Night Log 2014-03-30

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: David dB to help with the cable wrap radio plug.

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A perfect astronomer night, dark and clear with mostly sub-arcsecond seeing. Encore! :)

2013-2-UC-001 (Looking for variable objects in clusters) P3
2013-2-UW_RSA-001 (searching for the distance to galaxies detected in radio) P2
2013-2-RU-001 (follow up of an interesting supernova) P3
2013-2-UNC_RSA_RU-001 (emission line spectroscopy of galaxies) P2 x2
2013-2-RU-004 (Investigating Halpha emission of a supernova remnant bow shock) P2
2013-2-RSA-004 (Investigating galaxy growth through mergers) P2
2013-2-RSA_OTH-002 (probing the star formation in brightest cluster galaxies) P2

Night Log 2014-03-29

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: David dB

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Stunning dark night with fairly decent seeing.

Science data for:
2013-2-DC-003 (unveiling powerful hidden black holes in the cores of galaxies) P3.
2013-2-UW_RSA-001 (Obtaining redshifts of galaxies with radio HI emission) P2
2013-2-IUCAA-001 (observing quasar galaxy pairs as a probe for the high-redshift interstellar medium) P2
2013-2-RSA-008 (studying star formation in galaxy mergers) P2
2013-2-RSA_OTH-006 (tracing the history of luminous infrared starburst galaxies) P1
2013-2-RSA-004 (studying the growth of galaxies through mergers) P2
2013-2-UC-001 (looking for fast variable objects in star clusters) P3
2013-2-IUCAA_UW-001 (Time variability studies of Low ionization broad absorption line quasars) P3
2013-2-HET-004 (spectra of white dwarfs in a cluster) P2

Night Log 2014-03-28

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others:

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Cirrussy start to the night which cleared nicely before midnight.

Science data for:
2013-2-AMNH-001(Monitoring the LMC for dwarf novae eruptions) P1
2013-2-RSA-008 (Studying star formation in galaxy mergers)x2 P2
2013-2-RU-001 (Following up on a peculiar supernova) P2
2013-2-UNC_RSA_RU-001 (Emission line spectroscopy of low surface brigthness galaxies) P2 x2
2013-2-GU-001 (echo mapping of an active galaxy to determine the mass of its supermassive black hole) P1
2013-2-RSA_RU_UC_UKSC_OTH-001 (obtaining redshifts for galaxies acting as gravitational lenses) P2 x2
2013-2-UW-005 (studying the vertical density profile of two galaxy disks) P2
2013-2-IUCAA-001 (spectra of a quasar and a galaxy to determine distances) P3
2013-2-HET-004 (Spectra of white dwarfs in a cluster) P2

Night Log 2014-03-27

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: David dB at the beginning of the night.

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Clear, productive night with relative humidity around 80%.

Science data for:
2013-2-UC-001 (identifying variable objects in a cluster)
2013-2-RSA_DC_OTH-001 (echo mapping of an active galaxy to determine the mass of its supermassive black hole), P1
2013-2-RU-001(follow up of a peculiar supernova), P2
2013-2-RSA-008 x2 (studying star formation in galaxy mergers), P2
2013-2-DC_RSA-001 (identifying a new supernova), P0
2013-2-UNC_RSA_RU-001(emission line spectroscopy of low surface brightness galaxies), P1
2013-2-DC-003 (unveiling powerful hidden black holes in galaxies), P2
2013-2-RSA_RU_UC_UKSC_OTH-001 (obtaining redshifts of galaxies acting as gravitational lenses), P2
2013-2-UW-005 (studying the vertical density profile of two galaxy disks) P2
2013-2-HET-004 (establishing membership of stars in a cluster) P2

Night Log 2014-03-26

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: Paul, David dB, Jono and Etienne until 11:30pm to fix the slitmask.

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High humidity all night. Could not open.

Night Log 2014-03-25

SA: Petri
SO: Veronica
Others: Eric, Encarni

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Full night lost to bad weather again ..

Night Log 2014-03-24

SA: Petri
SO: Veronica
Others: Eric, David dB, Thea

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All night lost to clouds and rain

Night Log 2014-03-23

SA: Petri
SO: Veronica
Others: Eric

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Whole night lost to clouds, some engineering data taken.

Night Log 2014-03-22

SA: Petri
SO: Veronica
Others: Eric

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Pretty good night again, until clouds started coming in around 3am. Seeing was also good, though temp dropped more than previous nights so had to align more... Science for:
2013-2-RSA : Spectroscopic observations of Galaxies located around 2 Giga Parsec from the Earth. x2
2013-2-RU : Observations of supernovae at various stages of their evolutions.
2013-2-IUCAA : Simultaneous observations of a quasar in a far-away galaxy, and its host galaxy. x2
2013-2-IUCAA-UW : Spectroscopic observations of distant peculiar quasars. x2
2013-2-UW : spectroscopic observations of distant galaxies, to determine the strengthof their gravitational bounds
2013-2-RSA-OTH-UKSC : Monitoring program that studies the H-alpha line of an X-Ray Binary system.

Night Log 2014-03-21

SA: Petri
SO: Veronica
Others: Eric, Timmy

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A great stable night again, some cirrus at times, but mostly clear.
Seeing was also stable and good this time. Lost some time to tech.issues
in the beginning, but smooth sailing afterwards with data for:
2013-2-IUCAA_UKSC_RSA : monitoring program aimed at understanding X-Ray binary systems.
2013-2-AMNH : Observations to discover new dwarf stars.
2013-2-RSA_DC_OTH : A monitoring program that aims at measuring the mass of a black hole.
2013-2-RU : Spectroscopic study of a supernova produced by a white dwarf.
2013-2-RSA_OTH : Observations of a group of galaxies located behind our own Galaxy.
2013-2-UW : Study of the redshifts in a group of galaxies x5
2013-2-DC : Observation of a special kind of quasars : they are obscured by clouds.

Night Log 2014-03-20

SA: Petri
SO: Veronica
Others: Eric, Hannah, Lisa

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Nice and stable gray clear night, though seeing bounced around from good to average to poor to excellent. Full night of science, data for:
2013-2-RSA_POL-001 (searching for possible Supernova progenitors)
2013-2-UNC-002 (eclipse in a binary containing a magnetic white dwarf)
2013-2-RU-002 (a weird Supernova 90 million light-years away)
2013-2-RSA_OTH-011 (looking for galaxy structures behind the plane of the Milky Way x2)
2013-2-RSA_OTH-005 (evolution of galaxies in a cosmic void)
2013-2-UW-002 (bent radio sources in galaxy groups x2)
2013-2-UW-001 (spectrum of a hydrogen burning white dwarf x2)

Night Log 2014-03-19

SA: Petri
SO: Veronica
Others: Eric, Lisa, Hannah

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Night started with cirrus, then it cleared up with excellent
seeing, only for the humidity to close us off soon after..
Managed data for:
2013-2-RU-003 (supernova remnant in the milky way)
2013-2-RU-002 (supernova far away)

Night Log 2014-03-18

SA: Lisa
SO: Thea
Others: Petri, Eric, Hannah

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The amazing weather continues! Data taken for:

* 2013-2-RU-002 (supernova follow-up), P0
* 2013-2-RSA-005 (radial velocity monitoring of Wolf-Rayet nuclei of planetary nebulae), P1
* 2013-2-UKSC-007 (spectroscopy of luminous red novae), P1 & P2
* 2013-2-IUCAA_UW-001 (spectroscopy of low ionisation, broad absorption line quasars), P3
* 2013-2-RSA_OTH_UKSC-003 (monitoring H-alpha emission in a Be/X-ray binary), P4

Night Log 2014-03-17

SA: Lisa
SO: Thea
Others: David dB

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Another great photometric night free of significant technical problems :)

Data taken for:

* 2013-2-RU-002 (follow-up of a peculiar white dwarf supernova), P0
* 2013-2-GU-001 (spectroscopy of the Seyfert galaxy WPVS 48), P1
* 2013-2-RSA_OTH-003 (spectroscopic confirmation of candidate Luminous Blue Variables), P2
* 2013-2-RSA_POL-001 (searching for Galactic symbiotic stars), P3
* 2013-2-RSA_POL-001 (searching for Galactic symbiotic stars), P4 x3
* Guidence tests for both the FIF & SALTICAM auto-guiders

Night Log 2014-03-16

SA: Lisa
SO: Thea
Others: David dB

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Yet another lovely photometric night with an extremely well behaved telescope :) Amazing range of seeing conditions, from a superb 0.8" up to an awful 3.5" & just about everything in between...

Data taken for:

* 2013-2-RU-001 (supernova follow-up observations which will trigger HST observations of this object), P0

* 2013-2-RSA-005 (radial velocity monitoring of Wolf-Rayet nuclei of planetary nebulae), P1

* 2013-2-RSA_DC_OTH-001 (reverberation mapping to determine the size of a super-massive black hole at the centre of an active galaxy), P2

* 2013-2-RSA_OTH-003 (spectroscopic confirmation of candidate luminous blue variable stars), P2

* 2013-2-RSA-005 (radial velocity monitoring of Wolf-Rayet nuclei of planetary nebulae), P3

* 2013-2-AMNH-002 (candidate young stellar object), P4

Also took images of some beautiful objects while the seeing & stack were really good & the queue was sparse. Stay tuned for colour images of a supernova remnant, a planetary nebula & a globular cluster!

Night Log 2014-03-15

SA: Lisa
SO: Thea
Others: John B & David dB

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Night started out superbly but then conditions deteriorated as the wind swung around to the SE. No techincal issues at all - brilliant!!

Data taken for:

* 2013-2-RU-001 (supernova follow-up), P0
* 2013-2-RSA_OTH-003 (spectroscopic confirmation of candidate luminous blue variable stars), P2
* 2013-2-IUCAA_UKSC_RSA-001 (characterising X-ray binaries in supernovae), P3
* 2013-2-IUCAA_UW-001 (spectroscopy of low ionisation, broad absorption line quasars), P3
* 2013-2-RSA-005 (radial velocity monitoring of Wolf-Rayet nuclei of planetary nebulae), P3
* 2013-2-UNC_RSA_RU-001 (emission line spectroscopy of a large face-on spiral galaxy), P3
* 2013-2-RSA_OTH_UKSC-003 (monitoring H-alpha emission in a Be/X-ray binary), P4
* 2013-2-AMNH-002 (candidate young stellar object), P4 x3

Night Log 2014-03-14

SA: Lisa
SO: Thea
Others: John B

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A Beautiful photometric night, data taken for:

2013-2-RU-001 (supernova follow-up), P0
2013-2-RSA_OTH-003 (spectroscopic confirmation of candidate luminous blue variables), P2 x2
2013-2-HET-004 (searching for low mass stars in a sparse open cluster), P3 x2
2013-2-RSA-005 (radial velocity monitoring of Wolf-Rayet nuclei of planetary nebulae), P3
2013-2-RSA_POL-001 (searching for Galactic symbiotic stars), P4
2013-2-AMNH-002 (candidate young stellar object), P4

Night Log 2014-03-13

SA: Lisa
SO: Thea
Others: John B

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Great night with reasonably good seeing (1-2") & the humidity stayed below 40% the whole way through. An entertaining mix of technical challenges kept us on our toes (too bad we couldn't get HRS going) & RSS behaved well!

Data taken for:

* 2013-2-RSA-005 (monitoring the radial velocity of a Wolf-Rayet nucleus of a planetary nebula), P1
* 2013-2-RSA_POL-001 (searching for Galactic symbiotic stars), P4
* 2013-2-RSA_OTH_UKSC-003 (monitoring H-alpha emission in a Be/X-ray binary), P4
* 2013-2-IUCAA_UW-001 (spectroscopy of low ionisation, broad absorption line quasars), P2, x2
* 2013-2-RSA_OTH-003 (spectroscopic confirmation of candidate Luminous Blue Variables), P2
* 2013-2-IUCAA_UW-001 (spectroscopy of low ionisation, broad absorption line quasars), P3

Night Log 2014-03-12

SA: Lisa
SO: Thea
Others: John B

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HRS not available as planned so reverted to RSS observations before being shut down by humidity at 22:40!

Data taken for:

* 2013-2-RSA-005 (Radial velocity monitoring of Wolf-Rayet nuclei of planetary nebulae), P1
* 2013-2-RSA_OTH_UKSC-003 (Mass transfer in Be X-ray binaries), P4
* RSS commissioning tests using longslit & MOS masks

Night Log 2014-03-11

SA: Paul
SO: Fred
Others: Lisa, John

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- had chance to observe only one target before we had to close due to high humidity.

- obtained data for:
- 2013-2-GU-001 (spectroscopy of the Seyfert galaxy WPVS 48)

Night Log 2014-03-10

SA: Paul
SO: Fred
Others: Simon

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- we were closed for most of the early part of the evening. opened just after 02:00 to partly cloudy and high humidity conditions.

- obtained data for the following programs:
- 2013-2-IUCAA-001 (simultaneous QSO and galaxy spectroscopy)
- 2013-2-RSA_OTH_UKSC-003 (spectroscopy of Be/X-ray binaries)
- 2013-2-RSA_POL-001 (spectroscopy of symbiotic stars)

Night Log 2014-03-09

SA: Paul
SO: Fred
Others:

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- the night was cut short by high humidity. managed to get some data in the very poor seeing conditions before closing.

- obtained data for the following programs:
- 2013-2-RSA_POL-001 (spectroscopy of symbiotic stars)
- 2013-2-RSA_OTH_UKSC-003 x2 (spectroscopy of Be/X-ray binaries)

Night Log 2014-03-08

SA: Paul
SO: Fred
Others:

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- started off with perfect conditions till a front moved in just before 21:00. this brought bad seeing and an increase in humidity which eventually forced us to close at 01:30. continued with closed dome engineering tests till late morning.

- obstained science data for the following programs:
- 2013-2-AMNH-002 (spectroscopy of M-dwarf stars)
- 2013-2-RSA_DC_OTH-001 (reverberation mapping of a Seyfert galaxy)
- 2013-2-UW_RSA-001 (determining redshifts for HI selected galaxies)
- 2013-2-RSA_OTH-005 (spectroscopy of void galaxies to determinine metallicities)

Night Log 2014-03-07

SA: Paul
SO: Fred
Others: Johnathan

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- another night filled good science data. had a clear photometric night with very good seeing. had one or two technical issues, but no show stoppers.

- obtained science data for the following programs:
- 2013-2-RU-003 (spectra of galaxies in a z=0.83 cluster using gravitational arcs)
- 2013-2-UNC_RSA_RU-001 (emission-line spectroscopy of low surface brighness galaxies)
- 2013-2-UW_RSA-001 (determining redshifts for HI detectioned galaxies)
- 2013-2-RSA_OTH-006 (long-slit spectroscopy of starburst galaxies)
- 2013-2-RSA-008 (longslit observations of pairs of galaxies at intermediate redshift (z~0.4 - 0.5))
- 2013-2-DC-005 (spectroscopy of quasars at z = 0.2 - 0.3)
- 2013-2-IUCAA-001 x2 (to determine redshifts simultaneously for a QSO and galaxy)

Night Log 2014-03-06

SA: Paul
SO: Fred
Others: Ettienne

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- a stable night with good, variable seeing.

- obtained data for the following programs:
- 2013-2-UKSC-009 (study of the properties of thin and thick disks of galaxy IC2531)
- 2013-2-UW_RSA-001 x2 (searching for companions to HI sources at intermediate redshifts)
- 2013-2-RSA_OTH-006 (Tracing the history of LIRGs)
- 2013-2-RSA-008 (tracing the stellar mass build-up of BCGs via mergers)
- 2013-2-DC-005 (ionized gas kinematics for obscured quasars with molecular gas measurements)
- 2013-2-IUCAA_UW-001 (spectra of low ionization broad absorption line quasars)
- 2013-2-IUCAA_OTH-001 (fast photometry of the low mass X-ray binary pulsar: 4U1626-67)

Night Log 2014-03-05

SA: Paul
SO: Fred
Others:

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- good stable observing conditions for most of the night. seeing stayed around 1.5'' or just a bit lower.

- obtained data for the following programs:
- 2013-2-HET_GU-001 (reverberation mapping of a Seyfert galaxy)
- 2013-2-POL_RSA-001 (dark energy tests with quasar monitoring)
- 2013-2-RSA-008 (tracing the stellar mass build-up of BCGs via mergers)
- 2013-2-IUCAA-001 (observing QSO pairs to probe high-z ISM)
- 2013-2-RSA-004 (the growth of massive galaxies through mergers)
- 2013-2-RU-004 (investigating H-alpha emission of a supernova bowshock)
- 2013-2-GU-004 (looking for line profile variations in WPVS 48)
- 2013-2-IUCAA_OTH-001 (fast photometry of LMXB pulsar 4U1626-67)

Night Log 2014-03-04

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Luke, Paul K, Thea, Simon and Garith

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Dark half night with variable seeing, closing up around midnight due to ridge cloud. Data taken for

2013-2-RSA_OTH_UKSC-005 (HRS)
2013-2-AMNH-001
2013-2-RSA_DC_OTH-001
2013-2-UNC-002
2013-2-UW-008 (HRS)

Night Log 2014-03-03

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Luke, Keith

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Twas humid and slithy on the mountain.
Telescope blissfully rested after many days hard slog.

Night Log 2014-03-02

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Luke, Eben

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A wonderful dark and clear night with excellent seeing mostly around 1.0 arcsec and less. Data taken succesfully for:
2013-2-UW-005 (partial)
2013-2-RSA_OTH-020 (HRS)
2013-2-UW_RSA-001
2013-2-UW-008 (HRS)
2013-2-UKSC-013 (HRS)
2013-2-UW-004 (x4)
2013-2-DC-006 (HRS)

Optical Pulses Detected by BVIT of pulsar PSR B0540-69

In January the first successful SALT BVIT observations of  rapid optical pulsations from a pulsar were reported by Sarah Buchner (HartRAO) and her collaborators Andy Shearer (National University of Ireland, Galway) and Darragh O'Donoghue (SALT). Andy Shearer reports:

The Large Magellanic Cloud pulsar, PSR B0540-69, on the basis of its age and position within its plerionic supernova remnant, is often referred to as the Crab pulsar twin. Despite this similarity it has not been as extensively studied as the Crab pulsar. It is about 100 times fainter than the Crab, which in part explains why it hasn’t been extensively observed. To rectify this a large telescope and fast detector is needed - BVIT and SALT. Below left is a BVIT image, showing the pulsar in an extended region of nebulosity. Photometry was performed relative to other stars circled in the image. For comparison, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of the same region is shown on the right.

Time resolved optical observations have been taken in the past on the HST and 4m ESO and AAT telescopes. Using BVIT and SALT, PSR B0540-69 was observed over 4 nights in late December 2013 by SALT Astronomer, Paul Kotze. Observing conditions were variable during this time, but for short periods of about 20 minutes it was possible to observe the pulsar. Even in these short intervals the signal from the pulsar was clearly visible - see plots below taken from one twenty minute observation. From these observations we have established the viability of BVIT/SALT combination as optical pulsar observatory.

BVIT optical light curve of PSR B0540-69, folded on the 50.7 millisecond spin period

The optical power spectrum of PSR B0540-69




Detailed observations of Southern Hemisphere pulsars, such as Vela, will now be possible - effectively tripling the number of pulsars which can be studied optically in detail. From these observations we will be able to accurately measure the pulse shape, the delay between the optical emission and emission at other wavelengths - notably X-ray and radio. This analysis in turn can be used to restrict the models for the optical and high energy pulsar emission.

Night Log 2014-03-01

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Luke and his supercooled magic water

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Excellent seeing tonight at SALT. Starting out at 0.65 arcsec and levelling off to 1.0-1.5 arcsec for most of the remainder. This allowed for some fainter HRS SV targets to be observed in relatively good and dark conditions. Data taken successfully for

2013-2-RSA_OTH-020 (HRS)
2013-2-IUCAA-003 (HRS)
2013-2-UW-008 (HRS)
2013-2-UKSC-013 (HRS)
2013-2-IUCAA-001 (RSS LS)
2013-2-UW-006 (HRS)
2013-2-UW-004 (RSS MOS)
2013-2-DC-006 (HRS)

Night Log 2014-02-28

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Luke

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Reasonably productive dark night despite RSS slit mask jamming in 2nd half of night.

Data taken successfully for

2013-2-GU-001
2013-2-RSA_OTH-002 (HRS)
2013-2-AMNH-001
2013-2-RSA_DC_OTH-001
2013-2-UW_RSA-001
2013-2-UW-008 (HRS)
2013-2-UKSC-013 (HRS)
2013-2-RSA_OTH-002
2013-2-HET_OTH-002
2013-2-AMNH-004