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.

 

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!

First Light with new JCMT receiver `Āweoweo

IRC+10216, also known as CW Leonis – a carbon star embedded in a thick dust envelope, was the target for first light observations with the second Nāmakanui insert; `Āweoweo. This spectrum was captured on the night of January 13 2021 (UT 20200114).

`Āweoweo operates between 283 – 365 GHz and is a Sideband Separating (2SB) instrument. When commissioned, `Āweoweo, will be available to both JCMT Users (PI and Large Programs – perfect for sensitive single pointing observations), and VLBI users (as part of the Event Horizon Telescope and the East Asian VLBI Network).

JCMT staff presented “Commissioning of Nāmakanui on the JCMT” at the SPIE conference in December 2020. For details see: Mizuno et al. 2020.

EAO and ‘Imiloa provide ‘Stellar’ Night to local Cub Scouts

On Saturday, March 7th, 2020, the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo, Hawai’i hosted 70 visitors for a special overnight event.  As part of the “Stellar Night at the Museum”, the Cub Scouts and their family members were treated to a unique visit at the East Asian Observatory base facility.

Courtesy photo provided to the Hawaii Tribune Herald from the Cub Scouts who attended the Scouts Stellar Night at the Museum overnight March 7 at ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo.

 

Telescope System Specialist, Alexis Acohido, provided tours into the JCMT Control Room as live operations were taking place. Photo taken by Emily Peavy.

 

Extended Operator, Patrice Smith, engaged the visitors with a fun “Alien Eyes” activity that demonstrated how filters can help us sort out information that we wouldn’t be able to normally see with our eyes. Photo taken by Emily Peavy.

 

EAO Visiting Scientist, Pablo Torne, used spectral tubes and diffraction gratings to explore spectral lines from different molecules. Photo taken by Emily Peavy.

 

In the UKIRT control room, Telescope Operators Jess Stasik and Michael Pohlen used an infrared camera and a cell phone to explore heat. Photo taken by Emily Peavy.

An article was released in the local Hawaii Tribune Herald newspaper about the event, and can be read here:

www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2020/04/14/community/scouts-have-a-stellar-night-at-the-museum/?fbclid=IwAR1_Glc82elyoAlbRh84_q4z6x_-1J3FlZ0kuGoXuE4jYoJrgM1sgMH9B9E

 

The Event Horizon Telescope brings the world together to observe new mysteries in quasar 3C 279

First Event Horizon Telescope Observations of a Black-Hole Powered Jet announced as Maunakea Observatories offer MKO@Home online resources

Two Hawai’i-based telescopes, the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), operated by the East Asian Observatory, and the Submillimeter Array (SMA), operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Academia Sinica Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, have once again provided crucial information in the global effort to understand Black Holes. The JCMT and SMA linked up with six other telescopes around the world to form the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), in an effort involving hundreds of astronomers and engineers. The black hole targeted in these observations resides at the centre of a galaxy called 3C 279. This galaxy is 5 billion light years away in the direction of the Virgo constellation.

Nearly one year ago, the JCMT and the SMA played a vital role in the groundbreaking EHT observational campaign to observe the very first image of a black hole, which was given the Hawaiian name Pōwehi. The EHT collaboration is excited to announce this new result from data obtained at the same time as the Pōwehi result.

For the first time, astronomers have observed a jet travelling at close to the speed of light, that is believed to originate from the vicinity of a supermassive black hole, in unprecedented detail. In their analysis, led by astronomer Jae-Young Kim from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn (MPIfR), the collaboration studied the exquisite detail of the jet’s shape close to the base. The jet base is a fascinating region where highly variable, high energy gamma-ray emission is thought to originate.

The results will be published in the coming issue of the prestigious journal ​Astronomy & Astrophysics​.

 

Fig. 1: Illustration of 3C 279 jet structure in April 2017. The observing epochs, arrays, and frequencies are noted at the top of each panel. Credit: J.Y. Kim (MPIfR) & the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration

 

The black hole targeted in these observations is called 3C 279. It resides at the centre of a galaxy 5 billion light years away in the direction of the constellation Virgo. Scientists classify this galaxy as a quasar because it shines ultra-bright and flickers, signifying that massive amounts of gases and stars are falling into the giant black hole at the centre. The black hole in 3C 279 is about one billion times the mass of our own sun. Any material such as stars, gas, or dust that comes close to this black hole is shredded by strong gravitational forces, causing a large donut-shaped structure known as an accretion disc to form around the object. But not all of this shredded material stays in the accretion disc or ends up falling into the Super Massive Black Hole. Some of the material will be squirted back out into space in two fine fire-hose-like jets of plasma, travelling at speeds near the speed of light. These jets are powerful and demonstrate the enormous forces at play in the centre of this galaxy.

Through linking up many telescopes across the globe, using a technique known as very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), the astronomers are able to see the jet and accretion disc in action, distinguishing the sharpest-ever details in the jet. The new jet images, probing size scales finer than a light-year, show an unexpected twisted shape at its base, and features perpendicular to the jet, which could represent the poles of the accretion disc from where jets are ejected. Through comparing the images of 3C 279 over subsequent days, the astronomers see the finest details changing, opening up the possibility that we are actually seeing both the rotation of the accretion disc (with the shredding and infall of material), and the jet ejection, that has previously only been modeled in computer simulations of these objects.

Jae-Young Kim, leader of the analysis, is enthusiastic and at the same time puzzled: “We knew that every time you open a new window to the Universe you can find something new. Here, where we expected to find the region where the jet forms by going to the sharpest image possible, we find a kind of perpendicular structure. This is like finding a very different shape by opening the smallest Matryoshka doll.” Furthermore, the fact that the images change so fast has also surprised astronomers. “These jets show apparent motions faster than the speed of light (called superluminal motion), as an optical illusion, but this, perpendicular to the expectation, is new and requires careful analysis”, adds Jae-Young-Kim.

The interpretation of these observations is challenging. In particular, observing apparent motions of about 20 times the speed of light in the jet are difficult to reconcile with the early understanding of the source. These results paint a complex picture, where disturbances in the flow of material, known as shocks, are travelling down a bent (and possibly rotating) jet, and producing incredibly high energy gamma-rays.

“To announce this incredible result exactly a year after we brought Pōwehi to the world makes it so special,” offers Jessica Dempsey, Deputy Director of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope – one of the two Hawaii-based observatories that are part of the EHT. “For our staff here in Hawaii, it is a reminder of the ground-breaking work they continue to contribute to – even if we aren’t up at the summit right now. Like Pōwehi before it, this beautiful image of 3C 279 gives me hope, for us and for our future.”

Fig. 2: The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) located on the slopes of Maunakea, Hawai`i is pictured in the foreground. The JCMT is operated by the East Asian Observatory. Credit: Will Montgomerie

Anton Zensus, Director at the MPIfR and Chair of the EHT Collaboration Board, stresses the achievement as a global effort: “Last year we could present the first image of the shadow of a black hole. Now we see unexpected changes in the shape of the jet in 3C 279, and we are not done yet. We are working on the analysis of data from the centre of our Galaxy in Sgr A*, and on other active galaxies such as Centaurus A, OJ 287, and NGC 1052. As we told last year: this is just the beginning.”

The March/April 2020 observing campaign of the EHT was cancelled due to the CoViD-19 global outbreak. The EHT Collaboration is now determined on the next steps to follow both in new observations and in the analysis of existing data. Geoff Bower, EHT Project Scientist based at the SMA facility in Hilo concludes: ​“This is a small piece of good news during this challenging time. We’re very happy to share with the world results from telescopes on Maunakea and around the globe the insights that we have made into black holes, the most exotic objects in the Universe. Both the SMA and the JCMT produced essential data to make these spectacular images, just as they did for Pōwehi. Stay tuned for new discoveries in the year still to come!”

Here in Hawaii, the state’s effort to “flatten the curve” in the fight against CoViD-19 means that many families now have children – keiki – distance learning at home. Together the Maunakea Observatories are supporting our community by providing online STEM resources for schools, teachers and families. The MKO@Home initiative was launched on March 23rd providing educational videos each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Topics covered include careers, the solar system, recent discoveries, arts and crafts and more. This week MKO@Home will offer a range of activities and lessons involving Black Holes with a culminating event on April 10th, the State of Hawaiʻi’s Pōwehi Day. Four astronomy professionals will host a live panel discussion at 1:00pm HST answering viewers’ questions on all things astronomy and Black Hole related.

 

Further Information (Links):

Event Horizon Telescope
http://www.eventhorizontelescope.org/

First Image of a black hole, Poōwehi, obtained by the EHT (April 2019)
https://www.eaobservatory.org/jcmt/2019/04/powehi/

James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
https://www.eaobservatory.org/jcmt/

Pōwehi Day proclamation
Governor Ige declares April 10th – Pōwehi Day

MKO@Home on YouTube
http://bit.ly/mkoathome

 

Background Information:

The international collaboration announced the first-ever image of a black hole, Pōwehi, by creating a virtual Earth-sized telescope at the heart of the radio galaxy Messier 87 on April 10, 2019. Supported by considerable international investment, the EHT links existing telescopes using novel systems — creating a new instrument with the highest angular resolving power that has yet been achieved.

The individual telescopes involved in the EHT collaboration are at present: the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), the Submillimeter Array (SMA), ALMA, APEX, the IRAM 30-meter Telescope, the IRAM NOEMA Observatory (expected 2021), the Kitt Peak Telescope (expected 2021), , the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT),, the Submillimeter Telescope (SMT), the South Pole Telescope (SPT), and the Greenland Telescope (GLT, since 2018).

The telescopes work together through a VLBI technique. This synchronises facilities around the world and exploits the rotation of our planet to form one huge, Earth-size telescope. VLBI allows the EHT to achieve a resolution of 20 micro-arcseconds — equivalent to identifying an orange on Earth as seen by an astronaut from the Moon. The data analysis to transform raw data to an image required specific computers (or correlators), hosted by the MPIfR in Bonn and the MIT Haystack Observatory.

The EHT consortium consists of 13 stakeholder institutes; the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, the University of Arizona, the University of Chicago, the East Asian Observatory, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique, Large Millimeter Telescope, Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, MIT Haystack Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Radboud University and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

 

Original Paper:

J.Y. Kim, T.P. Krichbaum, A.E. Broderick, et al.: Event Horizon Telescope imaging of the archetypal blazar 3C 279 at an extreme 20 microarcsecond resolution, in: Astronomy & Astrophysics, April 2020
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202037493

 

Contact:

Dr. Jessica Dempsey
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, East Asian Observatory
Email: j.dempsey@eaobservatory.org

Dr. Jae-Young Kim
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Bonn.
Fon: +49 228 525-431
E-mail: jykim@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de

Explore the universe from home with Maunakea Observatories

This article appeared in the University of Hawai’i News on April 6th

In response to the interruption of hands-on science education and outreach during the COVID-19 crisis, the Maunakea Observatories (MKO) have unveiled a distance learning program, MKO@Home online. The virtual project consists of short weekly videos that feature astronomy related activities, demonstrations and interviews.

“The Maunakea Observatories recognize the severe educational difficulties that COVID-19 is creating for the community, and we are doing as much as we can to address this challenge. We are rallying all of our outreach resources and will be presenting as much content as possible during this unprecedented crisis,” said Bob McLaren, University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy interim director.

MKO@Home videos featuring scientists and educators are designed to allow K–12 students and families to explore the universe from home.

Content for the pilot program ranges from lessons on the night sky, to Pōwehi, the now-famous supermassive black hole. The cosmic wonder was given a name in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi or Hawaiian language by UH Hilo professor Larry Kimura. The name recognizes the instrumental role that observatories on Maunakea played in the worldwide effort to capture an image of a black hole for the first time in history.

Dr Harriet Parsons, presents “exploring Shadows” as part of MKO@Home

April 6–10, MKO@Home will celebrate Black Hole Week and feature demonstrations by Maunakea astronomers about the mysterious objects.

MKO@Home videos are uploaded three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

  • For more, go to Maunakea Observatories.
  • To watch all of the EAO videos on MKO@Home and more, visit our Videos page here.
  • Subscribe to the MKO@Home videos on the Maunakea Observatories YouTube Channel here.

Open Enrollment Now Open

On the first of February 2020 the JCMT will allow into the JCMT queue a number of new Large Programs (alongside extension requests of existing programs). If you are interested in joining one of the new programs or programs that were approved for an extension please visit the Large Programs webpages.

Astronomers from EAO region (CN, JP, KR, TW) or partner (CA, UK) institutions are welcome to join new programs under the Open Enrollment process as well as astronomers from Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesian as these regions have “observer” status with the JCMT. Open Enrollment to programs approved for time during the 20A Call for Large Programs is open now and will close March 13th 2020. To sign up to join the 20A Large Programs please visit:

JCMT 20A Large Program Open Enrollment page

Open Enrollment will close March 13th 2020.

EHT Consortium meets in Hilo

The Event Horizon Telescope Consortium met in Hawai`i for the first time since the release of the first image of a Black Hole Pōwehi. The meeting took place at the Hilo Naniloa Hotel during the week of December 5th. In addition to the meeting a public talk by Dr. Ziri Younsi and Dr. Junhan was given on Friday December 6 at ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center’s planetarium.

Maunakea Wonders Teacher Workshop 2019

October 30th, 2019 kicked off the fourth “Maunakea Wonders Teacher Workshop” in collaboration with the University of Hawaii Hilo Masters of Arts in Teaching program.  The “Maunakea Wonders Teacher Workshop” program gives participants a background on the existing Maunakea Observatories, the scientific discoveries being made, the engineering/instrumentation capabilities, the jobs and career paths available to our island’s students, and our Education and Public Outreach efforts. EAO staff had a great time talking story with the students and sharing hands-on activities that they can take back to their own classrooms. A big mahalo to Alyssa from Gemini Observatory for giving an ‘out of this world’ demonstration on how to use the portable starlab planetarium for many different lessons and age ranges. On Saturday, November 2nd participants had a fantastic time at the Imiloa Astronomy Center where they were treated to a custom planetarium show, a special cultural presentation with Kumu Leilehua Yuen, and a Maunakea Resource presentation by the Office of Maunakea Management.  On our final day in the classroom, November 13th, Senior Scientist Steve Mairs had us recreating the scale of our solar system with a golf ball. Telescope System Specialist Miriam Fuchs got us to do a dance battle between gravity and fusion. Our panel of five EAO/JCMT employees shared stories and experiences that set them on their career path. It’s been a fantastic workshop and we’ve had a blast connecting with these passionate soon-to-be teachers.

   

Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration Wins 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics

On Thursday, September 5th, 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration was announced the winner of the prestigious Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. The $3 million prize, also known as the “Oscars of Science”, will be shared equally with 347 scientists co-authoring any of the six papers published by EHT. JCMT staff feel truly honored to have contributed to the Event Horizon Telescope Consortium that captured the first ever image of the Black Hole, Pōwehi, and look forward to our next EHT observing run in Spring of 2020. Deputy Director of JCMT, Jessica Dempsey, will be donating her portion of the award to the A Hua He Inoa program committed to propelling Hawaiian language and traditions to the global astronomical stage.

 

Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration: Winner of the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics

We’re pleased to announce that this year's Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics goes to the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration. The prize recognizes the team's extraordinary achievement in producing the first photograph of the “shadow" of a black hole. The experiment involved hundreds of collaborators across 8 telescopes, 60 institutions and 20 countries. Tune in to the Breakthrough Prize ceremony on the National Geographic channel November 3. More at https://breakthroughprize.org/News/54.

Posted by Breakthrough on Thursday, September 5, 2019

 

-20190909

Nāmakanui Has Arrived in Hilo!

Nāmakanui (pronounced “Naaah-mah-kah-noo-ee”), our newest addition to the JCMT instrumentation suite, arrived in Hilo last week and is now out of the box and being tested in Hilo by staff. The Hawaiian name “Nāmakanui” means “Big-Eyes” and it refers to a type of fish found in and around the islands.

When it is fully commissioned, Nāmakanui will be able to look at the sky using one of three receivers. Each receiver carries the name of a different type of Nāmakanui fish: `Ala`ihi (pronounced “ah-la-ee-hee”; 86 GHz), `U`u (pronounced “oo-oo”; 230 GHz), and `Āweoweo (pronounced “aaah-vay-oh-vay-oh”; 345 GHz). `U`u is the first receiver that will be commissioned.

This instrument will be critical for helping take the next Pōwehi image (the Hawaiian name for the Black Hole image at the centre of M87), hooking into the Event Horizon Telescope network. Additionally, it will be capable of delivering a wide range of fantastic science from studying the earliest stages of star formation and the late stages of stellar mass loss to investigating the gas dynamics of galaxies.  It takes 12 hours to cool down Nāmakanui to its operational temperature (4K) and so far the testing is going very well!

This instrument was built by a team at ASIAA (Taiwan) and is on loan the to the JCMT as a spare for the Greenland Telescope. We are very grateful for the opportunity to collect exciting data with this next-generation instrument!
To learn more about this instrument click here: https://buff.ly/2Zkv1lW

 

International Women’s Day 2019

The Women of Maunakea once again met to celebrate their achievements and seek more advancements at this years International Women’s Day event held on March 3rd at Imiloa Astronomy Centre, Hilo, Hawai`i.

At the event our organization introduced a new equality challenge for the entire astronomy community on Hawai‘i Island, pledging to support equality and diversity within their ranks. Jessica Dempsey, Deputy Director of EAO/JCMT stated that

“Living in one of the most diverse states in the country, host to the most female astronomers in the world, we are uniquely positioned to serve as a model of progress toward gender equity and diversity in the workplace”

Jessica seeks to get to gender parity within the ranks of the organization by 2024 .

The event has been followed with a number of social media posts by the Maunakea Observatories within Hawai`i in support of International Women’s Day 2019 held on March 8th (#IWD2019).

Big Island Now – Maunakea Observatories Launches Equity Challenge on International Women’s Day

Big Island Video News – International Women’s Day Mixer At Imiloa

ABC Film Crew Visit JCMT

This past week the JCMT was host to a film crew from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, based in Sydney. The crew were visiting Hawaii as part of a science television program  called Catalyst. Specifically they were out visiting the JCMT as part of a program about the Black Hole at the centre of our Milky Way, and how JCMT, along telescopes from around the world are coming together to form the Event Horizon Telescope – looking to take an image of the shadow around the Black Hole at the centre of our Galaxy.

 

JCMT supports STEM Fest 2018 for Big Island Girl Scouts

The EAO Outreach Team was thrilled to be invited to help out at the 2018 STEM Fest event held in Waimea at the Kahilu Town Hall for Big Island Girl Scouts. The event, attended by 75 girls on November 17th, provided the opportunity to experience hands on activities from a variety of science and engineering fields.

JCMT staff members Alexis Achohido and Mimi Fuchs worked with Girl Scouts to discover how astronomers know what stars are made of. In particular we highlighted the work of  Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who proposed a theory for the composition of stars in her 1925, her PhD Thesis!

As well as looking at what stars are made of we also looked at what dense interstellar dust clouds are made of and made our very own candy molecules.

Maunakea Wonders Teachers Workshop

The third Maunakea Wonders Teacher Workshop began on October 17th at the University of Hawai’i’s Department of Education in Hilo. Throughout the second half of October, we have the incredible opportunity to share fun astronomy activities and resources with the future teachers of Hawai’i. Despite the frigid weather, this included on-site tours of the JCMT and UKIRT where we had a blast talking about the different functions of each telescope on the mountain. We are looking forward to more fun and excitement on campus on October 31st – Mahalo nui loa to this vibrant group of educators!

-20181022

International Women’s Day 2018


March 8th, 2018 was International Women’s Day. The EAO celebrated by hosting a special event at the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center that gathered together all of the women who contribute to the Maunakea organizations. We strongly believe that the future of Maunakea lies in the hands of the young people of these islands. The bright and talented young women of our community are enabled and empowered by seeing women in successful roles at all levels of scientific, political and business enterprise. This event provided one more step, in what we hope will be many, towards gender equity in the Maunakea organizations and beyond. We are thrilled with the amount of support we received following the event. See below for links to articles and news features.

VIDEO: Maunakea Observatories Mark International Women’s Day

 

Hawaii News Now video: Maunakea Observatories honor International Women’s Day by Celebrating its Female Astronomers

Hawaii Tribune Herald article: Women Astronomers Hope to Inspire Girls to Take Up Science

Big Island Now article: Women of Hawai‘i Astronomy Community Gather to ‘Press for Progress’

– 20180315

Maunakea Wonders – Teacher workshop success

For two days at the end of June EAO/JCMT hosted its first “Maunakea Wonders Teacher Workshop” primarily aimed at newly qualified teachers here on the island of Hawai’i. One day was spent learning about the cultural, environmental and astronomical role Maunakea plays combined with a trip to visit the CFHT (Canada France Hawai’i Telescope), and the JCMT. The second day was spent in the classroom discovering what Hawaii more about astronomy on the big island and the resources available to the community, teachers and students in Hawaii.

The workshop was kindly supported by MKAOC/CFHT and the University of Hawai’i Hilo’s School of Education.

First day of the Maunakea Wonders Teacher workshop included a trip to the Canada France Hawaii Telescope and then to JCMT.

Discovering cosmic distances

Discovering Teaching opportunities in Hawaii – with Gemini’s Starlab.

– 20170703

JCMT 2017 Users Meeting – see you again next year!

The 2017 JCMT Users meeting was held in Nanjing, China. The two day meeting was held on Monday, 13th and Tuesday 14th of February. An additional 1 half-day data reduction workshop was held immediately after the meeting on Wednesday 15th of February. The meeting was well attended and all talks are now available online here. We hope you have a good productive 2017 and hope to see you at our JCMT 2018 Users meeting in South Korea next January.

– 2017/02/21

JCMT holds reduction workshop in Shanghai

At the start of October the JCMT held a Data Reduction workshop for JCMT astronomers. The workshop was held at the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory in China. Over 20 astronomers attended with a variety of backgrounds. The material presented at the workshop can be found here. Information on past workshops can be found here. If you are interested in having JCMT staff visit your institution for such an event please contact helpdesk@eaobservatory.org.

Participants at the JCMT reduction workshop, China, October 2016.

Participants at the JCMT reduction workshop, China, October 2016.

– 2016/10/25

Users Meeting – Nanjing 2017

JCMT-UsersMeeting-2017-annoucement

Dear JCMT users

You are invited to attend the second EAO JCMT Users Meeting. This 2017 JCMT Users meeting will be held in Nanjing, China. The two day meeting will be held on Monday, 13th and Tuesday 14th of February. An additional 1 half-day data reduction workshop will be held immediately after the meeting on Wednesday 15th of February.

To register for the 2017 Users Meeting please use the online registration form.

Note: If you cannot access the registration form (which is a Google document), then please use this text form and email to jcmt_um_2017 “at” eaobservatory.org.

Note: All participants coming from outside of mainland China will likely require a visa. Therefore to  request a letter of invitation to attend this meeting please email:  jcmt_um_2017 “at” eaobservatory.org This process can be lengthy. You are encouraged to request this invitation letter and begin the visa application process as soon as possible.

For more information visit: www.eaobservatory.org/jcmt/science/nanjing2017/

– 2016/09/13

JCMT workshop, Shanghai, October 16th 2016

The JCMT would like to announce that the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory will hold 1-day workshop on JCMT data reductions and analysis on Oct. 16 at SHAO in Shanghai. JCMT staff, Dr. Harriet Parsons and Dr. Mark Rawlings, will give these tutorials.  The agenda can be found below.

This workshop is scheduled before JINGLE team meeting in Shanghai (Oct. 17-18) and MALATANG team meeting in Nanjing (Oct. 19-21) as a united conference. We aim to open this tutorial to all interested researchers and students, and high priority will be given to members of JINGLE, MALATANG and other JCMT large programs due to space limitation.  If you are interested to attend, please contact Ting Xiao (xiaoting@shao.ac.cn) as soon as possible to help us get a rough head account.

Agenda for the workshop on Oct. 16:

Morning session:

  • introduction to STARLINK
  • introduction to HARP and RxA3m
  • Heterodyne beginner
  • Heterodyne advanced

Afternoon session:

  • introduction to SCUBA-2
  • SCUBA-2 basic
  • SCUBA-2 advanced

In addition if requested we could cover any of the following (time permitting):

  • Hedwig session – Proposal submission to the JCMT
  • JCMTOT – how to submit JCMT project MSBs
  • POL-2 introduction and basic data reduction in an extended session
  • General JCMT project support for existing users

 

If you are interested in any additional topics listed above, please inform us in the email.

– 2016/09/09

JINGLE meeting Oct. 16-18 in Shanghai – 1st announcement

The JINGLE Team meeting and JCMT Data Reduction & Analysis Workshop will be held on Oct. 16-18 in Shanghai at the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, China.

JINGLE (The JCMT dust and gas In Nearby Galaxies Legacy Exploration) began in Dec. 2015, and the overall program completion is about 1/4.  Team members are encouraged to join the team meeting on Oct. 17-18 to discuss the survey status and plan, data reduction and evaluation, data analysis, and most importantly the scientific projects based on survey data.  The JINGLE meeting and MALATANG meeting are scheduled in one week for a united conference focusing on two main themes: 1) cold gas and dust in large sample of galaxies and 2) dense gas and gas/dust in the nearest 20+ brightest infrared galaxies.

Before the JINGLE team meeting, we will have 1-day tutorial on JCMT data reductions and analysis provided by JCMT staff.  We will open this tutorial to all interested researchers and students.  But due to space limitation, high priority will be given to JINGLE members and members of JCMT large programs .

If you need an invitation letter for VISA application, please contact the LOC as soon as possible!

SOC:  Amelie Saintonge, Chris Wilson, Ting Xiao, Cheng Li, Yu Gao, Lihwai Lin, Ho Seong Hwang, Tomoka Tosaki

LOC:  Ting Xiao (xiaoting@shao.ac.cn), Yang Gao (gaoyang@shao.ac.cn), Yang Yang (yyang@shao.ac.cn)

Please visit the wiki page and add your name there if you plan to attend the meeting:

https://www.eao.hawaii.edu/JINGLE/Fall2016MeetingPage

– 2016/07/14

MALATANG meeting Oct. 19-21 in Nanjing – 1st announcement

The coordinators for the MALATANG Large Program invite you to attend thier first face-to-face  team meeting on Oct. 19-21 in Nanjing.   Team members are highly encouraged to join the meeting, to discuss survey status, data reduction and evaluation, data analysis, future observations, and all the potential scientific projects.

To indicate your interest in attending the meeting please add your name to the following doodle page:

http://doodle.com/poll/duudphqvdiidq668

If you need an invitation letter for VISA application, please contact the LOC as soon as possible!

Note that prior to the MALATANG meeting, the JINGLE meeting will be held on Oct 16-18 in Shanghai, including a JCMT tutorial on Oct 16. Further details regarding the JINGLE meeting will follow soon.

MALATANG and JINGLE share some common/related subjects and overlap members, so you may consider attending both!

MALATANG logo

Agenda (preliminary)

Oct 19: reception

Oct 20: MALATANG discussion 1

Oct 21: MALATANG discussion 2

SOC

Yu Gao

Thomas Greve

Zhiyu Zhang

LOC

Hongjun Ma (hjma at pmo.ac.cn)

Xuejian Jiang (xjjiang at pmo.ac.cn)

Qinghua Tan (qhtan at pmo.ac.cn)

Traffic info

It only takes less than 2 hours from Shanghai to Nanjing by high speed trains

train schedule: http://english.ctrip.com/trains/schedule/shanghai/

– 2016/07/07

New Horizons for the JCMT with the East Asian Observatory: Latest Science from the JCMT

2015 IAU Splinter Session

August 6th 6pm-8pm  

Room 312 Hawaii Convention Center


The East Asian Observatory has forged a new path for the JCMT following the successful transfer of operation to EAO in March 2015. Operations immediately resumed with an EAO Pilot Science semester initiated in late March, taking successful science with JCMT’s signature instruments, and recommencing commissioning of the additional instrument elements (Pol-2 and FTS-2) for SCUBA-2. In this special session, we will present the latest results from the JCMT Legacy Surveys, completed in early 2015. We will also show some of the recent results from Pilot Science, and discuss the plans EAO and its partners have for continuing to keep the JCMT at the cutting edge of sub-millimeter science.

Organizer: Jessica Dempsey


 6:00pm: Welcome and introduction (Paul Ho)

JCMT Legacy Science: New Insights
6:10pm: The Cosmology Legacy Survey (Jim Geach)
6:25pm: Current and future directions in star formation research with the JCMT (Derek Ward-Thompson)
6:40pm: The Nearby Galaxies Survey (Christine Wilson)
6:55pm: The JCMT Legacy Archive (Sarah Graves)

EAO Pilot Science
7:05pm: Highlights from Taiwan (Sheng-Yuan Liu)
7:15pm: Highlights from China (Yu Gao)
7:25pm: Highlights from Korea (Woojin Kwon)

Instrument Directions for JCMT:
7:35pm – 8:00pm: Panel discussion and question and answer session on future instrument upgrades and new instrument concepts.


Upcoming IAU

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The largest gathering of astronomers from around the world will be happening this August in Hawaii!  The International Astronomical Union will assemble at the Honolulu Convention Center for six symposia and 22 focus meetings that will cover everything from the “Search for Water and Life’s Building Blocks in the Universe” to “Advances in Stellar Physics from Asteroseismology” and everything in between.  Of course we will be there!  For more information visit the event website at http://astronomy2015.org/

Save the Date: AstroDay

astrodayAstroDay is one of the most engaging outreach events on the Big Island and fun for the whole family!  Come on down to the Prince Kuhio Plaza in Hilo, Hawaii on Saturday, May 2nd from 10am – 4pm for a celebration of Astronomy and Hawaiian Culture.  The mall will be packed with exciting exhibits and interactive displays, live music and performances on a main stage, plus tons of free handouts and chances to win cool prizes.  We hope to see you there!

Successful “Journey”

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Telescope System Specialist, Callie Matulonis, visiting Mrs. Thatcher’s 5th grade class at Connections Elementary School. Photo Credit: Pam Thatcher

The Journey Through the Universe program is always an enormous success in Hawaii, and this year was no different.  Over the past 11 years, scientists, astronomers, and engineers have engaged over 50,000 students while visiting over 3,000 classrooms on the Big Island during the annual “Journey” week.  This March, several EAO staff presented exciting information and activities to over 100 students in grades 5-8 in the Hilo-Waikea Complex.  For more information on Journey Through the Universe visit http://www.gemini.edu/journey.

Upcoming “Journey”

Journey Through the Universe

Journey Through the Universe is February 27th – March 6th! A nationally recognized week long event in which astronomers visit local classrooms around the island while sharing their passion for physics and astronomy.  Several EAO staff members will be representing the JCMT and hoping to inspire a future generation of scientists!  Visit the Journey Through the Universe website for a complete listing of upcoming local events associated with Journey.