Konkurs wniosków obserwacyjnych na 1 semestr 2015 roku
Do 2 lutego można składać wnioski obserwacyjne (faza 1) na wszystkie instrumenty
teleskopu SALT na okres od 1 maja 2015 roku do 31 października 2015 roku.
Oto oryginalna wiadomość:
Dear Colleagues,
We would like to inform you that we are now accepting SALT Phase 1
proposals for the period 01 May 2015 - 31 October 2015 (2015 Semester 1)
The Phase 1 proposal deadline will be 2 February 2015 at 18:00
SAST (corresponding to 16:00 UTC).
Please note that this proposal call is for SALTICAM, BVIT, HRS, and RSS,
but with some modes, such as Fabry-Perot HR,
still on a "best efforts" basis (i.e. no guarantees regarding
performance or completion), or not available at all. In particular,
we will not accept polarimetric proposals, although it may be
possible that we'll reactivate previous polarimetric commissioning
proposals later in the semester should this mode becomes available.
We have updated the comprehensive information document for all
proposers with the current performance status of the telescope and
instruments. In addition, the PIPT has also been revised. Additional
information and links to relevant webpages or documents are also included
to assist proposers in writing their Phase 1 applications.
Please submit your proposal via the SALT Principal Investigator Proposal
Tool (PIPT). Instructions, software, and other information about
proposing for SALT can be found on the SALT website.
All questions regarding this proposal call should be address to:
salthelp(at)salt.ac.za
Sincerely,
David Buckley.
SALT Astronomy Operations Manager
on behalf of the SALT Astronomy Operations Team
2014.09.19
Spektrograf RSS wyłączony do końca semestru
Oto oryginalna wiadomość:
Dear Colleagues,
With RSS currently off the telescope, we have several gaps in the
queue. At this time, we do not expect RSS to be available for the
remainder of the semester. As such, we would like to offer consortium
members the opportunity to fill these gaps through one of three
processes:
(1) PIs of *existing* 2014-1 proposals with unused time may use their
remaining time on HRS, SALTICAM or BVIT. The telescope time will be
charged as with any normal proposal. This may involve target,
instrument and even science case changes, but it is time that would
otherwise be lost. PIs should re-submit their proposals with the new
configurations or targets. If no time is remaining on your proposal,
you can make a request to your TAC chair for additional allocation of
time.
(2) Any consortium member may submit a new "P4-Commissioning"
proposal, which would be automatically granted the observing time
requested as P4 time (gap fillers). This proposal can be for HRS,
SALTICAM, or BVIT. We strongly suggest selecting targets with large
visibilities to allow for easy acquisition of the targets and/or
targets with Right Ascensions between 16-7h and Declinations that are
either equatorial or near the Large or Small Magellanic clouds. No
time will be charged to the individual partners for these proposals.
To submit a new "P4-Commissioning" proposal, simply select
"Commissioning" when creating a new proposal in the PIPT - this will
be already phase 2. Once created, please go to Proposal -> change
semester and select 2014-1.
(3) PI's of 2014-2 proposals for HRS, SALTICAM, or BVIT are strongly
encouraged to submit their Phase 2's early. As soon as the Phase 2 is
submitted, it will be reviewed, activated by a SALT Astronomer, and
then added to the observing queue. The telescope time will be charged
as with any normal proposal.
Please note that, due to current repairs and work on the telescope and
instruments, we may not be fully operational at various times. Please
keep an eye on the SALT website and astronomy blog for more details or
feel free to email us at salthelp@salt.ac.za for more information.
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
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
==============================
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
================
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:
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.
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.
2014.07.02
Wnioski obserwacyjne na 2 semestr 2014
Oto oryginalna wiadomość:
Dear Colleagues,
We would like to inform you that we are now accepting SALT Phase 1
proposals for the period 01 Nov. 2014 - 30 April 2015 (2014 Semester 2)
The Phase 1 proposal deadline will be 01 August 2013 at 18:00
SAST (corresponding to 16:00 UTC).
Please note that this proposal call is for SALTICAM, BVIT, HRS, and RSS,
but with some modes, such as Fabry-Perot HR and HRS,
still on a "best efforts" basis (i.e. no guarantees regarding
performance or completion), or not available at all. In particular,
we will not accept polarimetric proposals, although it may be
possible that we'll reactivate previous polarimetric commissioning
proposals later in the semester should this mode becomes available.
In addition to normal and long term proposals, investigators can also
submit Partnership Proposals for Key Science. Partnership Proposals for
Key Science are proposals for high impact science that will benefit
from a concentrated effort from the larger consortium. These
proposals can be for up to 10% (~80 hours) of the time available per
semester and up to four semesters. For more details about Partnership
Proposals for Key Science, please see the Call for Proposals.
We have updated the comprehensive information document for all
proposers with the current performance status of the telescope and
instruments. In addition, the PIPT and Simulation Tools have also been
revised. Additional information and links to relevant webpages or documents
are also included to assist proposers in writing their Phase 1 applications.
Please submit your proposal via the SALT Principal Investigator Proposal
Tool (PIPT). Instructions, software, and other information about
proposing for SALT can be found on the SALT website.
All questions regarding this proposal call should be address to:
salthelp(at)salt.ac.za
Sincerely,
Astronomy Operations
2014.07.02
Status teleskopu SALT w lipcu 2014
Oto oryginalna wiadomość:
============================================================
Cephieds on the far side of the Milky Way: SALT Nature Paper
============================================================
=====================================
Partnership Proposals for Key Science
=====================================
Partnership Proposals for Key Science will be offered starting in the
2014-1 semester. In the first semester, up to 10% of the time (80
hours per semester) will be available for key programmes. Full
details will be given in the call for proposals, but these proposal
should be for programs that will benefit from a concentrated
effort from the large consortium for important science. Please
see the Call for Proposals for more details!
==================
Maintenance on RSS
==================
While measuring the throughput of the RSS in April, visual inspection
of the collimator optics indicated a degradation in the lens fluid and
seals around some of the optical groups, and a fluid leakage, which
was subsequently fixed. RSS will be removed from the telescope for
further inspection and a thorough analysis of the state of the optical
train. While down, quantitative measurements of the throughput of all
the RSS optics will be performed and replacement of lens fluid maybe
also be attempted. The instrument will be taken down from the
telescope in late-july for an estimated period of 4 weeks. During
this time, the instrument will remain in Sutherland and science
programs will continue with HRS and SALTICAM.
=========================
SALT Board Meeting at UNC
=========================
The SALT board meeting was held at the University of North Carolina at
the beginning of June. Lisa Crause presented some of the
commissioning results from HRS, updates were given about different
upgrades currently underway at SALT, highlights of various education
and public outreach programs were given, and a number of new science
results were presented by the partners. For these and more
presentations, please see:
http://saltastro.blogspot.ca/2014/06/salt-board-and-science-day-at-unc.html
====================
BVITS Current Status
====================
The Berkeley Visible Image Tube, a SALT visitor instrument, has been
out of action since April, apparently with a computer
malfunction. This will be attended to by UC Berkeley over the coming
few months, so it is expected to be available for 2014-2 programs. One
successful observation conducted in Jan detected the 53 millisec
optical pulsations of the LMC pulsar, PSR B0540-69 (see
http://saltastro.blogspot.com/2014/03/optical-pulses-detected-by-bvit-of.html )
====
SAMS
====
Good progress has been made with the new mirror edge sensors program,
SAMS, with successful completion of the first phase of the acceptance
tests for Phase 1 completed in March in France. All the hardware for the
Phase 1 system, namely 24 sensor pairs for controlling a 7-segment
subarray of mirrors, have been received and are undergoing final tests
in Cape Town before installation on SALT begins, expected to start in
late-June/early-July.
In Loubser 2014
(http://arxiv.org/abs/1401.1822)
SALT long-slit
spectroscopy is used to fit complex star formation histories to a
small sample of central cluster galaxies. Most of the galaxies contain
a small component of young stars, and the high signal-to-noise data
makes it possible to quantify the contribution of these young
stars. Contrary to popular belief, a 'blue' brightest cluster galaxy
is not necessarily associated with a cooling-flow cluster.
Brent Miszalski (RSA) and collaborators used SALT to obtain RSS
spectroscopy of a newly discovered close binary central star of a
planetary nebula Hen 2-11. The SALT spectrum confirmed the eclipsing
binary is the hot central star of the planetary nebula and provided
some standard measurements of other nebular quantities. The central
star is a hot pre-white dwarf with a main sequence companion in a
0.609 day orbit. Binaries like these are thought to strongly influence
the shape of their planetary nebulae. For more details, please see the
paper by D. Jones et al. 2014, A&A, 562, A89;
http://arxiv.org/abs/1401.1358
Brent Miszalski (RSA) and Joanna Mikolajewska (POL) have used SALT RSS
to discover 12 new symbiotic stars in the Southern Galactic
Plane. Symbiotic stars are interacting binaries that are strong
candidates for type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) progenitors, however the
Galactic population is not well characterised. Their ongoing SALT
program observed several Halpha emission line candidates selected from
the AAO/UKST SuperCOSMOS Halpha Survey and 2MASS. It aims to build an
improved census of Galactic symbiotic stars, of which less than 300
are currently known. A particularly exciting result is that one of the
new discoveries exhibits [Fe X] 6375 A emission, making it a supersoft
X-ray source candidate. Supersoft sources are intimately linked to SN
Ia progenitors since they are steadily burning hydrogen on the white
dwarf. An appendix also lists several other new Halpha emission line
objects such as B[e]/Be stars, a Wolf-Rayet star and planetary
nebulae. Several more discoveries are anticipated as the survey
progresses. For more details, please see the paper by B. Miszalski &
J. Mikolajewska 2014, MNRAS, in press;
http://arxiv.org/abs/1311.0797
In January the first successful SALT BVIT observations of rapid
optical pulsations from a pulsar were reported by Sarah Buchner
(HartRAO) and her collaborators. BVIT was used in order to measure
the 50.7 millisecond spin period of PSR B0540-69. For more details
see:
http://saltastro.blogspot.com/2014/03/optical-pulses-detected-by-bvit-of.html
====================
HRS Calibration Data
====================
Lisa Crause has provided the existing HRS calibration data at:
http://hrscal.salt.ac.za/.
The full set of biases, calsys arcs, calsys
flats, and sky flats (as well as a few darks) from November through to
March are now available at that webiste. The page does require the
user to login using their Web Manager User Name and password.
=================================
New SALT Astronomer: Eric Depagne
=================================
Eric Depagne has started as the new SALT Astronomer. He arrived in
Cape Town in late February, coming from Germany. Before Germany, he
spent 3.5 years in California as a postdoc, and the 4 years before
that working as a support astronomer at ESO in Chile. He is a high
resolution spectroscopist whose science revolves around metal poor
stars, nucleosynthesis, and galactic chemical evolution. He also a
keen interest in instrumentation. He was the project engineer at the
Leibniz-Institut for Astrophysics in Potsdam, for a multi-object
spectrograph that will be installed on VISTA in 2019. He has built the
first prototype of a Medium Resolution Spectrograph for LCOGT. The
final version of which will be installed in Sutherland.
==========================
Updates to the PIPT and WM
==========================
The latest version of the PIPT (3.2) is required for accessing and
submitting phase 2 proposals for the 2014-1 semester.
If you are following the SALT blog on
http://saltastro.blogspot.com,
you may have noticed that recently brief science summaries were added
to the list of observed proposals. As of the 2014-1 semester, PIs are
required to supply these summaries, and the latest PIPT offers a text
field for this.
It might be worth noting that even if your proposal has been awarded
time for more than one semester, the PIPT will only display the times
for the current semester. You may find the time allocation for other
semesters in the Web Manager, though.
Version 3.3 of the PIPT, to be released very soon, will asume shorter
overheads for arcs and flats. While this might make updating
attractive, you can still create and submit your proposals with
version 3.2.
The Web Manager time allocation page for TAC members has been
overhauled and made for user-friendly. Suggestions for further
improvement are very welcome, of course.
================
New SALT website
================
The design for the new SALT homepage has been finalised, and Briehan
Lombaard, the SAAO's new web developer, is working on the site. Apart
from a complete overhaul of the look-and-feel, you may expect new
features like a live feed of what observations are being taken at the
telescope.
============
PySALT v0.47
============
The next version of PySALT has now been released. In addition to a
number of bug fixes, this version includes updates to the specred
package for improved wavelength identification and spectroscopic
reductions, improvements to the masktool, and the first version of
basic ccd reduction tools for HRS. The HRS tools are still in
development though. The package is available
here:http://pysalt.salt.ac.za/