ALMA at 5000 m

Feeling large and on top of the world.

This afternoon, fueled by little sleep but a lot of excitement, I had the opportunity to visit the ALMA antennas at the "Array Operations Site (AOS)", elevation 5000 meters (16,000 feet).  A fellow astronomer drove us -- me, and two Japanese astronomers visiting in the CSV group -- approximately 30 kilometers, along a wide, winding dirt road into the mountains.  Why so wide?  Because on occasion the antennas must travel along this road as well, on their special transporter, after being assembled or undergoing maintenance at the "Operations Support Facility (OSF)".  I won't bother to explain much more, but rather point you to the photos, where you can see the antennas currently at the site, as well as an antenna on the transporter down at OSF.

One thing I find completely incredible is how all of the antennas work together (you can see photos of the computers and correlators) to form one, large telescope.  In fact, the "L" in ALMA stands for "Large".  And, we are continually adding more antennas to the array, until full science operations commence in 2013 with 66 antennas!  I also realized when I was up at the AOS how much I love three things associated with astronomy (in one way or another): telescopes, mountains, and snowy landscapes.  You'll see all of them in these photos.

Turno NocTurno (Night Shift)

The sun will soon rise, signifying the close of my first night shift back at ALMA (Raul gets credit for the clever play on words for "night shift" in spanish -- "Turno nocTurno").  After a few weeks with the telescopes powered off, the good news is that we have 4 antennas functioning for testing purposes now.  The original plan was to have the antennas powered off and moved to their new configuration during February, giving the array team a chance to test certain components in the meantime (without the threat of extreme voltage), and bringing the antennas back to life at the end of February to start science observations in the new extended configuration. 

However, the "altiplanic winter" struck somewhat harder than expected, bringing unprecedented rains to the Atacama, washing away roads and damaging buildings (apparently construction in this area doesn't usually worry about being very weather proof).  The observatory was evacuated for a short time, roads had to be reinforced, cables re-buried and roofs patched before we were able to return to operations as planned.  All this happened while we were in Santiago...  Tonight was the first night of observations, and I could tell as we drove to the observatory that the area had seen some precipitation, because I saw green for the first time around here.  But, otherwise, I don't notice much damage.  The desert seems to have happily soaked up the extra water.

Greenery in the high plains, and snow in the mountains (volcanoes?)
in the driest desert on earth...

 Now, I'm left to decide how to structure my days.  My obligations are to be in the control room from 10:30 pm - 6:30 am, and I'll try to attend the daily group meeting at 3 pm.  Also fitting in a few hours for writing up my own research (trying to channel the good science vibes here), and hopefully some time for exercise and/or exploration around the site, I figure I can try for some solid sleep in the morning or the evening.  And I won't forget to take some breaks to step outside and enjoy the clear sky at night, and the beautiful sunrise over the mountains.