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I am a staff scientist at the National
Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). My office is located in the
Pete V. Dominici Science Operations Center in Socorro, NM, from where
the Very Large Array (VLA) and
the Very Long Baseline Array
(VLBA) are being operated. The VLA is currently undergoing a major
upgrade, known as the Expanded
VLA (EVLA).
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Functional Responsibilities
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- The transition from VLA to EVLA presents unique challenges, not
the least to observers, caused by the presence of two distinct types
of antennas in the array, continuous changes and improvements in the
online system, and eventually the installation of the WIDAR
correlator. All this can result in temporary restrictions on
observing and may impair data quality. I try to cover all important
aspects in my EVLA returns
page.
- As the transition proceeds, new modes and frequency ranges are
being made available to the observer community, and I am involved in
some of the test observations that need to be done prior to releasing
these new possibilities to the observers. Knowledge gained during the
tests generally finds its way to the EVLA returns page.
- Together with Mark Claussen, I am responsible for the VLA helpdesk, offering
VLA user support to all observers. In this capacity I also maintain
the VLA for Astronomers
page.
- Data coming from the EVLA WIDAR correlator will be processed using
CASA, the Astronomical Image
Processing system under development at the NRAO, which will also be
used by ALMA. As
EVLA CASA software scientist, I am responsible for ensuring that CASA
meets EVLA post-processing requirements in a timely fashion.
Though the transition to the EVLA leaves me with a limited amount of
research time, I have been able to average a couple of papers per
year. Most recent publications:
- Sparke, L.S., van Moorsel, G.A., Erwin, P., Wehner, E.M.H. NGC
2655: from Inner Polar ring to Outer Shells and Tails 2008,
Astron. J. 135, 998
- Sparke, L.S., van Moorsel, G.A., Schwarz, U., Erwin, P., Wehner,
E.M.H., Vogelaar, M. NGC 2655 and NGC 3718: Galaxies with Warped
Polar Disks 2007, AAS 211, 013.11
- Emonts, B. H. C.; Morganti, R.; Oosterloo, T. A.;
van der Hulst, J. M.; van Moorsel, G.; Tadhunter, C. N. Large-scale
HI in nearby radio galaxies: segregation in neutral gas content with
radio source size 2007, Astron. Astrophys. 464,
Issue 2, page L1 - L4
- Butler, B.; Harland, D.; Loveland, S.; van Moorsel, G.;
Truitt, B.; Waters, B.; Witz, S. Software for the EVLA, an
update 2006, Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume
6274, pp. 627404
- Cox, A., Sparke, L., van Moorsel, G.A. Neutral Hydrogen in the
Polar Ring Galaxy UGC 9796 2006, Astron. J. 131,
828
- Emonts, B., Morganti, R., Oosterloo, T., van der Hulst, T.,
Tadhunter, C., van Moorsel, G., and Holt, J. Merger origin of radio
galaxies investigated with H I observations 2006, Astronomische
Nachrichten 327, 139
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