent limits on glycine in the dark cloud Barnard 5. VLA/GBT/Herschel image: B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF); ESA
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A protostar with episodic infall
In high spatial resolution 13CO data from ALMA, Bjerkeli et al (2023) see evidence of infall in the protostar B335
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ALMA peers into Sakurai's object The born-again planetary nebula known as Sakurai's object shows evidence of an hourglass structure in ALMA observations in HCN, Tafoya et al (2023) report. | | |
SEPIA sees water in a ULIRG
Quinatoa et al (2023) report the first ground-based detection of water in a high-redshift ultraluminous infrared galaxy. The detection was achieved thanks to SEPIA, the Band 5 instrument on APEX.
| | | Distant massive galaxies seen in [C II]ALMA Band 7 and [C II] offer new ways of investigating the environments of distant, massive galaxies. Kade et al (2023) studied two galaxies at z=4 (the quasar BRI 0952-0115, pictured) and 5. | | |
M 87* in circularly polarised light
The EHT has studied the supermassive black hole in M 87 again - this time in circularly polarised light. The data suggest that the magnetic field close to the event horizon is sometimes strong enough to accretion events. Read the paper in ApJ: Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration et al (2023).
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ALMA started its 10th cycle on 1 October 2023. Unexpected urgent maintenance was needed for the antenna transporters, which prevented the movements towards compact configurations that were originally planned. Antenna relocations have now resumed, and soon we will reach configuration C-7. In the meantime, Band 2 receivers have been approved for production thanks to the work of Onsala Space Observatory's GARD team. After 10 years of operations, work towards the ALMA Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade (WSU) is in full swing. The goal is to deliver a brand-new telescope by the end of the decade. The engagement and input from the community will be key and everyone is invited to a workshop on the WSU at ESO in June 2024. Also, in June next year the European ARC Network will be hosting the first ALMA school in the UK (registration is open!). Contact us at contact@nordic-alma.se for support in using ALMA or the ALMA Science Archive.
Subscribe to our mailing list to receive further ALMA news. Carmen Toribio & Daniel Tafoya, Chalmers, on behalf of the Nordic ARC node |
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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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![Quasar BRI 0952 seen in [C II]. Credit: Kade et al 2023](https://cdn.ungpd.com/625e0d16-2a28-4aab-8b51-587e764046c4/images/kade2023_aa41839-21-6_600_w_588_h_332.jpg)
