SALTICAM's been giving us a hard time - first the filter system started playing up & then the CCD controller developed problems. Much frustration, but Dave C & James came up from Cape Town yesterday so they're on the case. The Tarantino feel to the image below is merely due to saturation - but it sort-of conveys the mood!
The good news though is that RSS is ready to go up tomorrow! So the baffling's been removed from the top of the payload & the new kinematic mounts are in place at the 1, 5 & 9 o'clock positions on the rho ring.
The spectrograph's other attachment points around the ring will get finger-tight bolts through these plates to ensure that nothing can escape.
Over in the circular, black room, Peter did some final testing & light baffling on his friend...
David, Siphelo & Paul were at the helm this evening & decided to get some sky flats - offering this dramatic view of the telescope from the road below.
& what a magical twilight it was - crepuscular rays blasting up from the razor-sharp western horizon...
& an impossibly thin sliver of moon sinking into the rich orange glow. Ted Williams' enthusiastic words at the last SALT Board dinner, along the lines of it being about to get dark up at SALT, perfectly capture the sense of excitement & expectation as we approach another huge milestone...
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