East Asian Observatory is excited to announce that JCMT will be moving to fully remote operation from November 1st, 2019. From that date forward, JCMT will not require visiting observers to staff observing runs at the telescope. The close collaboration between our user community and the Observatory is one of the… Continue reading
The map-making process used by the pol2map command uses two masks, each of which divides the field up into source and background regions: The ‘AST’ mask: this is used to define the background regions that are to be forced to zero after each iteration of the map-maker algorithm (except the… Continue reading
David Berry recently added a new feature to SMURF’s makemap. There is now a FITS header in the output maps which will let you know if makemap successfully converged. The new header is NCONTNCV – the Number of CONTiguous chunks that did Not ConVerge. This should be zero if everything… Continue reading
Hawai`i Astronomer Wins Canadian Award Hawaiʻi attracts the world’s top talent in astronomy due to Maunakea being one of the leading sites to study the universe. Today, EAO/JCMT astronomer Dr. Alex Tetarenko was awarded the 2019 J. S. Plaskett Medal by the Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA). Dr. Tetarenko was awarded… Continue reading
The East Asian Observatory invites JCMT observing proposals with Principal Investigators (PIs) affiliated with a South Korean institution only for a special 19B Supplementary Call for Proposals. Proposal submission is via the JCMT proposal handling system, Hedwig. For full details, and for proposal submission, please see here. The proposal submission… Continue reading
Vector maps created from POL2 data need to have the instrumental polarisation (IP) removed to be useful. Determining a good model for the IP has been a challenge, and not surprisingly the currently accepted model has somewhat uncertain parameter values. These uncertainties in the IP model translate into uncertainties in… Continue reading
The script I described yesterday (see Checking for convergence in pol2map log files) had a few bugs. Please download it again if you are using it. Continue reading
The EAO Sub-mm Futures meeting held last week in Nanjing was a great success. All talks from the meeting are provided on the meeting program pages. At the meeting the JCMT observatory had two major announcements: 1) The Observatory is seeking White Papers in support of a new 850 micron… Continue reading
When processing POL2 data, it is important to know that the map-making algorithm converged correctly for all observations. This information is available in the pol2map log file, along with the rest of the makemap or skyloop output. However, the log file can be very long and so finding the relevant… Continue reading
If you wish to combine POL2 observations for multiple overlapping fields, the best way to proceed is probably as follows (note, for this to work correctly you will need a Starlink build from 9th June 2019 or later): Run “step 1” independently for each field. In other words, use pol2map to… Continue reading
A bug in the smurf:skyloop command has recently been found and fixed. This bug could cause negative or zero values to be included in the extinction (“EXT”) model. This in turn could cause effectively random behaviour in the other models, resulting in very poor convergence and some spurious values being… Continue reading
An international team of astronomers, including Dr Alex Tetarenko, a researcher working at the East Asian Observatory in Hilo, Hawai’i, have discovered rapidly swinging jets coming from a black hole within our own Galaxy the Milky Way, almost 8,000 light-years from Earth. This black hole is much closer to us… Continue reading
The $STARLINK_DIR/share/smurf directory includes several “dimmconfig” files that package up commonly used groups of configuration parameter values for use by the makemap command. A new file called dimmconfig_pca.lis has recently been added, which can be combined with other dimmconfig files to tell makemap to include a PCA model in its… Continue reading
MAUNAKEA, HAWAIʻI –– Two of the world’s most powerful telescopes, located atop Maunakea, played a vital role in producing the world’s very first image of a black hole. Hawai‘i-based James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and Submillimeter Array (SMA) are part of the unprecedented Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project. JCMT is… Continue reading
By default, the SMURF makemap command identifies and removes a single correlated background signal – called the common-mode – from all bolometer time-streams. However, in some cases there is clear evidence that there is more than one correlated background signal present in the bolometer time streams. This is particularly evident… Continue reading
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,… Continue reading
The East Asian Observatory is happy to invite PI observing proposals for semester 19B 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 19B Call for Proposals closes on the 15th of March, 2019. If… Continue reading
On November 26th, 2016, the JCMT Transient Survey Team observed what is estimated to be the most luminous known flare associated with a young stellar object. It is also the first coronal flare discovered at submillimetre wavelengths. The brief flash of light occurred in the direction of a binary system of… Continue reading
EAO Staff would like to wish our astronomical friends a happy Chinese New Year! Continue reading
Observations obtained by the JCMT helped uncover the Brightest Quasar in the Early Universe! The light from Quasar J043947.08+163415.7 is gravitationally lensed by a dim Galaxy in the foreground, allowing Fan et al. (2019, APJL: 870, 11) to get a good look at this active galactic nucleus at a redshift of… Continue reading
A bug has recently been fixed in the SMURF pol2map command that could cause the maps created by pol2map to be blurred or show bad negative bowling around bright sources if the input observations do not all use the same reference point. So if you are using pol2map to combine data… Continue reading
A new year and a new JCMT Observing Tool! This JCMTOT update includes support for Namakanui and a check of the distance between source and reference position during position switch observations. If you are using the JCMTOT we hope you have also checked out this pdf presentation titled: “JCMT Observing… Continue reading
Happy Holidays from the staff at EAO. We wish all our astronomy family and friends dry skies, good data and fantastic results in 2019 – image credit: Jung Shan Chan, EAO resident artist. Continue reading
The birth of giant elliptical galaxies is a violent process, with most stars originating from incredible star-forming episodes and several galaxy mergers within large-scale structures (dubbed protoclusters). This formation process happened in the early epochs, when the Universe was only a few billion years old. Currently, researchers using the James… Continue reading
Comet 46P/Wirtanen is known as a hyperactive comet. Hyperactive comets are a small family of comets whose activity levels are higher than expected. In addition to being hyperactive 46P/Wirtanen will make the 10th closest ever cometary approach to Earth of modern times (0.08au) this month. JCMT astronomers will take this opportunity… Continue reading
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… Continue reading
Those of you who carefully read our Starlink release notes (everyone, right?) will have noticed that our last release (2018A) included a new HDF5-based data format. The 2018A release could read data in the new format, but by default still wrote data in the old format. In preparation for our… Continue reading
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… Continue reading
Summary: Do not use mapvar=yes on step 1 of a POL-2 reduction as it can cause negative bowling around bright sources in the I map created at step 2. Production of polarisation maps from POL-2 data is usually performed using the pol2map command within the Starlink SMURF package, as described in… Continue reading
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… Continue reading
In July 2018, the Maunakea Gender Equity and Diversity Committee distributed a survey to the staff at the Maunakea astronomical organizations. The survey was intended to invite opinion on the current state of equity and diversity in the Maunakea astronomy community and seed conversation and ideas for enhancing diversity and… Continue reading
Hot off the press! The newest edition of our annual East Asian Observatory Newsletter is now accessible, along with all past newsletters, at: https://www.eaobservatory.org/jcmt/public/newsletter/ -20180912 Continue reading
Is magnetic field an important guiding force for gas accreting to supermassive black hole (SMBH) — for example, the one that our Milky Way Galaxy hosts? The role of magnetic field in this subject is little understood and trying to observe it has been challenging to astronomers. Researchers at the… Continue reading
The East Asian Observatory is happy to invite PI observing proposals for semester 19A 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 19A Call for Proposals closes on the 15th of September, 2018. If… Continue reading
The East Asian Observatory wishes to extend a big mahalo to our summer intern Mailani Neal for her excellent work tracking temperature changes across the JCMT’s dish! We are grateful for all her hard work and we wish her all the best as she enters her final year at Rensselaer… Continue reading
POL-2 is the JCMT’s sub-millimeter polarimeter working at both 450 and 850 microns. POL-2 is a polarimeter not a detector, and so requires SCUBA-2 for use. It is used to trace the alignment of dust particles at sub-millimeter wavelengths and thus the magnetic field orientation and strength (with some additional… Continue reading
In May our engineering staff undertook major maintenance work of the Secondary Mirror Unit on the JCMT. After this work it was noted that the Secondary mirror was sometimes vibrating, which lead to beam deformation. This was noticed due to sporadic increased FCF values – and could also be seen… Continue reading
Members of the CHIMPS-2 Large Program met for a two day meeting in Liverpool on June 28th and 29th. The meeting covered data collection, reduction and analysis with astronomers from all over the globe. For more information on the CHIMPS-2 project click here. We wish the team “clear skies” as… Continue reading
We are only as good as the instruments we have. With this sentiment in mind, we make way for the next generation of instruments as we retire one of our long-serving heterodyne receivers, RxA3. RxA3 (http://www.eaobservatory.org/jcmt/instrumentation/heterodyne/rxa/) has been a stable source of great science for the… Continue reading
The BISTRO (B-Fields in Star-Forming Region Observations) Survey has for the first time mapped the magnetic field in the dense gas of the ‘Pillars of Creation’, using instruments on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). The Pillars of Creation, in the Messier 16 star-forming region, which is also known as… Continue reading
We are always striving to do better at the JCMT and that means we often update our software. One software update that uses should be aware of is a new version of the JCMT Observing Tool. It is particularly important to note that the OT version used for all semester… Continue reading
After some important maintenance, the daycrew is seen here re-installing the Secondary Mirror Unit onto JCMT. And just like that – the JCMT is back on sky and taking science! Video Credit: Kevin Silva, Telescope System Specialist at JCMT -20180524 Continue reading
Check out our hardworking staff carefully removing the Secondary Mirror Unit (SMU). JCMT is currently closed (2.5 weeks in May 2018) as the SMU undergoes some important maintenance. The basics of the work being done: 1. Chopper performance and XYZ tables measurements 2. Remove the chopper and service the SMU… Continue reading
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… Continue reading
The East Asian Observatory is happy to invite PI observing proposals for semester 18B at 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 18B Call for Proposals closes on the 15th of March, 2018. If this… Continue reading
The JCMT 2018 User Meeting held in Seoul, South Korea was a success last week, with 39 science talks spread over two days. The pdf’s of the talks and posters can be found at the following link: User Meeting Program. – 20180208 Continue reading
January 10, 2018 The JCMT’s protective membrane is back in place after our month of commissioning without it. Now we can go back to observing in reasonable wind and during the daytime! -20180111 Continue reading
-20171221 Continue reading
From time to time the JCMT is closed due to major maintenance work. The next scheduled closure of the JCMT will occur from April 30th 2018 to mid May 2018. During this time the Gore-Tex membrane windblind will be removed to provide access to the Secondary Mirror Unit for maintenance… Continue reading
The staff at EAO would like to announce that we are planning an approximately month-long observing campaign without our iconic Gore-Tex membrane windblind. The removal of the membrane is due to the high demand for sub-mm polarimetry. Currently the instrument POL-2 is commissioned and working beautifully at 0.85mm, with some… Continue reading
The migration of our OMP database system is now complete. Principal Investigators/Co-Investigators on current JCMT programs (17B PI programs, Urgent queue programs, and the Large Programs) should again be able to retrieve recently-acquired data for their program from either the program’s OMP page or directly from the JCMT data archive… Continue reading
We are currently migrating our OMP database system, a process that is expected to take up to 4 weeks. During this period, any Principal Investigators/Co-Investigators on current JCMT programs (17B PI, Urgent queue projects, and the Large Programs) wishing to retrieve recently-acquired data for their projects should download it directly… Continue reading
Discovery made possible by a leap in submillimetre radio astronomy technology, comparable to viewing videos instead of photos. November 1, 2017 — An international team of researchers have found an infrequent variation in the brightness of a forming star. This 18-month recurring twinkle is not only an unexpected phenomenon for… Continue reading
The East Asian Observatory is happy to invite PI observing proposals for semester 18A at 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 18A Call for Proposals closes on the 15th of September, 2017. If this… Continue reading
The Greenland Telescope (GLT) is a novel project; taking a 12-meter radio antenna – prototype for the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) project from Chile, and relocating this telescope to Greenland. By repurposing this telescope astronomers can take advantage of the near-ideal conditions of the Arctic to study the Universe… Continue reading
The EAO Mid Term Review committee are meeting this week in Hilo to discuss the future of the JCMT. When the East Asian Observatory took over operation of the JCMT back in 2015 it was for an initial 5 years. Since that time we have had 5 semesters of great… Continue reading
EACOA Fellow Dr Tie Liu is the first EACOA Fellow to come to work at the EAO office in Hilo, Hawaii from KASI. Tie Liu’s main research interest is high-mass star formation and molecular clouds. Tie is the head of a large consortium undertaking the SCOPE, SCUBA-2 Continuum Observations of Pre-protostellar… Continue reading
A research team led by Japanese astronomers using data taken with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), have conducted detailed radio spectral observations of molecular gas around the nucleus of our Milky Way Galaxy, Sgr A*. As a result, the team has discovered two compact molecular clouds that have extremely… Continue reading
Astronomers from the East Asian Observatory/JCMT are in Taipei, Taiwan this week for the Asia Pacific Meeting of the International Astronomical Union (APRIM). If you are there please pop by our booth and say hello! Continue reading
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… Continue reading
Open enrollment to any of the new or extended JCMT Large Programs has opened. To sign up visit: www.surveygizmo.com/s3/3584497/JCMT-OpenEnrollment2017 Please note only astronomers from EAO regions and partners will be permitted to join. This open enrollment period will end at 8am HST on August 1st 2017. – 20170620 Continue reading
EAO/JCMT staff once again volunteered their time to spend the day connecting with the community at the annual Hilo AstroDay. This year we explored the concept of magnetism and polarization in space. For more about AstroDay please see: Continue reading
SCUBA-2 has been back on the sky for the past month producing excellent data, following both planned engineering down time to work on the instrument cryogenics and unplanned – to fix a vacuum leak. The end of 2016 was a busy time for the EAO ETIS (Engineering, Technical Information Systems)… Continue reading
Over the past two weekends the JCMT has been open and observing during the day. These daytime observations are needed to observe the middle atmosphere (altitude 70-110 km) of Venus. The aim is to better understand atmospheric physics and chemistry. The way to advance understanding of fundamental atmospheric physics and… Continue reading
This March EAO/JCMT staff celebrated our second birthday. We wish all our EAO friends a very productive and happy 2017! – photo courtesy of Michael Hoenig. – 2017/03/23 Continue reading
Congratulations to Harriet Parsons who was nominated for 2016 Employee of the Year award. All nominees were awarded at a lunch on March 6th 2017. To see the video for all the RCUH nominees click here. – 2017/03/06 Continue reading
We are currently recruiting for an Electronic Engineer to join the EAO/JCMT Engineering Group. This group ensures that the telescopes and associated instruments are at a high level of operational readiness at all times. They apply technical knowledge in support of the testing, modification, maintenance, repair, and upgrading of EAO… Continue reading
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… Continue reading
The East Asian Observatory is happy to invite PI observing proposals for semester 17B at JCMT (for details see here). Semester 17B runs from 01 August 2017 to 31 January 2018. In addition the East Asian Observatory is happy to accept proposals for Large Programs – running from 01 August… Continue reading
The East Asian Observatory is pleased to partner with the Subaru Telescope to enable astronomers from an East Asian participant region to have access to Subaru time. The East Asian Observatory proposals are considered by the Subaru scientific panel alongside regular Subaru proposals, with a guaranteed award of time of… Continue reading
The EAO/JCMT is currently seeking an astronomer to join its team of support scientists. Duties include: Assists visiting astronomers in obtaining high-quality observational data; provides technical, scientific, and logistical support to astronomers before, during, and after their observing runs, and assists with their data analysis. Performs general and specific support… Continue reading
The Staff at JCMT are proud to share the news that our Director General Paul Ho has been awarded a Humboldt Research Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in recognition of his lifetime achievements in research. For more information see: www.sinica.edu.tw/en/news/4273 – 2016/12/20 Continue reading
The East Asian Observatory is pleased to provide an early announcement of the second Call for JCMT Large Programs. This information is being provided ahead of the opening of the Call in order for current and new teams to pursue discussion and planning. Submissions will be accepted from February 15th… Continue reading
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… Continue reading
For the second successive summer, we have experienced unusually poor weather at the start of the B-semester, and we are facing a period of 7 weeks without SCUBA-2 in October and November, as it undergoes important maintenance. The combination of these events has severely impacted our supply of approved band-3/4… Continue reading
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… Continue reading
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… Continue reading
The East Asian Observatory is happy to invite PI observing proposals for semester 17A at JCMT (for details see here). Semester 17A runs from 01 February 2017 to 31 July 2017. You can reach the proposal handling system, Hedwig, and find complete details of this Call at: https://proposals.eaobservatory.org/ Any further… Continue reading
SCUBA-2 was recently returned to service after a 5-week-long absence due to a partial cryogen blockage. It has been returned to full service, despite requiring alternative operating conditions because of a problem diagnosed with one of the Pulse Tube Coolers. This issue has left the instrument filters at temperatures that… Continue reading
The Planck satellite has discovered more than ten thousand Galactic cold clumps, the so-called “Planck Galactic Cold Clumps” (PGCCs). The PGCC catalog, covering the whole sky, hence probes wildly different environments, and represents a real goldmine for investigations of the early phases of star formation. After the successful start of… Continue reading
The EAO’s latest Newsletter is now available for reading: For previous JCMT Newsletters and articles visit out Newsletter page. – 2016/07/18 Continue reading
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… Continue reading
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… Continue reading
The 2016 JCMT Users Meeting, held in Japan was a great success. If you couldn’t make it in person you can access all the slides from the talks here. – 2016/05/06 Continue reading
For potential PIs who wish to submit a POL-2 proposal for semester 16B (deadline 2016-03-16 01:00 UT), we have now prepared a brief guide page with details on the estimated sensitivity and observing mode of the instrument, at: http://www.eaobservatory.org/jcmt/instrumentation/continuum/scuba-2/pol-2/ The Integration Time Calculator in Hedwig has also been updated. When… Continue reading
We welcoming Jessica Dempsey to the role of Deputy Director of the JCMT. In addition to this we are proud to announce she has been also just been recognized with a Women Who Mean Business award for “Women to Watch”. – 2016/03/01 Continue reading
The East Asian Observatory is happy to invite PI observing proposals for semester 16B at JCMT (for details see here). Semester 16B runs from 01 August 2016 to 31 January 2017. You can reach the proposal handling system, Hedwig, and find complete details of this Call at: https://proposals.eaobservatory.org/ New in… Continue reading
The JCMT is pleased to announce that its JCMT Legacy Release 1 (SCUBA-2 850µm) data set is now publicly available. This project makes available to the community uniformly reduced observations of most public SCUBA-2 850µm observations taken before 2013-08-01, as well as coadds and emission catalogs. Please see our web… Continue reading
The East Asian Observatory is happy to invite PI observing proposals for semester 16A at JCMT (for details see here). Semester 16A runs from 01 February 2016 to 31 July 2016. We are launching this Call through a new proposal handling system: Hedwig. You can reach Hedwig and find complete… Continue reading
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… Continue reading
The EAO’s latest Newsletter is now available for reading: For previous JCMT Newsletters and articles visit out Newsletter page. Continue reading
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… Continue reading
The JCMT announces the opening of the Call for Survey Proposals. The deadline for submission of a survey proposal is July 31st, 2015. All details and submission requirements can be found at the link above. Continue reading
To all JCMT users a reminder that the Call for Proposals for semester 15B closes Friday, May 15th, 15:00 Hawaiian Standard Time. For more information click here. Continue reading
AstroDay 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… Continue reading
Semester 15B runs from 01 August 2015 to 31 January 2016. Observing proposals are now invited. For further details see here. Continue reading
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… Continue reading
It is with great enthusiasm that the East Asian Observatory (EAO) announces its first day of operations of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). The JCMT is the largest astronomical telescope in the world designed to operate in the sub-millimetre wavelength region of the spectrum. EAO is now in charge… Continue reading
