Night Log 2014-12-30

SA: Encarni
SO: Veronica
Others: Deon, Ana, Liam and Stephen.

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Summary
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Clear night with mediocre seeing. Again, ridge cloud forced us to close early tonight.

Science data for:
2014-2-SCI-070 P0 RSS (Spectroscopic follow-up of type Ia supernovae discovered by DES to analyse their spectral properties)
2014-2-SCI-030 P2 RSS (x2) (Identifying new ultracompact binary star systems through their spectral characteristics)
2014-2-SCI-065 P2 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-2-SCI-066 P3 RSS (Finding the redshift and ionization of WISE-selected QSOs)

Night Log 2014-12-29

SA: Encarni
SO: Veronica
Others: Ana, Liam, Stephen and Mrs. Potter

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Summary
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Primary mirror edge sensor testing until 00:30, just as the ridge cloud arrived. No science data tonight.

Night Log 2014-12-28

SA: Encarni
SO: Veronica
Others: Stephen, Ana, Liam and Mrs. Potter

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Summary
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Clear skies and poor seeing at the beginning of the night, followed by thick cloud and high relative humidity from around 11:30pm.

Science data for:
2014-2-SCI-070 P0 RSS (Spectroscopic follow-up of type Ia supernovae discovered by DES to analyse their spectral properties)
2014-2-SCI-078 P1 SCAM (Searching for exoplanets around evolved binary stars)

Night Log 2014-12-27

SA: Encarni
SO: Veronica
Others: Stephen, Ana, Liam and Mrs. Potter

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Summary
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Cloudy start to the night, which suddenly cleared just before 10pm and stayed mostly clear with steadily improving seeing until the relative humidity constraints forced us to close at around 00:45.

Science data for:

2014-2-SCI-030 P2 RSS (Identifying new ultracompact binary star systems through their spectral characteristics)
2014-2-SCI-066 P3 RSS (x2) (Finding the redshift and ionization of WISE-selected QSOs)

And also worked on some more FP engineering tests.

Night Log 2014-12-26

SA: Encarni
SO: Veronica
Others: Anthony, Ana, Liam and Steve.

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Summary
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Cloudy night, with a surprise rain shower in the middle.
It finally cleared up enough to open up at ~2am, but with horrible seeing. Aligned the primary mirror, started taking science data and the humidity forced us to close before we finished the block. :(

Ran some more closed-dome Fabry-Perot tests.

Night Log 2014-12-25

SA: Encarni
SO: Veronica
Others: Stephen, Ana and Liam.

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Summary
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Clear night with patches of sub-arcsecond seeing. Unfortunately, temperatures steadily dropped and the relative humidity steadily rose, forcing us to close at midnight. It's <10C outside... and it's supposed to be summer!!! Brrrr! :(

Science data for:

2014-2-SCI-070 P0 RSS (Spectroscopic follow-up of type Ia supernovae discovered by DES to analyse their spectral properties)
2014-2-SCI-041 P1 RSS (Spectroscopy of star forming regions in the Magellanic Clouds)
2014-2-SCI-074 P1 SCAM (Observations of Dwarf Novae in the Large Magellanic Cloud)

Also took some tests with the Fabry-Perot etalons.

Night Log 2014-12-24

SA: Encarni
SO: Veronica
Others: Ana, Liam, Stephen and Mrs. Potter.

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** Merry Christmas!!! ** Feliz Navidad!!! **

Beautiful, warm and clear Christmas Eve with decent seeing. Tried to spot Santa through the telescope, but we didn't manage. Hopefully he has been to our houses while we weren't looking and we got some presents waiting for us!! :)

Science data for:

2014-1-MLT-002 P1 RSS (Determining the fraction of Luminous Red Galaxies in merging pairs)
2014-2-SCI-047 P1 RSS (Study of the properties of thin and thick disks of galaxy IC2531)
2014-2-SCI-003 P1 RSS (Target of opportunity for variable AGN)
2014-2-SCI-040 P1 RSS (Superwinds in luminous starburst galaxies)

Night Log 2014-12-23

SA: David
SO: Thea
Others: Luke, Emma, Encarni

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Summary
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Another clear photometric night (8 in a row!) and good seeing!\

Observations done for the following programs:
2014-2-SCI-070 P0 RSS (Spectroscopic follow-up of type Ia supernovae discovered by DES to analyse their spectral properties)
2014-2-SCI-040 P1 RSS (Superwinds in luminous starburst galaxies)
2014-2-SCI-004 P1 SCAM (Dark energy and the expansion rate of the Universe from quasar monitoring.)
2014-2-COM-001 P1 BVIT (Looking for optical pulsations from pulsars)

Night Log 2014-12-22

SA: David
SO: Thea
Others: Luke (in driver's seat) and Emma

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Summary
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Another clear photometric night. Some engineering time and then science programs for the following were done:
2014-2-SCI-024 P1 HRS (Evolved binaries in the Magellanic Clouds)
2014-2-SCI-040 P1 RSS (Superwinds in luminous starburst galaxies)
2014-2-SCI-068 P2 HRS (Properties of rapidily oscillating Ap star HD60435)
2014-2-SCI-005 P2 HRS (HRS spectroscopy of FU Ori Outbust Sources)

Eng tests for SAMS and BVIT.

Night Log 2014-12-21

SA: David
SO: Thea
Others: Luke and Emma (in training)

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Summary
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A clear productive photometric night.

Observations completed for the following programs:
2014-1-MLT-002 P1 RSS (Determining the fraction of Luminous Red Galaxies in merging pairs)
2014-2-SCI-002 P1 HRS (The black matter probe using the interstellar gas)
2014-2-SCI-017 P1 RSS (Optical preparatory survey for Cold HI 21-cm Absorption Line Survey (CHITALS))
2014-2-SCI-052 P1 RSS (Spectroscopic exploration of S0 galaxies with extraordinary central concentrations of gas and dust.)
2014-2-SCI-063 P1 RSS (Searching for high-redshift radio-loud quasars)
2014-2-SCI-016 P2 HRS (Investigating the birth and evolution of X-ray binaries through their radial motion.)
2014-2-SCI-065 P2 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-2-SCI-045 P3 HRS (Chemical composition determination of LBVs in the Southern Hemisphere.)
2014-2-SCI-022 P3 HRS (Anchoring the extragalactic distance scale with an LMC eclipsing binary star)

Night Log 2014-12-20

SA: David
SO: Thea
Others: Luke and Emma (in training)

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Summary
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Another great night, clear & calm.

Science programs for:
2014-2-MLT-005 P0 RSS (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2014-2-SCI-002 P1 HRS (x2) (The black matter probe using the interstellar gas)
2014-2-SCI-017 P1 RSS (Optical preparatory survey for Cold HI 21-cm Absorption Line Survey (CHITALS))
2014-2-SCI-032 P1 RSS (Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of Distant Star Forming Galaxies)
2014-2-SCI-074 P1 SCAM (Observations of Dwarf Novae in the Large Magellanic Cloud)
2014-2-SCI-031 P1 RSS (Redshift determination of newly confirmed galaxy clusters)

Eng test for SAMS

Night Log 2014-12-19

SA: David
SO: Thea
Others: Luke and Emma (in training)

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Summary
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Another great night.
Programs done for:
2014-2-SCI-070 P0 RSS (Spectroscopic follow-up of type Ia supernovae discovered by DES to analyse their spectral properties)
2014-2-SCI-052 P1 RSS (Spectroscopic exploration of S0 galaxies with extraordinary central concentrations of gas and dust.)
2014-2-SCI-031 P1 RSS (Redshift determination of newly confirmed galaxy clusters)
2014-2-SCI-016 P2 HRS (Investigating the birth and evolution of X-ray binaries through their radial motion.)

Night Log 2014-12-18

SA: David
SO: Thea
Others: Luke (training) & Emma

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Summary
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Clear night, but some technical issues.
Obtained observations for the following programs:
2014-2-SCI-002 P1 HRS (The black matter probe using the interstellar gas)
2014-2-SCI-052 P1 RSS (Spectroscopic exploration of S0 galaxies with extraordinary central concentrations of gas and dust.)

Night Log 2014-12-17

SA: David
SO: Fred
Others: Luke (in training), Emma

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Stable, clear night of good seeing.

SAMS mirror alignment testing first ~hour

Science for the following programs:
2014-2-SCI-040 (P1): Gallagher; NGC 2369 (Superwinds in luminous starburst galaxies)
2014-2-SCI-024 (P1): Miszalski; N19 (Evolved binaries in the Magellanic Clouds)
2014-2-SCI-016 (P2): Townsend; 4U 1036-56 (Investigating the birth and evolution of X-ray binaries through their radial motion)

Night Log 2014-12-16

SA: Hannah
SO: Fred
Others: David, Luke, Emma

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Summary
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2014-2-SCI-024 P1 HRS (Evolved binaries in the Magellanic Clouds)
2014-2-SCI-040 P1 RSS (Superwinds in luminous starburst galaxies)

Night Log 2014-12-15

SA: Hannah
SO: Fred
Others:

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Summary
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2014-2-SCI-052 P1 RSS (Spectroscopic exploration of S0 galaxies with extraordinary central concentrations of gas and dust.)
2014-2-SCI-010 P2 RSS (Spectroscopic observations of the pulsating, eclipsing binary 1SWASP J050634)
2014-2-MLT-003 P4 RSS (Study, and detailed classification, of a number of proposed very cool astronomical objects)

Wet weather RSS focus tests.

Night Log 2014-12-13

SA: Hannah
SO: Fred
Others:

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SAMS testing

Night Log 2014-12-12

SA: Hannah
SO: Fred
Others: Timmy, Hitesh (remotely)

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Summary
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2014-2-SCI-059 P3 RSS (Studying Spectral Signatures of Disks and Winds in Cataclysmic Variables)
2014-2-SCI-072 P3 RSS (Identifying new narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies from a sample of ROSAT candidates)
2014-2-MLT-003 P4 RSS (Study, and detailed classification, of a number of proposed very cool astronomical objects)

Night Log 2014-12-11

SA: Hannah
SO: Fred
Others: Keith

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Summary
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2014-2-SCI-004 P1 SCAM (Dark energy and the expansion rate of the Universe from quasar monitoring.)
2014-2-SCI-010 P2 RSS (Spectroscopic observations of the pulsating, eclipsing binary 1SWASP J050634)
2014-2-SCI-066 P2 RSS (Finding the redshift and ionization of WISE-selected QSOs)

Night Log 2014-12-10

SA: Hannah
SO: Fred
Others:

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Instrument testing during prohibitively high humidity.

Night Log 2014-12-09

SA: �ric
SO: Veronica
Others: Hannah, Paul, Jonathan, Amanda, SAmantha, Paulina, Fred.

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We could not observe tonight. We had technical problems at the beginning of the night, and then, weather degraded, and forced us to close for the rest of the night.

Night Log 2014-12-08

SA: �ric
SO: Veronica
Others: Paul R, Jonathan

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The first part of the night was lost to weather. We could then open and get some science data, but then, a tracked problem prevented us from observing for the last part of the night.
Data taken for:

2014-2-SCI-002 P1 HRS (x2) (The black matter probe using the interstellar gas)

Night Log 2014-12-07

SA: �ric
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Unfortunately, the whole night was lost to weather.
No data taken at all.

Night Log 2014-12-06

SA: �ric
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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A productive night again. We started with some tests for the mirror, and then, we went for science.
We could get data for the following programs:

2014-2-SCI-002 P1 HRS (The black matter probe using the interstellar gas)
2014-2-SCI-010 P1 RSS (Spectroscopic observations of the pulsating, eclipsing binary 1SWASP J050634)
2014-2-SCI-016 P2 HRS (Investigating the birth and evolution of X-ray binaries through their radial motion.)
2014-2-SCI-008 P2 RSS (Understanding the Contribution of Sun-Sized Stars to the Regeneration of the Universe)
2014-2-SCI-028 P2 HRS (To determine if C enhanced Metal-poor stars without heavy element enhancement is due to binarity.)

Night Log 2014-12-05

SA: �ric
SO: Veronica
Others:

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A productive night, during which we did a lot of calibrations form ost part of the night. This is to test a new hardware that has been installed yesterday afternoon.

And then, we could obtain data for the following programs:

2014-2-SCI-010 P1 RSS (Spectroscopic observations of the pulsating, eclipsing binary 1SWASP J050634)
2014-2-SCI-008 P2 RSS (Understanding the Contribution of Sun-Sized Stars to the Regeneration of the Universe)

Night Log 2014-12-04

SA: �ric
SO: Veronica
Others:

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We used the beginning of the night to run some more engineering tests. Then, once we started science observations, we had to close because of the weather.

Night Log 2014-12-03

SA: �ric
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Despite staying closed most of the night, because of high humidity, we could do some important engineering tests for the instruments.

Night Log 2014-12-02

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Eric, David

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High humidity and thick clouds. A lot of arc calibration frames taken tonight. No observations.

Night Log 2014-12-01

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others:

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A challenging night to schedule observations with HRS offline and seeing mostly 3-4 arcsec!


Data taken for:

2014-2-SCI-066 P2 RSS (Finding the redshift and ionization of WISE-selected QSOs)
2014-2-SCI-073 P3 RSS (Monitoring of the SMC LBV S18)
2014-2-SCI-007 P3 RSS (x2) (Identifying the age of the Argus moving group using the lithium depletion boundary)

Night Log 2014-11-30

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others: Keith, Timmy

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A reasonably productive night but HRS offline.

Data taken for:

2014-2-SCI-041 P1 RSS (x2) (Spectroscopy of star forming regions in the Magellanic Clouds)
2014-2-SCI-010 P1 RSS (Spectroscopic observations of the pulsating, eclipsing binary 1SWASP J050634)
2014-2-SCI-054 P1 RSS (Measuring radial velocitie sin the spectrum of CAL 87)
2014-2-SCI-027 P3 RSS (x2) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))

Night Log 2014-11-29

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others: Timmy, Keith

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Frustrating night with only handicapped RSS and SCAM available. Frequent alignments needed due to high and variable temperature during night.

Data taken for:

2014-2-SCI-074 P1 SCAM (Observations of Dwarf Novae in the Large Magellanic Cloud)
2014-2-SCI-066 P2 RSS (x2) (Finding the redshift and ionization of WISE-selected QSOs)

Night Log 2014-11-28

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others:

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A reasonably productive night despite closing around 2:30 due to high humidity and seeing mostly worse than 2.5 arcsec.


Data taken for:

2014-2-SCI-065 P2 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-2-SCI-028 P2 HRS (x2) (To determine if C enhanced Metal-poor stars without heavy element enhancement is due to binarity.)
2014-2-SCI-001 P3 HRS (Searching for circumbinary planets)

Night Log 2014-11-27

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others:

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Clouds and high humidity tonight. No observations tonight.

Night Log 2014-11-26

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others: Eben, Ant

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Took one science block for 2014-2-MLT-005 before issues with RSS filter insertion and faulty articulation sensors. Thereafter high humidity ensued.

Night Log 2014-11-25

SA: Petri
SO: Fred
Others: Steve, Brent, Ted, Nithaya, Thea

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Most of the night lost to humidity except for <2h in the beginning with
clear but average to poor seeing conditions, and then for <1h in the end.
Latter time used for on-sky engineering, first section has data for:
2014-2-MLT-001 P2 RSS (Study of the evolution of lenticular galaxies.)
2014-2-SCI-062 P2 RSS (Studying a post-starburst galaxy with unusual [O III] emission lines - an ionized galactic wind?)

Night Log 2014-11-24

SA: Petri
SO: Fred
Others: Steve, Ted, Nithaya Chetty

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All night lost to humidity and clouds apart from a brief window right in
the beginning resulting in data for:
2014-2-SCI-004 P1 RSS (Dark energy and the expansion rate of the Universe from quasar monitoring.)

Night Log 2014-11-23

SA: Petri
SO: Fred
Others: Steve, Timmy

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Lost almost the whole night to humidity. Managed just one short block
in a brief hole in clouds and dip in RH:
2014-2-SCI-049 P2 RSS (Enshrouded exoplanetary systems)

Night Log 2014-11-22

SA: Petri
SO: Fred
Others: Steve

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Lost first half of the night to clouds and thundershowers. Conditions
improved later and did "thin cloud" science in average seeing and on-sky
engineering tests until clouded out again half an hour before end of night.
Data for:
2014-2-SCI-002 P1 HRS (x2) (The black matter probe using the interstellar gas)
2014-2-SCI-049 P2 RSS (Enshrouded exoplanetary systems)

Night Log 2014-11-21

SA: Petri
SO: Fred
Others: Steve, Keith

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The dark night started out well with RSS and good seeing, then hit
technical issues, and some clouds, but latter half of the night went
smoothly again with HRS only and skies clearing.
Data for:
2014-2-MLT-005 P0 RSS (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2014-2-SCI-062 P2 RSS (Studying a post-starburst galaxy with unusual [O III] emission lines - an ionized galactic wind?)
2014-2-SCI-020 P2 HRS (HRS observations of planetary nebulae and spectra of dwarf tidal galaxies.)
2014-2-SCI-022 P2 HRS (x2) (Anchoring the extragalactic distance scale with an LMC eclipsing binary star)

Night Log 2014-11-20

SA: Petri
SO: Fred
Others: Steve

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Spent night running highest-priority edge-sensor tests. As luck would
have it, turned out to also be one of those once-a-semester nights ...
stable, dark, photometric, excellent seeing with long stretches at sub-arcsec.

Night Log 2014-11-19

SA: Petri
SO: Fred
Others: Steve, Keith

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A frustrating night with a multitude of technical troubles. Seeing was good, but cirrus all night and getting thicker towards the morning. Got a couple blocks done regardless, in addition to many rejected ones.
2014-2-DDT-001 P0 RSS (nuclear processing in evolved stars)
2014-2-SCI-002 P1 HRS (The black matter probe using the interstellar gas)
2014-2-SCI-005 P3 HRS (HRS spectroscopy of FU Ors Outbust Sources)

Night Log 2014-11-18

SA: Alexei
SO: Veronica
Others: Petri, Fred, Steve C, Etienne

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Summary
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=> Nice clear night with brilliant seeing.

=> Lost some time from the evening due to technical issues.

=> Date were taken for the following programs:
2014-2-DDT-001 P0 RSS (nuclear processing in evolved stars)
2014-2-SCI-074 P1 SCAM (Observations of Dwarf Novae in the Large Magellanic Cloud)
2014-2-SCI-040 P1 RSS (Superwinds in luminous starburst galaxies)
2014-2-SCI-024 P2 HRS (x2) (Evolved binaries in the Magellanic Clouds)

Night Log 2014-11-17

SA: Alexei
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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=> Clear night with nice seeing. HRS and SALTICAM observations.

=> Data were taken for the following programs:
2014-2-SCI-020 P1 HRS (HRS observations of planetary nebulae and spectra of dwarf tidal galaxies.)
2014-2-SCI-024 P1 HRS (x3) (Evolved binaries in the Magellanic Clouds)
2014-2-SCI-078 P1 SCAM (Searching for exoplanets around evolved binary stars)
2014-2-SCI-065 P2 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-2-SCI-016 P2 HRS (Investigating the birth and evolution of X-ray binaries through their radial motion.)

Night Log 2014-11-16

SA: Alexei
SO: Veronica
Others: Etienne for a long time

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=> Clear sky and very bad seeing at the beginning of the night.

=> Technical issues at the beginning of the night.

=> High humidity pushed us to close earlier.

=> Data were taken for the program:
2014-2-SCI-073 P4 RSS (x2) (Monitoring of the SMC LBV S18)

=> RSS Geometry Calibrations were finished.

=> Throughput spectral test for RSS was done using SpSt

=> Gain Calibrations for RSS were repeated.

Night Log 2014-11-15

SA: Alexei
SO: Veronica
Others: Etienne

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Summary
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=> Clear night. Managed to open and make one test before humidity forced us to close. Later heavy clouds came.

=> Tested RSS guidance and make test for relative locations of a fairly central star on PDET and SCAM (RHO=0 only).

Night Log 2014-11-14

SA: Alexei
SO: Veronica
Others: Lisa

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=> Strong wind, high humidity and heavy clouds all the night.

=> RSS tests were done:
1. RSS geometry calibrations (except SpSt observations)
2. Gain and Read-Out noise Calibrations
3. Stability of long-slit mask insertion

RSS Goes Back Up!!

After two months of enormous effort by all concerned, RSS is looking better than ever!  In addition to the highly successful optical service (a long blog post to follow about that at some point...) which drove the project, the Tech Ops team's made full use of this opportunity to access any & every part of the instrument.

All mechanisms have been thoroughly overhauled & tested, CAD models were created for parts that weren't under config management & the baffling's been improved to beat down stray light & to help keep the instrument (& particularly the optics) as clean as possible.

The various mechanisms (including new etalon mounts, the waveplates, the slitmask magazine & the gratings) needed plenty of tweaking & testing before the lift could happen.  This stuff's hard enough to do on the ground, no point rushing to put everything back up, only to then discover that something wasn't right.

The guys have been relentless, working day & night for the past several days to make sure everything's ready & in great shape.  With that, a post-lunch launch was agreed to yesterday...

The instrument was rigged up at the tracker's 37 degree operational angle before being hoisted through the hatch with the dome crane.

This was all a bit too hard to watch for some thoroughly exhausted people...

Safely to the first floor!

& then up to the catwalk.

Time for a last good look at everything from above.

RSS hovers patiently above the hatch after hailing a telescope...

After 9 weeks & 3 days of major surgery & intensive care in the spectrometer room, the tracker must've been a most welcome sight for our prime focus imaging spectrograph (the instrument formerly known as PFIS).

Eben & his crew of lifters: Denville, Etienne, Timmy & Jono, + crane-man Nicolaas, took up their positions on the tracker & access platform.

Everyone guided her down very gently before fastening the bolts into the rho stage.

Securely down, the lifting gear could be removed...

Then the task of routing & connecting all the RSS cables, pneumatics, coolant pipes & other life-support back into & out of the rotating structure.

Earlier in the day, the HRS fibres had been stowed out of harm's way in a blue tube that was lashed to the outside of the rho ring (visible to the left of Eben's foot in the pic above).  With RSS back on, these could be fed back under the RSS frame, routed into the rotating structure & connected to the FIF.

What happened next is not hard to imagine...  A cold & hungry crew did what they needed to do!  Big thank you to Jupiter for still being willing to cook fantastic steaks after 10pm when the last of us arrived there!  

Don't be fooled by the date on the bottle - the lift happened on Thursday the 13th, the past few days have just been too busy to keep track of such details!  Pity about the bad weather that'll prevent on-sky testing for a couple of days, but stay tuned...

Night Log 2014-11-13

SA: Alexei
SO: Veronica
Others: SALT day team, Lisa, Ockert

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Summary
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=> Mostly clear night. SALT team worked during twilight and first
hour to finish RSS and FIF installation. Three more hours we took
some tests for FIF first and for the new mirror segment edge sensor
system after that.

=> Data were taken for the following programs:
2014-2-SCI-002 P1 HRS (The black matter probe using the interstellar gas)
2014-2-SCI-043 P1 HRS ( Hunting for heavy-metal stars in the hot-star zoo. )
2014-2-SCI-024 P2 HRS (Evolved binaries in the Magellanic Clouds)

Night Log 2014-11-12

SA: Alexei
SO: Veronica
Others: Lisa, Keith, Ockert

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Summary
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=> Entire night lost to rain, heavy clouds and strong wind

RSS is Go for take-off in the morning! :D

Night Log 2014-11-11

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: Chris, Etienne, Keith, Jonathan, Lisa, Eben, Deon... sorry if I missed anybody!

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Summary
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Entire night lost to cloud and rain.

Night Log 2014-11-10

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: Ockert, Keith, Lisa, Deon and Dan from 1.9m telescope.

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Summary
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Horrid weather tonight. Managed to open and take a couple of tests during twilight before the wind, the humidity and the cloud cover forced us to close.

Night Log 2014-11-09

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: Deon.

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A cloudy start, followed by some clear weather but poor seeing and ending early in thick cloud and high humidity.

Science data for:

2014-2-SCI-001 P3 (Searching for circumbinary planets)
2014-2-SCI-020 P3 (x2) (HRS observations of planetary nebulae and spectra of dwarf tidal galaxies.)

Night Log 2014-11-08

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: Ted, Keith, Deon. Janus over the phone to help with FIF acquisition problems.

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Summary
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The night started rather cloudy but cleared by midnight.

Science data for:
2014-2-SCI-020 P1 (HRS observations of planetary nebulae and spectra of dwarf tidal galaxies.)
2014-2-SCI-001 P1 (Searching for circumbinary planets)
2014-2-SCI-068 P2 (Properties of rapidily oscillating Ap star HD60435)
2014-2-SCI-043 P3 (x2) ( Hunting for heavy-metal stars in the hot-star zoo. )

Night Log 2014-11-07

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: Deon. Luke over the phone to help with HRS.

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Summary
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Mostly clear and dry, full Moon night. A few technical glitches and a lot of mirror alignments tonight, and some science data for:
2014-2-SCI-002 P1 (The black matter probe using the interstellar gas)
2014-2-SCI-020 P1 (x2) (HRS observations of planetary nebulae and spectra of dwarf tidal galaxies.)
2014-2-SCI-043 P1 ( Hunting for heavy-metal stars in the hot-star zoo. )
2014-2-SCI-050 P2 (x2) (Exploring the limits of HRS for measuring Exoplanet Radial Velocities)
2014-2-SCI-068 P2 (Properties of rapidily oscillating Ap star HD60435)

Night Log 2014-11-06

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: Keith, Deon and Janus

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Summary
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Mostly clear night with a few scattered high cirrus clouds. Again, forced to close early due to high humidity.

Science data for:
2014-2-SCI-022 P1 (Anchoring the extragalactic distance scale with an LMC eclipsing binary star)
2014-2-SCI-050 P2 (x2) (Exploring the limits of HRS for measuring Exoplanet Radial Velocities)
2014-2-SCI-028 P2 (x2) (To determine if C enhanced Metal-poor stars without heavy element enhancement is due to binarity.)

Night Log 2014-11-05

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: Keith, Janus.

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Summary
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Mostly clear night. The first couple of hours we took some tests for the new mirror segment edge sensor system, then did some tests with SALTICAM to make sure everything was back as expected, and took some HRS science data. Unfortunately, we were forced to close early due to high-humidity.

The science data winners are:
2014-2-SCI-020 P1 (HRS observations of planetary nebulae and spectra of dwarf tidal galaxies.)
2014-2-SCI-001 P2 (Searching for circumbinary planets)

Night Log 2014-11-04

SA: �ric
SO: Veronica
Others: Ockert, Janus, Eben, Etienne, Encarni, Daniel

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Night lost again due to humidity and clouds.
No data obtained tonight.

Night Log 2014-11-03

SA: �ric
SO: Veronica
Others: Eben, Janus, Willie, James, Ockert

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Weather prevented us from opening, no data obtained tonight.

Night Log 2014-11-02

SA: �ric
SO: Veronica
Others:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


No opening tonight, because of the weather.

Night Log 2014-11-01

SA: �ric
SO: Veronica
Others: Daniel

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Humidity and clouds prevented us most of the time to observe.
During a short window, we could observe the following program :
2014-1-POL_RSA_AMNH-001 P2 HRS (Looking for evidence of massive white dwarfs in symbiotic novae)

Night Log 2014-10-31

SA: �ric
SO: Veronica
Others:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


No data tonight, since we stayed closed because of the weather conditions.

Night Log 2014-10-30

SA: �ric
SO: Veronica
Others: Ockert, Keith, Martin, Etienne and family

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Mirror tests at the beginning of the night, and then, humidity forced us to stay closed.
No data today.

Night Log 2014-10-29

SA: �ric
SO: Veronica
Others: Ockert, Keith, Marissa and Enrico for a late BVIT tutorial

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Some technical tests on the primary mirror segments at the beginning of the night.
Then, humidity forced us to stay closed.

Night Log 2014-10-28

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others: Hitesh (remotely), Eben, Ockert

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


A mixed night with highly variable humidity, seeing and two power cuts.

Data taken for:

2014-1-POL_RSA-001 P1 HRS (Dark energy and the expansion rate of the Universe from quasar monitoring.)
2014-1-DC-005 P1 HRS (Determining the masses of the eclipsing binary UV Psc)
2014-1-POL_RSA_AMNH-001 P2 HRS (Looking for evidence of massive white dwarfs in symbiotic novae)

Night Log 2014-10-27

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Heavy clouds tonight. No observations taken.

Night Log 2014-10-26

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others: Marissa, Bruno

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


A clear dark night with plenty of HRS science and a nice BVIT observation. Data taken for:

2014-2-COM-001 P1 BVIT (Looking for optical pulsations from pulsars)
2014-1-POL_RSA_AMNH-001 P1 HRS (x2) (Looking for evidence of massive white dwarfs in symbiotic novae)
2014-1-DC-005 P1 HRS (Determining the masses of the eclipsing binary UV Psc)
2014-1-HET_OTH-002 P2 HRS (To determine if C enhanced Metal-poor stars without heavy element enhancement is due to binarity.)
2014-1-UNC-001 P2 HRS (Emission line kinematics of RESOLVE galaxies for tracing dark matter)
2014-1-POL-001 P2 HRS (Searching for circumbinary planets)
2014-1-COM-003 P4 HRS (Study of narrow absorption lines in quasars.)

Night Log 2014-10-25

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others: Keith

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Entire night lost to high humidity and thick clouds.

Night Log 2014-10-24

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others: Hitesh (remotely), Chris Koen

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Engineering tests in first part of night before taking one science block for
2014-1-DC-005 P1 HRS (Determining the masses of the eclipsing binary UV Psc)
+ an RV std, before closing due to high humidity around midnight.

Night Log 2014-10-23

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Telescope offline pending tracker repair.

Night Log 2014-10-22

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Engineering night with tracker offline. Took HRS calibration data.

Night Log 2014-10-21

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Ockert, Jonathan, Luke (remotely)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Some short on sky tests at start of night to ensure telescope and HRS are back online. Will resume normal science operations tomorrow night. Data taken for:

2014-1-UNC-001 P1 HRS (Emission line kinematics of RESOLVE galaxies for tracing dark matter)
2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2014-10-14

SA: David
SO: Fred
Others: Hitesh, Deon

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


SAMS Engineering tests

Night Log 2014-10-13

SA: David
SO: Fred
Others: Hitesh, Deon

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Engineering tests:
pointing
SAMS

Night Log 2014-10-12

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Telescope offline for engineering week. No observations tonight.

Night Log 2014-10-11

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Telescope offline due to engineering week. No observations tonight.

Night Log 2014-10-07

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


=> Tracker is off tonight. No observations.

Night Log 2014-10-06

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


=> Stable night with moderate seeing and low humidity.

=> Have some technical issues.

=> Data were taken for the following programs:
2014-1-DDT-003 P0 HRS (Study of a helium binary in outburst. )
2014-1-POL_RSA_AMNH-001 P1 HRS (Looking for evidence of massive white dwarfs in symbiotic novae)
2014-1-HET_UC-001 P1 HRS (Searching for the Earth-mass planet around alpha Cen B)
2014-1-RSA_HET-002 P2 HRS (Investigating the birth and evolution of X-ray binaries through their radial motion.)
2014-1-DC-001 P2 HRS (Gravitational redshifts in planetary nebulae and white dwarfs and spectra of dwarf galaxies)
2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (x3) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

SALT long-slit spectroscopy of CTS C30.10: two- component Mg II line

The following is a guest post by Justyna Modzelewska from CAMK. Along with her collaborators, they have been using SALT to monitor the variability of high redshift quasars with the goal of eventually using these objets to help study Dark Energy.  The full paper can be found here.

We are currently monitor three quasars over very long timescales with the goal to determine the Dark Energy content of the Universe, but each of the spectra collected by SALT bring something unexpected. Five observations, which cover the wavelength range 5040-5720 Å , have been made of the quasar CTS C30.10 to sample the MgII line (rest frame 2800 Å), one of the strongest lines in all quasars. The high quality spectrum, usually not available for distant quasars, allowed us to make a unique decomposition of the spectrum.

Our purpose is to determine the equivalent width of the Mg II line as accurately as possible. For that, we carefully decompose the spectrum into the Fe II pseudo-continuum, power law, and the line itself. We consider 16 different templates of FeII pseudo-continuum (both observational and theoretical) and two types of functions for the line (Gaussian and Lorentzian).   As compared to our previous observations of LBQS 2113-4538 (Hryniewicz, K., et al. 2014), the observed Mg II line in CTS C30.10 has a more complicated structure  than we expected. In  type A quasars (e.g. LBQS), we see a single component; but for type B quasars (CTS), a second component appears, kinematically (red)shifted by 2700 km/s with respect to the first one.

However, our results show the existence of only one component of FeII, and, what is surprising, it is associated with the first component of MgII. The second kinematic component of the Mg II does not have the corresponding Fe II absorption. We still need to explain that theoretically. High quality data from SALT give us an opportunity to see the structure of the line that no one else could observe before, and this will shed light on the structure of quasars.

Figure 1: The best fit and residual for 3rd observation for the two kinematic components in emission of the Mg II line (dotted lines mark) and FeII theoretical template [Bruhweiler & Verner (2008),d12-m20-20-5] which is bonded to the first MgII component from the left; continuous lines show the model and the data, dashed lines give the underlying power law.

Night Log 2014-10-05

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others: Lisa

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


=> Stable night with very low humidity and good seeing.

=> Data were taken for the following programs:
2014-1-DDT-003 P0 HRS (Study of a helium binary in outburst. )
2014-1-POL_RSA_AMNH-001 P1 HRS (Looking for evidence of massive white dwarfs in symbiotic novae)
2014-1-HET_UC-001 P1 HRS (Searching for the Earth-mass planet around alpha Cen B)
2014-1-RSA_HET-002 P2 HRS (x2) (Investigating the birth and evolution of X-ray binaries through their radial motion.)
2014-1-UKSC-002 P3 HRS (High time resolution spectroscopic study of chemically peculiar Ap stars)
2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (x3) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2014-10-04

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others: Paul at the beginning. Francois by phone.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


=> Stable night with moderate seeing.
=> Had some technical issues most of the time.
=> Some data were taken for the following programs:
2014-1-DDT-003 P0 HRS (Study of a helium binary in outburst. )
2014-1-POL_RSA_AMNH-001 P1 HRS (Looking for evidence of massive white dwarfs in symbiotic novae)
2014-1-HET_UC-001 P1 HRS (Searching for the Earth-mass planet around alpha Cen B)
2014-1-UKSC-002 P1 HRS (High time resolution spectroscopic study of chemically peculiar Ap stars)
2014-1-RSA_HET-001 P2 HRS (Measuring exoplanets with SALT)

Night Log 2014-10-03

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others: Paul, Janus by phone

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


=> Stable night with good seeing at the beginning and moderate during secong half. Have technical issues during second half of the night.

=> Data were taken for the following programs:
2014-1-POL-001 P1 HRS (Searching for circumbinary planets)
2014-1-RSA_HET-001 P2 HRS (Measuring exoplanets with SALT)
2014-1-UKSC-004 P2 HRS (Studying the O Star HD 164740)
2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2014-10-02

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


=> Clear weather with moderate seeing, but were closed about 2:30 by humidity

=> Data were taken for the following programs:
2014-1-DC-005 P1 HRS (Determining the masses of the eclipsing binary UV Psc)
2014-1-POL-001 P1 HRS (Searching for circumbinary planets)
2014-1-HET_UC-001 P1 HRS (Searching for the Earth-mass planet around alpha Cen B)
2014-1-UKSC-002 P1 HRS (x2) (High time resolution spectroscopic study of chemically peculiar Ap stars)

=> Some HRS calibrations were taken

Night Log 2014-10-01

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others: Eric, Ockert at the beginning of the night

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


=> Did SAMS tests at the start of the evening, which was finished due to
high humidity.

=> No science observations tonight.

Night Log 2014-09-30

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


- did SAMS testing at the start of the evening, which got cut short due to high humidity.
- did no science observations tonight.

Night Log 2014-09-29

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others: Martin, Keith, Eric, Ockert, Francois

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


- again, opened for a short while before we had to close due to high humidity.

Night Log 2014-09-28

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


- was open for a short while at the beginning of the night, but we were forced to close due to high humidity and ridge cloud.

Night Log 2014-09-27

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


- did not open due to rain, cloud and high humidity.

Night Log 2014-09-26

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


- not a succesful night of observing.
- we started late due to technical issues and struggled to get good mirror alignments. by the time we were ready to get observations underway we had to close due to high humidity.

- managed to get one target observed and did some engineering work as well.
- obtained data for:
2014-1-POL-001 P1 HRS (Searching for circumbinary planets)

Night Log 2014-09-25

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others: Ockert, Francois, Eric, Luke

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


- spent time on engineering tests for the edge sensors as well as other engineering observations.
- had photometric conditions with good to fair seeing.
- HRS was back online tonight.

- obtained data for the following programs:
2014-1-RSA_HET_OTH-001 P0 SCAM (SPIRITS Optical Follow-up)
2014-1-POL-001 P1 HRS (x2) (Searching for circumbinary planets)

Night Log 2014-09-24

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others: Francois, Ockert, Johnathan

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


- the red arm of HRS is not operational yet, therefore, all the HRS data taken tonight is blue detector only.

- had clear and photometric conditions for the whole evening. the seeing was variable and ranged from 1.1'' to 2.5''. had various small technical issues.

- obtained data for the following programs:

2014-1-RSA_HET_UKSC_OTH-001 P0 SCAM (Observe the accretion disc as a white dwarf, neutron star or black hole gobbles up a companion.)
2014-1-POL-001 P2 HRS (Searching for circumbinary planets)
2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2014-09-23

SA: Petri
SO: Thea
Others: Paul, Eric, Luke, Steve P., Abi Saha

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Lost the night to thunderstorms and clouds

Night Log 2014-09-22

SA: Petri
SO: Thea
Others: Eric, Lisa, John, Ockert, Keith

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Night started out with thick cirrus so did edge sensing engineering first.
Mostly HRS science in second half of the night when sky improved,
some Salticam work in addition and a little time lost to technical issues.
Data for:
2014-1-DC-006 P0 HRS (Classification of possible supernovae)
2014-1-HET_OTH-002 P2 HRS (x4) (To determine if C enhanced Metal-poor stars without heavy element enhancement is due to binarity.)
2014-2-SCI-039 P3 SCAM (Imaging distant galaxy cluster candidates detected by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope)

Night Log 2014-09-21

SA: Petri
SO: Thea
Others: Etienne, Lisa, John

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Dark clear stable night again, but seeing poorer. No technical issues
until mid-night, but lost HRS capabilities after that. Engineering and
Salticam stuff after some tech.downtime. Note all HRS PIs:
data only from Blue arm. HRS and Salticam science for:

2014-1-HET_OTH-002 P2 HRS (To determine if C enhanced Metal-poor stars without heavy element enhancement is due to binarity.)
2014-1-RSA_OTH-020 P2 SCAM (Rapid photometry of magnetic Cataclysmic Variables)
2014-1-AMNH-003 P3 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-2-SCI-039 (SCAM) (Imaging of massive distant galaxy clusters)

Night Log 2014-09-20

SA: Petri
SO: Thea
Others: Lisa, John, Etienne, Timmy, Janus on phone

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


A great clear dark stable good-seeing night. Unfortunately lost most of
the night to tech.problems. The Blue side of HRS is on-line now, sort of
at least .. PIs getting HRS data please not that only Blue is working.
In addition to some engineering time, science data for:
2014-1-DC-006 P0 HRS (Classification of possible supernovae)
2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (x3) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2014-09-19

SA: Petri
SO: Thea
Others:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


A clear dark night with poor seeing. Humidity went too high by 1am,
engineering tests and Salticam science done until that. Data for:
2014-1-AMNH-004 P1 SCAM (Identification of the ring nebula PL1547-5612.)
2014-1-RSA_OTH-020 P2 SCAM (Probing Accretion in Magnetic CVs Through High Time Speed Photometry)
2014-1-AMNH-003 P2 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2014-09-18

SA: Petri
SO: Thea
Others: Eric, Ockert, Lisa, John

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


A very cold night, snow in the afternoon. Telescope finally on-line with Salticam and BVIT available. However, we were closed all night due to clouds and humidity.

Night Log 2014-09-17

SA: Petri
SO: Thea
Others: Eric, Ockert, Lisa, John, Martin

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Telescope still off-line. But tonight could not have opened anyway due to clouds and humidity, rain later.

Night Log 2014-09-16

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Petri

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Telescope offline tonight. No observations made.

Night Log 2014-09-15

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Telescope offline tonight. No observations.

Night Log 2014-09-14

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Janus, Lisa, John, Darragh

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Heavy clouds at start that cleared to a relatively good night. Spent most of this time doing tests for SCAM focus issues we've been having. Also took some science data with SCAM at end of night.

Night Log 2014-09-13

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Darragh, Lisa, John

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Mostly clear night with only SCAM available.

Data taken for:

2014-1-AMNH-004 P2 SCAM (Identification of the ring nebula PL1547-5612.)
2014-1-AMNH-003 P3 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (x4) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2014-09-12

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


SCAM only available tonight. Mostly clear with some scattered clouds later in the night.

Data taken for:

2014-1-AMNH-004 P2 SCAM (Identification of the ring nebula PL1547-5612.)
2014-1-AMNH-003 P2 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (x3) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2014-09-11

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Eben, Ockert, Jonathan, Janus, Eric, Lisa, John, Etienne

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Mechanical problem with dome shutter tonight that will be fixed tomorrow. No observations tonight.

Night Log 2014-09-10

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Janus, Lisa, John, Ockert, Eric

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


A clear night albeit with only SCAM operational limiting the amount of observations possible.

2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2014-09-09

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: Hitesh

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Telescope unavailable for on-sky observations due to RSS take-down, which went swimmingly well - see awesome previous blog post from Lisa.

The telescope was used instead for some engineering tests on the new edge sensor system.

RSS Safely On The Ground!

Big day today as the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS) made its way down from the tracker to the spectrometer room!  Over the next several weeks, the instrument will undergo a general service that will include an "oil change" for the collimator optics...  The three collimator lens groups (the doublet, triplet & field lens) contain a coupling fluid that is severely compromising the throughput of the spectrograph.  This fluid will be removed & replaced & the collimator optics thoroughly cleaned.  A number of throughput tests will be conducted along the way to quantify the effects of these interventions before the instrument can be re-installed.

Eben & his team of Pete, Timmy, Etienne & Jono (left to right below) did a superb job of rigging RSS up to the dome crane & then safely detaching the instrument from the tracker.

With an anxious crowd looking on, Vic drove the dome crane & gently lowered the precious cargo.

It's a Loooong way down!

Here RSS is about to be lowered through the hatch in the observing floor to the support frame waiting on the ground floor.

With the spectrograph securely bolted to the support frame, the rigging could be detached.

Next it was wheeled into the spectrometer room where all the action will happen over the coming weeks.

Safe & sound, now for Keith & co to connect up all the life-support systems & get the whole lot working again.  Tomorrow we'll start with the functional testing & the laser throughput tests before the removal of the optics can start!

Time for a braai to soothe our nerves & celebrate a great day ;)  Happy Birthday Ted - hope you like the spectrograph we got for you!

Night Log 2014-09-08

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: Keith briefly, Paul over the phone.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Clear night with decent seeing during most of it. RSS and HRS offline tonight, so took some engineering tests when not busy taking data for:

2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (x7) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2014-09-07

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: David dB. Keith to help with the glycol

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Clear night with mostly good seeing but requiring lots of mirror alignments for some mysterious reason, so could not take full advantage of the skies. Took some final pre-RSS take-down engineering tests, and science data for:

2014-1-UW-005 P1 HRS (Tracers of accretion flows in PMS Binaries)
2014-1-RSA_OTH-012 P2 RSS (x2) (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2014-1-RSA_POL-001 P3 RSS (Searching the galaxy for new symbiotic stars)
2014-1-IUCAA_RSA_OTH-001 P3 RSS (Star formation histories of Pseudobulges.)
2014-1-UKSC-003 P3 RSS (Optical spectroscopy of star forming regions in N81, N88 and N113)

Night Log 2014-09-06

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: Rick, Wilfried, David dB. Luke, Eric, Janus and Keith via phone

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


A fairly productive night which started fairly cloudy with sub-arcsecond seeing, but it cleared up and the seeing worsened to ~1.5"-2".

Took data for a few more engineering tests and science data for:

2014-1-DC-001 P1 HRS (Gravitational redshifts in planetary nebulae and white dwarfs and spectra of dwarf galaxies)
2014-1-POL-001 P1 HRS (x2) (Searching for circumbinary planets)
2014-1-RSA_OTH-012 P2 RSS (x2) (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2014-1-RSA_POL-001 P3 RSS (x2) (Searching the galaxy for new symbiotic stars)
2014-1-IUCAA_RSA_OTH-001 P3 RSS (Star formation histories of Pseudobulges.)
2014-1-UKSC-003 P3 RSS (Optical spectroscopy of star forming regions in N81, N88 and N113)

Night Log 2014-09-05

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: Keith for a couple of call-outs.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Cirrussy night that cleared later, but with a few technical issues.

Took some engineering data and science data for:

2014-1-RSA_OTH-019 P1 RSS (x2) (Observing Pluto -- rotationally resolved spectra.)
2014-1-RSA_OTH-002 P1 RSS (Investigating the history of star formation in colliding galaxies.)
2014-1-IUCAA_RSA_OTH-001 P2 RSS (Star formation histories of Pseudobulges.)
2014-1-IUCAA_UKSC_RSA-001 P3 RSS (Studying X-ray binaries in supernovae)

SALT Status update for Sept 2014

======================
Recent Science Results
======================

de Martino et al. measure the properties of the peculiar low mass
X-ray binary XSS J12270-4859
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014arXiv1408.6138D

Onofrio and Wegner use RSS spectroscopy of white dwarfs to set
the first upper bound of astrophysical origin on the coupling
between the Higgs field and the Kreschmann curvature invariant.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014ApJ...791..125O

Miszalski, Mikolajewska, and Udalski report on the discovery of a
new Small Magellanic Cloud symbiotic star, OGLE-SMC-LPV-00861:
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.444L..11M

Karachentsev et al. used RSS to measure Ha velocity of the nearby
gas-poor dwarf transition galaxy KK258 = ESO468-020
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.443.1281K

Gvaramadze et al. used SALT RSS observations for spectral studies
of first discovery of a Wolf-Rayet (WR) star in the Large
Magellanic Cloud via detection of a circular shell with the
Spitzer Space Telescope
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.442..929G
        
Oszkiewicz et al. used SALT spectroscopic to test methods for
photometric selection of V-type asteroids:
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014arXiv1408.4288O


==============================
SALT HRS Telegram on V1369 Cen
==============================

Simultaneous observations with SALT HRS and HST STIS spectroscopy
were carried out as part of a campaign to observe the classical
nova V1369 Cen.  Preliminary results were presented in the
following Astronomer's Telegram:
http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=6413

An example of the reduced blue HRS spectrum produced via the new
experimental HRS pipeline (see below for more details) are
available here:
http://saltastro.blogspot.com/2014/08/blue-spectroscopy-of-v1369-cen.html

================
New SALT Website
================

We are pleased to announce that the SALT web site has been given
an overhaul and that it is now officially available for everyone
to see. Some highlights include a new design, addition of
interactive elements including recent observations, and an
updated site for astronomers.  Please check out the new websites
here:

- New web site: http://www.salt.ac.za
- New web site for Astronomers: http://astronomers.salt.ac.za

The new website was set up through the hard work of Briehan
Lombaard, Paul Kotze, and Christian Hettlage at SAAO/SALT along
with contributions from many others.  The graphic design work was
done by Joni-Leigh Doran. Besides web design, she also does fine
art and illustrations. You can check out her work on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/DesignerJoni

===============
RSS Maintenance
===============

RSS will be taken down Tuesday, Sept 9 for a major optical
cleaning procedure with the goal to significantly improve the
performances of the instrument.  With the instrument off the
telescope, throughput measurements of the major optical
assemblies will be performed as well.  The total downtime is
currently expected to be between 4 and 6 weeks.

=======================
HRS Quick Look Software
=======================

A command line script for extracting a single order to allow
estimates of the quality of data has been running at the
telescope and we have made it available to the general community
to help with assessing the quality of their observations.  It can
be downloaded from here:
http://pysalt.salt.ac.za/versions/quickhrs_beta.tar.gz

Please see the README for more details on usage. The only
requirements are some additional python libraries that can be
installed via pip or other standard installation packages.

A prototype of a science reduction pipeline will be available
soon.  The code will be uploaded to the following repository soon
if you would like a preview or to help contribute:
https://github.com/saltastro/pyhrs


================
BVIT back on Sky
================

Following upgrades of the BVIT computer by the Berkeley group led
by Barry Welsh and ably supported by SALT Tech Ops and Marissa
Kotze, the instrument is back on sky. Some on-sky tests confirmed
to was all working nominally. Several observing programs
utilizing it are planned over the coming months and possibly into
semester 2014-2.

=======
RSS NIR
=======

There has been good progress on the RSS near IR arm development,
particularly with the detector optimization work. The science
grade Hawaii 2RG array is expected to be installed in the
cryostat in the coming months following tests and control
parameter tweaking on the bare MUX device, currently
installed. The pre-dewar cooling design work is near completion
and RFPs are about to be released. The instrument is on track for
delivery later in 2015, in time for installation following the
tracker upgrade completion at the end of 2015.

====
SAMS
====

After a significant delay in the first phase of the edge sensor
project, necessitated by the need for more thorough testing than
originally anticipated, plus some design minor modifications, the
first set of sensors are about to be installed on the central 7
segments (the so-called sub array). This will be followed by a
commissioning period on the telescope, expected to be completed
in a couple of months, depending on how co-operative the weather
is during that time. Apart from several nights of engineering
time required during this period, the SAMS commissioning is
expected to have little impact on normal nighttime science
activities. The vast majority of the remaining 480 sensors (plus
spares) will be delivered over the next year or so.

============================
SALT Science Conference 2015
============================

A heads-up for the next SALT Science meeting: this will be held
in the week of 1-5 June 2015 at the STIAS conference venue in
Stellenbosch, some 40 km from Cape Town. This will follow the
SALT Board meeting held the previous week in Cape Town. More
details on this will be released over the coming months.