Conference: ALMA – Extending the Limits of Astrophysical Spectroscopy

Date: January 15-17, 2011
Location: Victoria, BC
Web Site: http://almatelescope.ca/Spectroscopy2011/
About: The North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC) and the Center for Chemistry of the Universe (CCU) will jointly host, with the assistance of the National Research Council of Canada, a major science conference entitled ALMA: Extending the Limits of Astrophysical Spectroscopy in Victoria, British Columbia, 15-17 January 2011. The venue is the Laurel Point Inn, located on the inner harbour of downtown Victoria. To encourage a workshop atmosphere, registration will be limited to approximately 100 participants. Registration will open (first to pre-registrants) in early September.
The capabilities of new Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) instrumentation will be highlighted at this meeting via invited science talks in astronomy, astrophysics, and astrochemistry.
Over the next several years, the NRAO research facilities will provide the scientific community with unprecedented advances in high spatial resolution, broadband observing capabilities over frequency ranges that are sparsely covered by other facilities. ALMA will be capable of recording more than 8 GHz of instantaneous bandwidth at high spectral resolution and will routinely deliver high fidelity, high spatial resolution astronomical images. Spectroscopy is a vital tool to improve our understanding of the Universe, enabling scientists to probe physical and chemical environments, investigate kinematics and dynamics, and explore the high red-shift Universe while also obtaining abundances, concentrations, and temperatures of exotic molecular species.
In conjunction with the Spectroscopy conference, a one-day in-depth tutorial will be held on January 18, on the capabilities of ALMA during Early Science and how to use the Observing Tool for producing and submitting proposals for Early Science.