Night Log 2015-06-29

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Keith

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Summary
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A long night with a few technical problems but overall got quite a lot done. Data taken for:

2014-1-MLT-003 P0 SCAM (Observe the accretion disc as a white dwarf, neutron star or black hole gobbles up a companion.)
2015-1-MLT-002 P0 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2015-1-MLT-004 P0 RSS (x3) (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-013 P1 HRS (Evolved binaries in the Magellanic Clouds )
2015-1-SCI-016 P1 RSS (RINGS: The RSS Imaging spectroscopy Nearby Galaxy Survey)
2015-1-SCI-032 P2 HRS (Investigating the birth and evolution of X-ray binaries through their radial motion.)
2015-1-SCI-017 P3 SCAM (Observations of evolved massive stars revealed with Spitzer and WISE)
2015-1-SCI-045 P3 RSS (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae)

Night Log 2015-06-28

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Keith

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Summary
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High humidity tonight prevented observing. We did however do a few fabry perot tests, which resulted in the following song:

You take your etalon out
you put your etalon in
you expose it all about
you take your etalon out
you put your etalon in
you expose it all about
you take your etalon out
you put your etalon in
And you expose it all about

You do the hokey pokey
and you turn rho around
That's what it's all about!

Hey......do the calibrations!
Hey ey....dooooo the calibrations!
Dooooo the calibrations!
And that's what it's all about!
(clap twice)

Night Log 2015-06-27

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Keith, Thembela & daughter for a visit

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Summary
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A mostly clear, bright night besieged by technical problems. CCAS shutter needs repairing so we could not realign during the night. Neverless we managed to take data for:

2015-1-SCI-068 P1 RSS (Line profile variations in He 1136-2304)
2015-1-SCI-012 P2 RSS (x2) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-1-SCI-029 P2 HRS (Fingerprints of the interstellar medium in the spectra of central stars of planetary nebulae)
2015-1-SCI-045 P3 RSS (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae)

Night Log 2015-06-26

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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A highly unstable night of thick clouds and high humidity. No observations.

Night Log 2015-06-25

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Paul, Keith, Etienne and Johan at start of night

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We lost our dear colleague and friend Darragh O'Donoghue this evening. Words are difficult at this very sad time, save perhaps, if I may, some Irish blessings:

May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.

Now sweetly lies old Ireland
Emerald green beyond the foam,
Awakening sweet memories,
Calling the heart back home.

Ireland, it's the one place on earth
That heaven has kissed
With melody, mirth,
And meadow and mist.

Wherever you go and whatever you do,
May the luck of the Irish be there with you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
And the rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No observations on this cold night with high humidity and heavy clouds.

Night Log 2015-06-24

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Did not open due to high humidity and clouds.

Night Log 2015-06-23

SA: �ric
SO: Fred
Others: Damien

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Summary
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A shorter night than the previous ones. We were forced to close due to the weather.
But we could do a high priority observation at the beginning of the night, which was aimed at observing the eclipse of a White Dwarf binary.

We gathered the data for the following programs :
2015-1-DDT-002 P0 SCAM (SALT DDT Observation of an unusual eclipsing white dwarf binary)
2015-1-SCI-009 P2 HRS (x3) (Pulsations of the Extreme Helium Star BX Cir)

Night Log 2015-06-22

SA: �ric
SO: Fred
Others: Damien

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Summary
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Another great night without any problem.
We could observe two high priority programs. One aimed at observing the eclipse of a white dwarf binary. We could observe (and see) the passage of one star behind the other one, resulting in the dimming of the light coming from the unresolved object. the second one was a joint observation of a Black Hole binary, together with the VLT and SWIFT, and X-Ray satellite.
We did some needed HRS calibrations.
Overall, the following 9 programs will get data later today :

2015-1-DDT-002 P0 SCAM (SALT DDT Observation of an unusual eclipsing white dwarf binary)
2014-1-MLT-003 P0 BVIT (Observe the accretion disc as a white dwarf, neutron star or black hole gobbles up a companion.)
2015-1-SCI-068 P1 RSS (Line profile variations in He 1136-2304)
2015-1-SCI-051 P1 RSS (Redshifts of gravitationally lensed arcs in El Gordo)
2015-1-SCI-070 P1 HRS (x2) (High resolution spectroscopic abundance measurements of RGBs in NGC 6681 (M70))
2015-1-SCI-013 P1 HRS (Evolved binaries in the Magellanic Clouds )
2015-1-SCI-012 P2 RSS (x3) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-1-SCI-012 P3 RSS (x2) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-1-SCI-045 P3 RSS (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae)
2015-1-MLT-003 P4 RSS (We aim to study a number of candidate ultracool objects, which should include new brown dwarfs.)

Night Log 2015-06-21

SA: �ric
SO: Fred
Others: Damien

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We received a notice at the beginning of the night, to inform us that the observations we did on one high priority object yesterday allowed the astronomer to determine the type of the supernova we observed. It is a Type Ia. Great to see results coming so fast after we do the observations!

Another very productive night. No downtime whatsoever.
We could gather data for the following programs:
2015-1-MLT-004 P0 RSS (x2) (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-070 P1 HRS (x2) (High resolution spectroscopic abundance measurements of RGBs in NGC 6681 (M70))
2015-1-DDT-002 P1 RSS (SALT DDT Observation of an unusual eclipsing white dwarf binary)
2015-1-SCI-002 P1 HRS (Determining the distances to massive dusty stars that may be emitting microwave lasers)
2015-1-SCI-041 P1 RSS (x2) (Superwinds in luminous starburst galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-018 P2 HRS (Accretion in Young Binary Star Systems)
2015-1-SCI-012 P2 RSS (x3) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-1-SCI-022 P3 HRS (Spectroscopy of the evolved binary star DY Cen)
2015-1-SCI-021 P3 RSS (Connecting QSO absorption line systems with the associated galaxies)

Night Log 2015-06-20

SA: �ric
SO: Fred
Others: Damien

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Summary
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Productive long night again. Seeing was not so great, but we could still observe and we gathered data for the following programs (that include a high priority program to observe newly discovered supernovae. It' s exciting to be the first ones,in the control room, to see a spectrum of these objects !) :

2015-1-MLT-002 P0 RSS (x2) (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2015-1-SCI-021 P2 RSS (Connecting QSO absorption line systems with the associated galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-021 P3 RSS (x2) (Connecting QSO absorption line systems with the associated galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-012 P2 RSS (x6) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-1-SCI-005 P3 RSS (Time variability of emerging BAL QSOs.)
2015-1-SCI-062 P4 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2015-06-19

SA: �ric
SO: Fred
Others: Damien

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Summary
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Another good night, with relatively good seeing, and no clouds.
We could get data for the following programs :

2015-1-SCI-021 P1 RSS (x3) (Connecting QSO absorption line systems with the associated galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-018 P1 HRS (Accretion in Young Binary Star Systems)
2015-1-SCI-005 P1 RSS (Time variability of emerging BAL QSOs.)
2015-1-SCI-041 P1 RSS (Superwinds in luminous starburst galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-012 P1 RSS (x2) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-1-SCI-012 P2 RSS (x2) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-1-SCI-012 P3 RSS (x2) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-1-SCI-062 P4 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Great seeing in Sutherland

Here's more proof from Eric's great night of seeing in Sutherland:

Night Log 2015-06-18

SA: �ric
SO: Fred
Others: Damien

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Incredible night, tonight. Seeing stayed well below 0.8 for most of the night. We recorded 0.49 as the lowest seeing we measured during the night. Not a single technical problem. Weather was incredibly cooperative, with no clouds to be seen anywhere.

We could gather data for 13 programs :
2015-1-SCI-041 P1 RSS (x2) (Superwinds in luminous starburst galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-068 P1 RSS (Line profile variations in He 1136-2304)
2015-1-SCI-021 P2 RSS (x2) (Connecting QSO absorption line systems with the associated galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-012 P1 RSS (x2) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-1-SCI-012 P2 RSS (x4) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-1-SCI-052 P2 RSS (Finding the redshift and ionization of WISE-selected QSOs)
2015-1-MLT-003 P4 RSS (We aim to study a number of candidate ultracool objects, which should include new brown dwarfs.)

Night Log 2015-06-17

SA: �ric
SO: Fred
Others: Damien

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The night started quite well, with good (to excellent) seeing. But the humidity constantly rose, to the point where we had to close.
We managed to squeeze a couple of observations during some short period of time with lower humidity, but then, we had to close, this time for good before the end of the night.

We could get data for the following programs (including a high-priority one) :
2015-1-MLT-004 P0 RSS (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-023 P1 RSS (x2) (Study of the extraplanar diffuse ionized gas properties of galaxy NGC 5775)
2015-1-SCI-058 P1 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2015-1-SCI-054 P2 RSS (Tracing the merger histories of luminous red galaxies as a function of their environment)
2015-1-SCI-045 P3 RSS (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae)
2015-1-SCI-062 P4 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2015-06-16

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others: Eric, Damien and snow outside

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=> No any observations tonight because rain, snow and strong wind.

Night Log 2015-06-15

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others: Tamara for a while

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=> Heavy clouds and high humidity all the night. No any observations.

Night Log 2015-06-14

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others:

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=> Clear sky, very strong wind and bad seeing all the long night.

=> Data were taken for the programs:
2015-1-MLT-004 P0 RSS (x2) (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-012 P1 RSS (x2) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-1-SCI-009 P2 HRS (x2) (Pulsations of the Extreme Helium Star BX Cir)
2015-1-SCI-011 P2 RSS (Searching the Milky Way for symbiotic stars)
2015-1-SCI-052 P2 RSS (Finding the redshift and ionization of WISE-selected QSOs)
2015-1-SCI-017 P3 SCAM (x2) (Observations of evolved massive stars revealed with Spitzer and WISE)
2015-1-SCI-026 P3 HRS (Doppler tomography of T Tauri-type star and a search for forming planet)
2015-1-SCI-027 P4 RSS (Kinematics of Bulge Miras)

Night Log 2015-06-12

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others:

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Summary
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=> Clear sky and variable seeing. Finally were closed by humidity.

=> Data were taken for the following programs:
2015-1-SCI-012 P1 RSS (x3) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-1-SCI-041 P1 RSS (Superwinds in luminous starburst galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-058 P1 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2015-1-SCI-011 P2 RSS (x2) (Searching the Milky Way for symbiotic stars)
2015-1-SCI-052 P2 RSS (Finding the redshift and ionization of WISE-selected QSOs)
2015-1-SCI-022 P2 HRS (Spectroscopy of the evolved binary star DY Cen)
2015-1-SCI-009 P2 HRS (x2) (Pulsations of the Extreme Helium Star BX Cir)

The SALT Science Conference 2015

The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) Foundation and South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) are delighted with the success of the SALT Science Conference 2015 held in Stellenbosch from the 1st to the 5th June. The programme was jam-packed with talks, poster presentations, practical workshops and discussions showcasing SALT’s capabilities. Over ninety astronomers and education professionals attended the conference representing over twenty nationalities. Delegates from international astronomical institutes from seven countries attended the conference to foster scientific collaborations and enhance partnerships with the South African astronomical community. Education and outreach professionals also contributed to the conference programme in recognition of the pivotal role that SALT has played in the advancement of astronomy and science education and in skills development within South Africa.

Construction of the SALT telescope, just outside Sutherland in the Karoo, was completed in 2005. Following initial testing and performance verification the telescope started full science operations in late 2011. The SALT science conference, held in Stellenbosch from the 1st - 5th June 2015 brought together scientists from around the world to celebrate the success of SALT and to foster new scientific collaborations.

The event was formally opened by the Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor. Her vision sees South Africa as a centre for research excellence in astronomy:

"Our aim is to position Africa as a global centre of research excellence for multi-wavelength astronomy, with optical, radio and gamma-ray telescopes working together to achieve common scientific goals."

She was keen to emphasize the importance of South Africa’s experience in developing SALT in paving the way for South Africa’s successful bid to host what will be the largest telescope ever built, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope, due for completion in 2024:

"South Africa pursued the SKA project by using the lessons learnt from SALT as the basis for our planning and partnerships. The links we developed through the SALT project allowed us to build on existing networks and partnerships to secure the iconic SKA, an extremely important strategic initiative that puts science and technology to work for the benefit of all Africans."

As well as acknowledging the key role that SALT has played for science and technology development in South Africa, educators at the conference also stressed how the wonder and beauty of astronomy can be used to inspire and encourage young learners to take up science and mathematics (STEM) subjects at school. Since its inception, the SALT project has placed a strong focus on education and public awareness programmes and Sivuyile Manxoyi, head of the SALT collateral benefits programme, summarised the work of the outreach department at the SAAO during his conference presentation:

"We have been very successful in training and supporting teachers and curriculum advisors in the teaching of Natural Science and particularly the theme ‘Earth and Beyond’. Through programmes such as the national astronomy quiz we have succeeded in using astronomy to inspire curiosity and critical thinking among learners. Through our exciting job shadowing programme, we are spreading career information pertaining to astronomy and related science."

For the remainder of the conference the focus shifted to the practicalities of optimizing the use of the telescope and showcasing the recent exciting and varied science conducted using SALT observations.

Dr Steve Crawford, SALT Science Data Manager pointed out:

“Since the start of science operations, SALT has been producing exciting science at a comparable rate as similar telescopes at the same stage in their operations, but at a fraction of the cost. This is a huge compliment to the SALT staff and the astronomers working with the observatory. "

SALT operations staff also held several training workshops during the conference to help potential SALT users apply for telescope time and to aid them analyse SALT data products using software tools developed by the SALT team.

In terms of science, the areas covered ranged from planetary science, stellar astrophysics to studies of galaxies and the distant universe. A large portion of the conference focused on the variable universe, a niche area for SALT’s unique capabilities. SALT’s imaging instrumentation is tailored towards achieving high time resolution observations of varying objects and transient (short-lived) objects.

Dr Petri Vaisanen, Head of SALT Astronomy Operations commented:

"Listening to the talks at the conference from an operational point of view, it was extremely gratifying to see so many scientists, from students to professors, getting results from SALT. People are finding out exciting things about the Universe from analysis of the data we have been dishing out to them under the Sutherland night skies for years, it makes the work worthwhile."  

Dr David Buckley, chair of the conference scientific organising committee and SALT Scientist added:

“SALT has really come of age. This is demonstrated by the breadth and quality of the science results presented. Over the past couple of years there has been a steady improvement in the efficiency and productivity and SALT's community of users have learned how to best exploit it to their advantage. This has resulted in a ramping up of science publications showing that SALT is beginning to make a significant contribution in forefront astronomy, partly due to some of the competitive advantages that it has.”

Finally, the conference finished with considerations and prospects for future SALT science. Dr Marsha Wolf from the University of Wisconsin, US, detailed the proposed extension of SALT ’s capabilities into the near-Infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. If implemented this will allow astronomers to observe even more distant objects than is presently possible with SALT. This is because the light from distant galaxies is 'redshifted' into the near-Infrared as a consequence of the expansion of the Universe. Extending into the near-Infrared will also allow observations of objects that are enshrouded in gas and dust which are not possible using visible light alone. 

Prof. Bruce Bassett, joint Professor at SAAO, UCT and AIMS in Cape Town introduced methods that he has developed employing computer algorithms to automate the classification of transient objects. The volume of data that astronomers will need to analyse will increase significantly once the SKA comes online and automating data analysis wherever possible will be crucial in order to fully exploit SALT and SKA in the future.

One of the key take home messages from the conference was the importance of using SALT together with other ground based and space based observatories such as the SKA radio telescope and the European Space Agency’s Euclid satellite mission.

Dr David Buckley, commented:

“The meeting was well attended by SALT users, both within South Africa and abroad. Importantly many graduate students who's early careers are taking full advantage of SALT attended. The future for SALT looks assured, particularly with planned new developments and synergies with emerging facilities in South Africa and globally.”

The prospects for SALT and astronomy in general within South Africa are brighter than they have ever been. Exciting times lie ahead, however, to fully understand the wonders of our Universe it is now clear that astronomers will have to adopt a multi-wavelength approach and peer at the skies with a combination of telescopes!

A link to the conference website can be found here

SALT and SAAO would like to thank the NRF and DST for funding the SALT Science Conference 2015.

Night Log 2015-06-11

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others:

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=> Clear, unstable night with good seeing. Couple of times we were closed by high humidity.

=> Some data were taken for the following programs:
2015-1-MLT-002 P0 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2015-1-SCI-041 P1 RSS (Superwinds in luminous starburst galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-009 P1 HRS (Pulsations of the Extreme Helium Star BX Cir)
2015-1-SCI-012 P2 RSS (x4) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-1-SCI-018 P2 HRS (Accretion in Young Binary Star Systems)
2015-1-SCI-011 P2 RSS (Searching the Milky Way for symbiotic stars)
2015-1-SCI-005 P2 RSS (Time variability of emerging BAL QSOs.)

Night Log 2015-06-10

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others: Tamara for a while

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Summary
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=> Heavy clouds, high humidity and rain during the night. No observations.

=> A weekly set of HRS calibrations was taken.

Do you want SALT data?

The Salt science conference 2015 was held last week in Stellenbosch.  One of the talks there was specifically directed to all SALT users, on how to maximize your chances of actually getting the data for your program.  This would be useful reading to anyone considering proposing for SALT time in the next Call for Proposals coming out in July.  Some important aspects include making use of optional targets, Bright time which is under-subscribed, P4 time, and planning for both seasonal and nightly visibilities, i.e. beware of tight tracks and Moon constraints. 

SALT Astronomy Operations is planning to publish more tips and tricks for the upcoming Phase-1.  And feel free to contact us at any time for more questions at our 'salthelp' address.

Night Log 2015-06-09

SA: Marissa
SO: Veronica
Others: Fred, Alexei, Tim-Oliver Husser (MONET)

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Summary
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The weather gave us little gap to try and take science. Some blocks were attempted, but had to be rejected due to weather deteriorating dramatically or instrument failure.

Data taken for:

2015-1-SCI-045 P3 RSS (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae)

Night Log 2015-06-08

SA: Marissa
SO: Veronica
Others: Tim-Oliver Husser (MONET)

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Summary
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Clear night with decent seeing throughout.

Data taken for:

2015-1-MLT-004 P0 RSS (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-068 P1 RSS (Line profile variations in He 1136-2304)
2015-1-SCI-034 P1 RSS (Gas dynamics in NGC300 and NGC4945)
2015-1-SCI-012 P1 RSS (x4) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-1-SCI-009 P1 HRS (Pulsations of the Extreme Helium Star BX Cir)
2015-1-SCI-016 P2 RSS (RINGS: The RSS Imaging spectroscopy Nearby Galaxy Survey)
2015-1-SCI-005 P2 RSS (Time variability of emerging BAL QSOs.)
2015-1-SCI-048 P3 RSS (Detecting the Donor Stars in Soft X-ray Transients)

Engineering test:
"ADC clean" throughput burst test

Night Log 2015-06-07

SA: Marissa
SO: Veronica
Others: Tim-Oliver Husser (MONET), Enrico Kotze

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A photometric night with 1" seeing for most the night. With excellent technical support to help us overcome a few difficulties at the start of the night, on-sky time lost was minimized.

Data taken for:

2015-1-MLT-004 P0 RSS (x2) (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-049 P0 HRS (Phase-up 26-year-old binary orbital solution for photometric monitoring campaign)
2015-1-SCI-009 P1 HRS (Pulsations of the Extreme Helium Star BX Cir)
2015-1-SCI-018 P1 HRS (Accretion in Young Binary Star Systems)
2015-1-SCI-012 P2 RSS (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-1-SCI-005 P2 RSS (Time variability of emerging BAL QSOs.)
2015-1-SCI-064 P3 HRS (Determining the rotation rate of O stars in Wolf Rayet/ O star binaries.)

ENGINEERING tests:

- RSS guider tests
- "ADC clean" throughput test

Night Log 2015-06-05

SA: Marissa
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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After some initial technical problems (likely due to not opening the last couple of days), the clouds became too thick and we were unable to do any observations.

No science data taken. Copious amount of calibration data taken for Fabry-Perot mode.

Night Log 2015-06-04

SA: Marissa
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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Thick clouds most of the night and sub-zero temperatures reached. Humidity remained too high throughout.

No data taken.

Night Log 2015-06-03

SA: Marissa
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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The first snow of winter briefly covered our plateau in a centimetre or two of fresh powder before the rain washed it away a few hours later. Rain continued throughout the night.

No data taken.

Night Log 2015-06-02

SA: Paul
SO: Thea
Others: Cara, Marissa, Enrico

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Summary
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- The bad weather continued tonight. Did not open.

Night Log 2015-06-01

SA: Paul
SO: Thea
Others: Cara

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Summary
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- A severe cold front kept us from opening again. The humidity was above 90% for most of the day and we had lots of rain through the night.

Night Log 2015-05-31

SA: Paul
SO: Thea
Others: Cara

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Summary
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- Did not open tonight due to bad weather.