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.
Call for 23B
https://proposals.eaobservatory.org/
The 23B Call for Proposals closes on the 16th of March, 2023 (2023-03-16 01:00 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
Namakanui is expected to be unavailable for 3-4 weeks in August due to receiver work – proposals making use of HARP in Grades 4-5 are particularly encouraged for RA’s available in August.
23B 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 B. 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 Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Brazil and Argentina requesting <15 hours will be automatically approved*** for time under the “Expanding Partner Program” – a program to encourage astronomers from new JCMT partners to make use of the JCMT.
*** approval reliant upon the program being technically feasible, without clashing with existing proprietary data (as per observatory requirements), dependent on weather/instrument pressures and 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 Astronomers Watch the Battle Between Gravity and Magnetic Fields in Taurus
Maunakea Hawaiʻi – JCMT astronomers studying a stellar nursery in the Taurus constellation have discovered a young dense cloud core that is in the early stages of star formation. Using observations from the JCMT and combining them with special (MHD, Magnetohydrodynamic) numerical simulations, the team was able to obtain a unique view of this star forming core called L1521F (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Three-dimensional computer generated view of magnetic field lines (red lines), a pseudo-disk and high-density region (green surface) and out-flow (blue surface). This image enables astronomers studying the star forming core L1521F to have a greater understanding of the physical processes. In particular the (red) magnetic field lines are seen to be twisted around by the (green) high density region.
Astronomer Dr. Hiroko Shinnaga who lived and worked in Hilo, Hawaii for 11 years and was a key member of the team said “It is really exciting! These JCMT observations are capturing the moment that a star is being formed.” A computer generated model of the core has been released and is featured on the cover of the Publications of the Astronomical Society Japan (PASJ) journal of February 2023 (see Figure 1). Discussing the work, Hiroko said “When you look at the computer simulated image you see the magnetic field lines (red) are dragged by gravity along with the dust and gas. The green is the disk of the baby star (protostar) that will eventually evolve into something similar to our solar system. This green disk will create planets and moons around the baby star (like our Sun). The elongated blue feature is the so-called ‘bipolar outflow’ that is a natural byproduct of the star formation process.”
The particular star forming core, L1521F, was selected for the study by the team due to its location in the Taurus molecular cloud – a nearby star-forming cloud that harbors young stars similar in mass to our own Sun. The cloud is dark at optical wavelengths but shines brightly at submillimeter wavelengths (See Figure 2). Unlike other regions of star formation, Taurus is relatively quiet and calm with no interference from nearby massive sibling stars – enabling astronomers to study individual young stars in more detail.

Figure 2. Herschel 250 micron image of the Taurus Molecular cloud with the location of L1521F indicated. At this wavelength the cold dense dusty region shines brightly. Credit: André et al. 2010.
When asked about what makes this work unique Hiroko responded “for the first time we are able to see all the ingredients in action in forming a baby star inside L1521F – that’s very tough unless you have a telescope like the JCMT and an instrument like POL-2”. The instrument POL-2, measures the polarization of the incoming light and works with a 10,000 pixel submillimeter camera called SCUBA-2 (see Figure 3). POL-2 enables astronomers to detect magnetic fields in space at submillimeter wavelengths, a relatively new area of research in the field of star formation. POL-2 makes such sensitive measurements that it requires extraordinarily stable atmospheric conditions which makes the JCMT on Maunakea in Hawaiʻi vital for such work.
Dr. Harriet Parsons, Head of Operations at the JCMT commented “What is particularly exciting for myself as an observational astronomer is to see how we can combine the beautiful data taken with the JCMT with these powerful theoretical models. On Earth we have only one view of the cosmos, we generally cannot move closer to the objects we wish to study. These models allow us to explore the cosmos like we might experiment with a recipe in the kitchen, changing the ingredients until the model comes out just the way we see the object in the sky. It’s really exciting and a testament to the hard work of all of the team. I hope JCMT will be able to provide the team with more fantastic data in the future.“
As for the future, the team intends to study more regions like L1521F to see what is typical for such star forming cores. “Astronomers use SCUBA-2/POL-2 at JCMT to push forward to understand our Universe and our origin in the Universe.” said Hiroko “Understanding the star formation process is also essential to know how our material-rich planet, the Earth, is created. It’s incredibly exciting”.

Figure 3. Main: The JCMT, Maunakea Hawaiʻi. Top right: The interior view of the JCMT. Bottom right: the POL-2 polarimeter. Credit: William Montgomerie, Harriet Parsons, EAO/JCMT.
For those interested, the constellation Taurus is currently visible in the night sky overhead in Hawaiʻi after sunset. For those more familiar with Hawaiian starlines, the molecular cloud referenced in this work is located in Ke Kā o Makali`i (the Bailer of Makali`i) close to Makali`i (see Figure 4).

Figure 4. Optical image indicating the location of the Taurus Molecular Cloud (dark at visible wavelengths) where the L1521F cloud core is located. Credit: Akira Fujii/David Malin Images ©.
Further information
This work was published in PASJ: “Twisted magnetic field in star formation processes of L1521 F revealed by submillimeter dual-band polarimetry using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope” by Sakiko Fukaya, Hiroko Shinnaga, Ray S. Furuya, Kohji Tomisaka, Masahiro N. Machida, and Naoto Harada. An online video explaining the work in more detail may be viewed here.
With credit to the following institutions:
Physics and Astronomy Department, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Kagoshima University, Japan. Amanogawa Galaxy Astronomy Research Center (AGARC), Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Kagoshima University, Japan. Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Tokushima University, Japan. National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Kyushu University, Japan.
Computational power
The special (MHD, Magnetohydrodynamic) numerical simulations require a vast computational effort. The team calculated 9 models and chose the model that best fitted to observations of L1521F. Each model requires about 40,000 CPU hours using a vector type supercomputer. After the models are created polarization and intensity distributions are created for 24 different viewing angles.
Related work
“Misalignment of magnetic fields, outflows, and discs in star-forming clouds” Masahiro, Shingo and Hideyuki 2020 MNRAS https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020MNRAS.491.2180M/abstract
About the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
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, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, Canada, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Click here for more information.
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.
Contacts
Dr. Harriet Parsons, JCMT Head of Operations, EAO/JCMT h.parsons@eaobservatory.org
Dr. Hiroko Shinnaga, shinnaga@sci.kagoshima-u.ac.jp
JCMT Users Meeting 2023
We are happy to make the first announcement of the JCMT users meeting 2023. The next JCMT science/users meeting will be held from 30th May to 1st June 2023 at University College London. You can find more details here.
South Korea Supplemental Call for 23A
The JCMT invites astronomers from South Korea to propose for time in 23A under the South Korean supplemental call for proposals. More details can be found in the JCMT Hedwig proposal system. The supplemental call will cover the 23A semester running from February 1st to July 31st 2023.
The call opened 2023-01-05 23:00 UT and will close 2023-01-26 23:00 UT
Any questions should be directed to our help desk: helpdesk@eaobservatory.org
JCMT involved in Frequency Phase Transfer testing
On November 23rd (HST) the JCMT participated in Frequency Phase Transfer (FPT) testing with the SMA, KVN Yonsei, GLT and IRAM 30m. During high frequency Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations the atmosphere can heavily impact the phases of radio signals and reduce the coherence time (leading to degradation in data quality). By observing with multiple frequencies this effect can be calibrated enabling higher data quality for astronomer. This testing had JCMT staff working with staff at other facilities to observe VLBI at both 214.1 – 261.1GHz (using `Ū`ū, LSB at JCMT) and 86-88 GHz (using `Alaihi, USB at JCMT) for the first time.
Additionally JCMT participated in the East Asian VLBI Network (EAVN) for the first time on the nigh of November 25th (HST) with KVN Yonsei, and GLT. Getting ready for these two nights of VLBI observing was an observatory wide effort from our engineering team, instrument team, software and science team ensuring everything was ready for a smooth run.
For those interested the FPT technique has been broadly discussed in e.g. Rioja & Dodson (2011).
Maunakea Wonders Teacher Workshop 2022 – A Success!

The Maunakea Wonders Teacher Workshop classroom visit on October 28th included students in the UH Hilo Master’s in Teaching program with presenters Yuko Kakazu, Leinani Lozi, and Callie Matulonis.
The 2022 Maunakea Wonders Teacher Workshop took place on October 28th and November 4th adding success to a collaboration with the University of Hawaiʻi that has reached more than 100 participants since it began in 2017.
On October 28th, guest speakers Callie Matulonis (EAO/JCMT), Leinani Lozi (TMT), and Yuko Kakazu (NAOJ) provided enthusiastic and engaging presentations to 14 soon-to-be teachers at UH Hilo in the Master’s in Teaching Program. Presentations included “An Introduction to Maunakea Wonders, MKAOC Opportunities, and Hawaii Discovers Science Highlights”, “Hawaiian Navigational Starlines and Moon Phases”, and “Hands-On Engaging Astronomy Activities.”
On November 4th, participants were treated to a private planetarium show at the ʻImiloa Astronomy Center before visiting the East Asian Observatory headquarters. At EAO, participants split into two groups and visited stations set up to learn about our JCMT Remote Operations Control Room with Telescope System Specialist Jasmin Silva (EAO/JCMT), and also shown the Fast Radio Burst Dish with Derek Kubo (SMA). Afterwards, we had an informal career-panel talk story session with EAO staff from all departments over pizza!
We look forward to our future collaborations with UH Hilo and hope that these soon-to-be teachers reach out to us as a resource throughout their teaching careers.
First Light with new JCMT receiver `Ala`ihi
G34.3 is an Ultracompact HII region that has an associated molecular cloud. This was the target for the JCMT’s first light image taken with the Nāmakanui* insert `Ala`ihi. `Ala`ihi is unique at the JCMT in that is is a new frequency range for JCMT, operating between 77.0–88.5GHz. `Ala`ihi’s primary function at the JCMT will be for use with VLBI observations (and is a dual polarization, 1-sideband mixer).
This first light image taken of G34.3 in HCO+ (1-0) at 89.2GHz was obtained on the night of November 9th (20221110 UT).
These data were eagerly anticipated by observatory staff who are currently preparing for the first observations for JCMT as part of the East Asian VLBI Network (EAVN) later this month.
*Nāmakanui (an 86, 230 and 345 GHz instrument) was built by a team at ASIAA (Taiwan) and is on loan the to the JCMT as a spare for the GLT.
Call for Proposals 23A
23A Call is now closed
The East Asian Observatory is pleased to invite PI observing proposals for semester 23A (open: September 12th 2022) 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 22B Call for Proposals will close on October 12th 2022.
Eligibility requirements for the 23A call can be found on the JCMT’s eligibility page.
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 regarding the call. As a reminder, to get up-to-date information about the JCMT please subscribe to our email list, to do so please send an email to jcmt_users+subscribe@eaobservatory.org.
The Expanding Partner Program returns for the 23A Call for Proposals
PIs from Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and India requesting <15 hours will be automatically approved* for time under the “Expanding Partner Program” – a program to encourage astronomers from new JCMT partners to make use of the JCMT.
* approval reliant upon the program being technically feasible, without clashing with existing proprietary data (as per observatory requirements), dependent on weather/instrument pressures and with adjustments in line with recommendations by the TAC. Under the “Expanding Partner Program” priority will be given to new users of the JCMT.