Call for Proposals – for Semester 25A

Call for Proposals – for Semester 25A

The East Asian Observatory is now accepting proposals for the Principal Investigator (PI) queue for Semester 25A at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). Proposal submission is via the JCMT proposal handling system, Hedwig. For full details, and for proposal submission, please see

https://proposals.eaobservatory.org/

The 25A Call for PI Proposals closes on November 9th 2024 00:00 UTC time. The Hedwig system permits the submission (and repeated re-submission) of proposals until this deadline.

If this is your first time using Hedwig, you should use the ‘Log in’ button to generate an account. There is a Hedwig ‘Help’ facility at the upper right corner of each page, and individual Help tags in many other places. Note that Hedwig also allows a user to create copies of their previous approved proposals that were not completed (‘Continuation Request’), in order to simplify the process of proposal resubmission.

Proposers might be interested to note the proposal pressure in terms of RA and DEC. The figure below shows the distribution of target RA proposed in the past under Semester A. When allocating time the TAC is mindful to ensure that time is awarded across a range of RAs.

Please contact us at helpdesk@eaobservatory.org if you have remaining questions about either of the above Calls for Proposals.

 

 

JCMT Science Highlight: Unlocking the mystery of the Cosmic Infrared Background

Utilizing the SCUBA-2 camera mounted on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, an international team led by graduate student Qi-Ning Hsu and Dr. Chian-Chou Chen from the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA) has successfully resolved the cosmic infrared background (CIB) at 450 μm and confirmed its origin from galaxies beyond the Milky Way. The result has published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters in March, 2024. You can find more details here.

(Background) Illustration of cosmic background radiation taken by the COBE satellite. The origin of the background light in infrared remains an open question. (Right panel) An example 450 μm image taken by the SCUBA-2 camera where the red circles show the detected galaxies. This groundbreaking observations clearly show that these galaxies are the origin of the 450 μm background light. Image Credit: COBE/Hsu et al.

 

Call for proposals for semester 2024B

The East Asian Observatory is happy to invite PI observing proposals for semester 24B at the JCMT. Proposal submission is via the JCMT proposal handling system, Hedwig. For full details, and for proposal submission, please see:

https://proposals.eaobservatory.org/

The 24B Call for Proposals closes on the 17th of March, 2024 (2024-03-17 00:00 UT).

If this is your first time using Hedwig, you should ‘Log in’ and generate an account. There is a Hedwig ‘Help’ facility at the upper right corner of each page, and individual Help tags in many other places. Please contact us at helpdesk@eaobservatory.org if you have remaining questions.

Hours available

The median award of hours to successful program is 14 hours. This ranges to fewer hours in Grades 1-3 due to pressure and weather availability and more in Grade 4/5. Awards range in hours from 1-80 hours in total.

Instrumentation availability

All instrumentation are expected to be available.

24B RA Pressure

Proposers might be interested to note the proposal pressure in terms of RA and DEC. The figure below shows the distribution of target RA proposed in the past under Semester A. When allocating time the TAC is mindful to ensure that time is awarded across a range of RAs.

 

Weather

Proposers should also be mindful of the historical fraction of time in each weather Grade in particular noting the wide variation in ours per weather Grade obtained in any one semester.

 

The Expanding Partner Program

PIs from Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Brazil and Argentina are welcome to apply for a limited amount of time (<9 hours per program this time constraint is not limited in Grade 5 time) under the “Expanding Partner Program” – a program to encourage astronomers from new JCMT partners to make use of the JCMT.

*** Completion of any science program awarded time is not guaranteed. Approval reliant upon the program being technically feasible, without clashing with existing proprietary data. Data collection is dependent on weather/instrument/queue pressures with adjustments in line with recommendations by the TAC. Under the “Expanding Partner Program” priority will be given to new users of the JCMT.

The 2024 East Asian Observatory (EAO) Research Fellow

To promote East Asian regional astronomy research cooperation, the East Asian Core Observatory Association (EACOA) and The East Asian Observatory (EAO) jointly encourage and support highly qualified young researchers from all over the world to join and conduct joint research activities with colleagues at the EACOA member institutes which are Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, National Astronomical Observatories Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Purple Mountain Observatory Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai Astronomical Observatory Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The EAO Fellowship is a postdoctoral position to work at the EAO, Hilo, Hawaii, USA. One EAO Fellowship will be awarded in 2024. The Fellow is expected to spend 50% of time supporting the EAO (JCMT) operations and have the opportunity to work with colleagues at the EACOA member institutes.

The Fellowship Program is administered by the EAO and the EACOA Secretariat. Awards to support the EAO Fellows are made directly by the EAO.

Visit the AAS Job Register for details: https://jobregister.aas.org/ad/c5978d43
EACOA details: https://www.eacoa.net/job/

Application Deadline: Monday, April 1, 2024
Selection Deadline: Friday, May 31, 2024

Call for 24A

The East Asian Observatory is happy to invite PI observing proposals for semester 24A at the JCMT. Proposal submission is via the JCMT proposal handling system, Hedwig. For full details, and for proposal submission, please see:

https://proposals.eaobservatory.org/

The 24A Call for Proposals closes on the 9th of September, 2023 (2023-09-10 00:00 UT).

If this is your first time using Hedwig, you should ‘Log in’ and generate an account. There is a Hedwig ‘Help’ facility at the upper right corner of each page, and individual Help tags in many other places. Please contact us at helpdesk@eaobservatory.org if you have remaining questions.

Hours available

The median award of hours to successful program is 14 hours. This ranges to fewer hours in Grades 1-3 due to pressure and weather availability and more in Grade 4/5. Awards range in hours from 1-80 hours in total.

Instrumentation availability

All instrumentation are expected to be available thought the observing period with a caveat that `Āweoweo may only be available from March. Therefore please provide HARP time estimates for targets accessible early in the semester for requests submitted using `Āweoweo.

24A RA Pressure

Proposers might be interested to note the proposal pressure in terms of RA and DEC. The figure below shows the distribution of target RA proposed in the past under Semester A. When allocating time the TAC is mindful to ensure that time is awarded across a range of RAs.

 

Weather

Proposers should also be mindful of the historical fraction of time in each weather Grade in particular noting the wide variation in ours per weather Grade obtained in any one semester.

 

The Expanding Partner Program

PIs from Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Brazil and Argentina are welcome to apply for a limited amount of time (<5 hours per program this time constraint is not limited in Grade 5 time) under the “Expanding Partner Program” – a program to encourage astronomers from new JCMT partners to make use of the JCMT.

*** Completion of any science program awarded time is not guaranteed. Approval reliant upon the program being technically feasible, without clashing with existing proprietary data. Data collection is dependent on weather/instrument/queue pressures with adjustments in line with recommendations by the TAC. Under the “Expanding Partner Program” priority will be given to new users of the JCMT.

JCMT Users Meeting 2023 a success

The observatory wishes to thank all those involved in the 2023 JCMT Users Meeting held at the University College London, UK. This was the first meeting held in person since the COVID pandemic and was wonderful to see some of our JCMT community in person. Further deals on the meeting can be found here. We look forward to connecting with our community at future Users Meeting.

 

Molokai’i High School alumna captures the first look at magnetic fields within the Horsehead Nebula.

Molokai student Mallory Go has co-authored a paper published in The Astronomical Journal under the title “Magnetic Fields in the Horsehead Nebula using data from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. Go (who graduated in 2021) was awarded time under the Maunakea Scholars program – a program that gives students at High Schools in Hawaii access to the telescopes on Maunakea.

Using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) in 2018 Go obtained unique images of the Horsehead Nebula in polarized light – a technique astronomers use to reveal the magnetic field within the Nebula. Despite the Horsehead Nebula being such an iconic cloud, which is famous amongst astronomers, Go was the first to propose such observations.

“When I heard about the Maunakea Scholars program I was excited. It seemed to me to be such a fantastic opportunity to use the Telescopes on Maunakea” said Go reflecting on her experience “I chose to study the Hosrehead nebula because I thought it was beautiful and I didn’t find much research on it.” Once the proposed observations were taken, and working with astronomer Dr Parsons, Go presented her work as part of her Science Fair representing Molokai`i High School. After this, the data were shared with top astronomers in the field who perused the work further. Jihye Hwang, Kate Pattle and Jongsoo Kim built on Go’s observations to perform a quantitative analysis of the strength and role of magnetic fields in the region.

Magnetic field detections overlaid on a two-color composite of Hubble Space Telescope image taken at two near-IR wavelengths (Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes). Black and orange segments show magnetic field orientations inferred from JCMT and Palomar Observatory. Credit: Hwang et al. 2023.

“The data are impressive and what they tell us is even more impressive,” said co-author Dr Kate Pattle, from University College London (UCL), UK. I am delighted that Mallory has given us the chance to work on such a beautiful and iconic region of the sky – and what we’ve found helps us to understand why the Horsehead Nebula has the shape that it does. These observations tell us a story of two dense regions hidden in the Horsehead. We see a ridge of warm gas and dust – the head and mane of the horse – that is interacting with the ultraviolet photons from nearby bright young stars. But sheltered behind that ridge, we see a cold clump of dense material which we think will go on to form a new solar system like our own. What’s so new and exciting about these observations is that we get to see for the first time what the magnetic field within these regions is doing.

The observations obtained by Go in 2018 were taken by one of the JCMT’s most cutting-edge instruments: POL-2. POL-2 is a polarimeter which is able to take measurements of the alignment of interstellar dust that can be influenced by magnetic fields in space. “You can think of POL-2 as a pair of polarized sunglasses sitting in front of the telescope,” said Head of Operations Dr Harriet Parsons. “In Hawaii many of us are used to wearing polarized sunglasses – they help us to see better by cutting down glare – but at the telescope by rotating the polarized lenses we analyze the brightness of the light being observed and deduce if it is under the effect of magnetic fields. Astronomers can look at clouds of gas and dust using such instruments – regions both within our own galaxy or beyond – and expand their understanding of what shapes them.” In addition the published paper makes use of additional data observed with two of the other instruments available at the JCMT.

Commenting further on this data Dr Pattle said “The JCMT is a fantastic tool: we have used data from three of the telescope’s instruments to measure how bright and how dense the region is, and what its gas and magnetic fields are doing. We see that the interaction between the head and mane of the horse and the nearby young stars has significantly reordered the magnetic field – we suggest that the magnetic field has been folded back on itself along our line of sight as the Horsehead formed. Interestingly, though, the magnetic field in the cold clump sheltered by the ridge seems not to have been affected by the interaction that created the Horsehead – it behaves exactly as we would expect magnetic fields in an isolated dense clump to do. This supports the theory that the dense clump is sheltered by the ridge. This gives us important insight into how stars can continue to form even in regions like the Horsehead, where the cold gas that provides the material for new stars is being eroded by photons from nearby young and hot stars. We expect that our own Sun formed as part of a cluster of stars, and so looking at how stars form in the Horsehead Nebula may give us an insight into our own Solar System’s past.”

As a participant of the Maunakea Scholars program Go understands that some people might be surprised to find that she is now a student at Brown University studying Public Health. Commenting on this Go said “even back in 2018 I knew I would go to college to major in Public Health but I joined the Maunakea Scholars program because it sparked my interest. That’s a personal philosophy of mine; pursue the things that interest you.”

Reflecting on the publication of the data taken back in 2018 Go said “it’s wild to see that this work is now published for other astronomers to build on. That region is even more beautiful to me now I know this story of the two clumps with subtly different stories hidden within.” And for her current career path “I love Brown University and I am really enjoying studying Public Health, I’m the Class of 2025 but I might also look at doing post-graduate studies here.”

Mallory Go (left) presenting her work on the Horsehead Nebula (right: JCMT astronomer Dr Harriet Parsons) at the Molokai High School Science Fair 2019.

Additional information

The Research

This research was published under the title “Magnetic fields in the Horsehead Nebula” by Jihye Hwang, Kate Pattle, Harriet Parsons, Mallory Go and Jongsoo Kim. It was published in the Astronomical Journal, an open access journal publishing original astronomical research, with an emphasis on significant scientific results derived from observations. A copy of the full scientific paper can be accessed at: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/acc460

The data

The data obtained by Mallory in 2018 (with additional data obtained in 2019) was observed using POL-2, a linear polarimeter working at sub-mm wavelengths. Additional C18O spectral line data observed using the HARP instrument at the JCMT was also collected under the same program. This data was also used by the authors of this paper. The data were obtained under the Maunakea Scholar program under Directors Discretionary time for which the authors wish to thank Paul Ho.

Maunakea Scholars

The JCMT data presented in this paper was awarded under the Maunakea Scholars program. Maunakea Scholars is an innovative program designed to bring Hawaii’s aspiring young astronomers into the observatory community, competitively allocating observing time on world-class telescopes to local students. In particular the authors wish to thank Doug Simons and Mary Beth Laychak as leads of the Maunakea Scholars program.

Additional thanks

Additional thanks to Emilio Macalalad and Kapua Adolpho at Molokai High School.

JCMT

Operated by the East Asian Observatory, the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) is the largest astronomical telescope in the world designed specifically to operate in the submillimeter wavelength region of the spectrum. The JCMT has a diameter of 15 meters and is used to study our Solar System, interstellar and circumstellar dust and gas, and distant galaxies. It is situated near the summit of Maunakea, Hawai‘i, at an altitude of 4,092 meters.

The East Asian Observatory is a collaboration between our partner regions in China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

The East Asian Observatory wishes to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Maunakea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain.

Journey Through the Universe 2023

The 19th annual Journey Through the Universe (JTTU) program was held February 27th – March 3rd, 2023 on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi. Throughout the week, astronomy educators visited K-12 classrooms in the Hilo-Waiakea complex area to promote science education and inspire students to explore STEM fields. Coordinated by the staff of the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, in partnership with the Department of Education, JTTU reaches thousands of students each year. East Asian Observatory staff were thrilled to participate again this year and had a great time connecting with the kids in our local community. Looking forward to what next year’s 20th Anniversary program has in store!

Haʻaheo Family STEAM Night

On February 22nd, 2023 – Telescope System and Outreach Program Specialist, Callie Matulonis, got to share her enthusiasm and knowledge with over 75 students, teachers, and their family members at the Ha’aheo Elementary School’s Family STEAM night. Accompanied by former JCMT Extended Operator, Cameron Wipper, who is now an Astronomy Technical Specialist at the Canada France Hawaii Telescope – the dynamic duo presented a night filled with activities and a talk story session that ended with a cooler full of fresh snow delivered from the summit of Maunakea.

The crowded cafeteria was thrilled to hear that an alumni of Ha’aheo Elementary School, Ed Sison, has been working at JCMT as a Mechanical Technician for more than 20 years.

Ha’aheo is a small school that was established in 1888 in north Hilo.