Dear SALT Community,

Since my last update, there have been further developments which, unfortunately, have resulted in additional delays to the conclusion of the shutdown. The team is currently working on determining the static offsets and completing the remaining maintenance tasks on the payload, primary mirror, SCAM and RSS.

SALT is now scheduled to return to full operations on 13 May, with all instruments expected to be online.

Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

Kind regards,
Danièl
---
Dr. Danièl N. Groenewald
Acting Head of SALT Astronomy Operations
South African Astronomical Observatory
1 Observatory Road, Observatory, 7925, Cape Town, South Africa
P.O. Box 9, Observatory, 7935, Cape Town, South Africa
Tel: +27 21 200 6934

Dear SALT community,

As many of you know, the telescope-wide shutdown is currently underway and sched uled to be completed in May. The various SALT teams have been hard at work on a range of upgrades and maintenance tasks, with a particular focus on the primary mirror. We’re grateful to everyone involved for their efforts during this critical perio d to ensure the telescope is in optimal condition for the next phase of operatio ns.

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen and unplanned events, we’ve experienced a few s etbacks during the shutdown, resulting in some delays to the original timeline. SALT is now scheduled to return on sky on 9 May with HRS, SCAM, and NIRWALS, whi le RSS is expected to be ready for science observations by 13 May.

As part of the shutdown preparations, a new throughput measurement was taken on 23 March 2025, and the reduction of this dataset has revealed a concerning issue : a significant drop in telescope throughput — on average 18% lower than the las t measurement from October 2024. Further investigation has shown that the coating on the M2 mirror within the Sph erical Aberration Corrector (SAC) has significantly degraded. This degradation a ppears to be the primary contributor to the observed drop in throughput.

We are currently evaluating the best course of action to address this and will share further updates where possible. In the meantime, the instrument simulators will be updated to reflect the decreased throughput.

Please rest assured that the SALT Astronomers will review all proposals and contact the PIs to advise on possible adjustments or improved observing strategies where applicable. PIs are also welcome to contact their liaison SALT Astronomer if they have any concerns/questions.

Kind regards,
Danièl (on behalf of the SALT Astronomy Operations Team)
---
Dr. Danièl N. Groenewald
Acting Head of SALT Astronomy Operations
South African Astronomical Observatory
1 Observatory Road, Observatory, 7925, Cape Town, South Africa
P.O. Box 9, Observatory, 7935, Cape Town, South Africa
Tel: +27 21 200 6934

Dear SALT community,

Please find the April issue of our SALT Newsletter here:

https://www.salt.ac.za/2025/04/23/newsletter-april-2025/

The most important news is the polarimetry calibration update in the Gamma release. Our article details the improvements achieved. We also report on the Dartmouth College student visit to Cape Town and their outreach activities.

Enjoy the read!

Anja Schroeder

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Dear SALT Community,



We are pleased to announce that version 6 of the PIPT is now available as a beta release.



This version addresses performance and responsiveness issues experienced in earlier versions of the PIPT. It also includes substantial changes under the hood to support and streamline future development.

Please note that version 6 is not backwards-compatible — once a proposal is opened in version 6, it cannot be reopened in a previous version of the PIPT .



You can download version 6 from the SALT software page: https://astronomers.salt.ac.za/software/
More information is available here: https://astronomers.salt.ac.za/pipt-version-6/

If you encounter any bugs or would like to request additional features, please email us at salthelp@salt.ac.za .



Please note: You can continue to use and submit proposals with version 5 of the PIPT for the foreseeable future. However, all new features will only be added to version 6 going forward. That said, we’re happy to confirm that SMI capabilities have recently been added to version 5 and 6. We are still currently working on expanding on these features for future releases.



Kind regards,
Danièl (on behalf of the SALT Astronomy Operations Team)
---
Dr. Danièl N. Groenewald
Acting Head of SALT Astronomy Operations
South African Astronomical Observatory
1 Observatory Road, Observatory, 7925, Cape Town, South Africa
P.O. Box 9, Observatory, 7935, Cape Town, South Africa
Tel: +27 21 200 6934

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Dear SALT Community,

The SALT Annual Report 2024 is now ready and can be downloaded from

https://www.salt.ac.za/2025/04/07/salt-annual-report-2024/

in both low as well as high resolution (the latter will take a couple of days to become available, though). If you are in Cape Town, you can pick up a copy at SAAO's library (they will delivered from the printers early next week). It will be also available at the SALT exhibition booth at international conferences.

2024 has been a very exciting year for SALT, with not only one, but two First Light events. Also, there have been considerable changes at the leadership level which we tell you all about. The IAU General Assembly 2024 had been held at Cape Town, which had a large impact on the outreach activities. And last but not least, we got a record of 81 publications in 2024.

Enjoy the read!

With best regards, Anja Schroeder

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Dear SALT community,


This is a friendly reminder that SALT is currently undergoing a complete telescope shutdown from today, 24 March, until 2 May 2025. During this period, the telescope will be unavailable for observations.


We will provide updates as they become available.


Kind regards,
Danièl (on behalf of the SALT Team)
---
Dr. Danièl N. Groenewald
Acting Head of SALT Astronomy Operations
South African Astronomical Observatory
1 Observatory Road, Observatory, 7925, Cape Town, South Africa
P.O. Box 9, Observatory, 7935, Cape Town, South Africa
Tel: +27 21 200 6934

Dear SALT Community,

We’re excited to announce the Gamma release of the polSALT software, which includes new calibrations for RSS spectropolarimetry, starting with the PG0900 grating. This new release also includes the capability of reducing spectropolarimetry observations taken with the PG0700 grating. The new calibrations mark a significant improvement in the accuracy and precision of polarimetric observations with SALT.

Issues Identified in the Previous Calibration:
Over the past few years, we identified two key calibration deficiencies:

1. Position Angle Ripple: High signal-to-noise data revealed a "ripple" in the position angle’s wavelength dependence, caused by variations in the waveplate illumination over a SALT track.
2. Polarization Degree Variation: Recent comparisons with VLT FORS2 standard stars showed a small position angle–dependent effect in the wavelength dependence of the degree of polarization.

The Calibration Enhancements for the PG0900 Grating in the Gamma release :
The new release addresses these issues with the following improvements:

• Track Dependence Calibration: A new model accounts for changes in the RSS pupil illumination over the SALT track, significantly reducing the PA ripple.
• Wide Slit Optimization: Using a wide slit (3" longslit) and setting the telescope position angle (telPA) 90° from the polarization PA yields the most accurate results.
• Improved Accuracy: Comparisons with VLT FORS2 standards show a reduction in PA ripple and a close alignment of polarization degree, enhancing overall calibration precision.

For more details, including performance comparisons with the previous calibrations, please refer to the updated documentation on the polSALT GitHub wiki page: https://github.com/saltastro/polsalt/wiki/Linear-Polarization-Reduction:-Gamma-version

Ken and I are grateful for the SALT polarimetry community’s patience, and we look forward to hearing your feedback as you work with the improved calibration.

Kind regards,
Danièl Groenewald and Kenneth Nordsieck
---
Dr. Danièl N. Groenewald
Acting Head of SALT Astronomy Operations
South African Astronomical Observatory
1 Observatory Road, Observatory, 7925, Cape Town, South Africa
P.O. Box 9, Observatory, 7935, Cape Town, South Africa
Tel: +27 21 200 6934
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Szanowni Państwo,

W ramach współpracy w projekcie SALT, wciąż istnieje możliwość zaproszenia studenta lub młodego doctora z RPA na współpracę do jednego z ośrodków partnerskich.

"Researchers at any SALT partner institution may offer further project opportunities at any time. To add a project, hosts should send in a project title and brief project description (see the examples below) to scholarshipsandvisits@salt.ac.za. Further information may be requested. To remove or make changes to a project listing, please also email scholarshipsandvisits@salt.ac.za."

Trzeba się jednak spieszyć, gdyż termin składania aplikacji przez studentów to 21 marca. Szczegóły w mailu i linku poniżej.

z poważaniem
Krzysztof Hełminiak

______________________________________________________________________

Dear all,

We are pleased to announce a funding opportunity for early career researchers from South Africa to visit SALT partner institutions abroad. This initiative aims to build on the successful SALT-Stobie scholarship program by providing travel and research opportunities for students and postdoctoral researchers, while also fostering collaboration within the SALT community. The call for applications for trips starting between June and December 2025 is now open.

Information about the application process and potential projects can be found on the website: https://www.salt.ac.za/jobs/scholarships-and-visits/

Applicants should reach out to one of the potential hosts listed in order to discuss project details and collaborate on the application. This application should be submitted to scholarshipsandvisits@salt.ac.za by 21 March 2025.

If you have any questions, please email scholarshipsandvisits@salt.ac.za.

We ask that you share this opportunity widely, especially with any students and postdocs who may benefit from it.

Best regards,
Itumeleng Monageng (on behalf of the organisers)

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Dear all,

A kind reminder about two SALT-related things. Colleagues from the Universities are kindly asked to redistribute this mail.

1. If in 2024 you had a publication, conference proceedings, or thesis that is based on SALT or SAAO data, I would like to know about that and include it in our annual report to the Ministry. Peer-reviewed SALT publications are easy to spot, but other "products" are not. So, if you still haven't, please send me the relevant information by Sunday, January 19th. Thank you!

2. There is still time to participate in the "Polish participation in SALT" survey: https://forms.gle/ap1s9gysEyjVoYgq9

This questionnaire takes only a few minutes to fill. It is intended for EVERYONE, even people who do not use and are not interested in SALT and SAAO (in which case it takes even less time). Many thanks to all who participated so far.

best regards

Krzysztof Hełminiak

Dear SALT Community,

This is a friendly reminder that the deadline for the SALT Phase 1 proposals for the 2025-1 semester is Friday, January 31, 2025, at 18:00 SAST (16:00 UTC) .
Please find the full announcement with relevant links below.

Kind regards,
Danièl
---
Dr. Danièl N. Groenewald
Acting Head of SALT Astronomy Operations
South African Astronomical Observatory
1 Observatory Road, Observatory, 7925, Cape Town, South Africa
P.O. Box 9, Observatory, 7935, Cape Town, South Africa
Tel: +27 21 200 6934

Dear SALT community,

Please find the December issue of our SALT Newsletter here:

https://www.salt.ac.za/2024/12/18/newsletter-december-2024/

It presents updates on NIRWALS, LFC, slitmaks and the spectropolarimetric calibration, as well as some details on the efficiency project that was started about a year ago.

Stay safe and healthy!

Seasonal greetings,
The SALT Operations team

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Dear colleagues,

We are now accepting SALT Phase 1 proposals for the period 1 May - 31 October 2025 (2025 Semester 1).

The Phase 1 proposal deadline is Friday, 31 January 2025 , at 18:00 SAST (corresponding to 16:00 UTC).

This proposal call is for SALTICAM, RSS, HRS. The new slitmask IFU for RSS will also be available. All details of the status of specific instrument modes are available in the Call for Proposals linked below, including changes from previous semesters.

NIRWALS will not be offered for general science observations this semester, as further refinement and a deeper understanding of the data reduction process are required.

Please submit your proposal via the SALT Principal Investigator Proposal Tool (PIPT) - please update to the latest version available on the website. Instructions, software, and other in for mation about proposing for SALT can be found on the SALT website ( https://astronomers.salt.ac.za ). Note also that the web manager will still ask for some user statistics, which the SAAO is required to capture for reporting purposes.

Call for Proposals , including link to in for mation document: https://astronomers.salt.ac.za/proposals/

Instructions for submitting your proposal: https://astronomers.salt.ac.za/proposals/phase-i/

Download the latest PIPT software: https://astronomers.salt.ac.za/software/#PIPT RSS slitmask IFU: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qN2SDIaP1waY6Wu7dFyw-LeaANQft2xe/view

All questions regarding this proposal call should be addressed to: salthelp(at)salt.ac.za

Sincerely,
SALT Astronomy Operations
---
Dr. Danièl N. Groenewald
Acting Head of SALT Astronomy Operations
South African Astronomical Observatory
1 Observatory Road, Observatory, 7925, Cape Town, South Africa
P.O. Box 9, Observatory, 7935, Cape Town, South Africa
Tel: +27 21 200 6934


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Szanowni Państwo

Zapraszam do wypełnienia ankiety dotyczącej obecnego oraz przyszłego zainteresowania polskich astronomów teleskopem South African Large Telescope (SALT). Zajmie to ok 3-5 minut.

https://forms.gle/ap1s9gysEyjVoYgq9

Gwoli przypomnienia - w skład polskiego konsorcjum SALT wchodzi 5 podmiotów: CAMK PAN, oraz instytuty astronomii z UJ w Krakowie, UMK w Toruniu, UAM w Poznaniu i Uniwersytety Wrocławskiego. Poprzez konsorcjum polscy astronomowie (z tychże instytutów) mają dostęp do ok. 10% czasu obserwacyjnego na teleskopie, ORAZ do innych teleskopów, należących do South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO).

Ankieta skupia się na obecnym oraz przyszłym wykorzystaniu tego czasu obserwacyjnego. Bardzo proszę WSZYSTKICH o wypełnienie formularza, niezależnie czy są Państwo obserwatorami, czy teoretykami, czy zajmują się obserwacjami optycznymi czy w innych zakresach długości fali, albo czy SALT w ogóle Państwa nie interesuje. Ważne jest, aby zebrać jak najwięcej opinii. Będą one wykorzystane do określenia udziału Polski w projekcie SALT w przyszłości.

Dziękuję za poświęcenie czasu.

Jednocześnie przypominam o przesyłaniu do mnie informacji dotyczących publikowania i prezentowania wyników naukowych z SALTa w roku 2024.

Z pozdrowieniami
Krzysztof Hełminiak

PS: Koleżanki i kolegów z innych instytutów proszę o rozesłanie tego maila dalej u siebie.

Dear Colleague,

I am collating input for the SALT Annual Report 2024. I would appreciate it if you could let me know by 19 December of any SALT-related science or activities during the calendar year 2024, e.g.:

- any unrefereed publications (we have a list of refereed publications, according to ADS PUBLICATION DATE, please check https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/public-libraries/-9GFElBmRVKK_O0Q1TFzeg to verify that all your refereed publications as published officially by October 2024 are listed);

- any student projects using SALT data, especially any graduated MSc or PhD degrees in 2024;

- if you have a long-term project going, it would be interesting to get a description/update/outlook, or maybe you have presented some results at some conference;

- if you had any DDT proposals, it would be interesting to hear about the results;

- any outreach activities using SALT material.

Finally, if you have any pretty pictures, of SALT or made with SALT, that could go into the pool of pictures for the Annual Report (with credit), please let me know.

I would appreciate if you could send your inputs by 19 December at the latest. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Regards, Anja

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Szanowni Państwo

Fundacja SALT Foundation Pty. Ltd. (SALT), która zarządza teleskopem SALT, poszukuje nowego, aktywnego członka Finance and Audit Committee (FAC). FAC jest organem wewnątrz Fundacji, podlegającym Zarządowi, którego celem jest doradzanie Zarządowi SALT w kwestiach finansowych i administracyjnych, oraz przedstawianie Zarządowi rekomendacji do zatwierdzenia lub podjęcia ostatecznej decyzji (więcej informacji w załączonym dokumencie Terms of Reference). Zarząd SALT chętnie widziałby w tej roli kogoś z Polski, tzn. osobę zatrudnioną w jednej z instytucji należących do polskiego konsorcjum SALTa. Przypominam, że Polskie konsorcjum ma ok 10% udział w fundacji SALT, co umożliwia nam nie tylko dostęp do tego teleskopu, ale także możliwość aplikowania o czas na mniejszych teleskopach, znajdujących się na terenie SAAO.

Osoba zainteresowana powinna mieć wcześniejsze doświadczenie w zarządzaniu budżetem, nie musi mieć jednak wykształcenia ekonomicznego. Nie musi być też zawodowym astronomem. Niestety, działalność ta nie wiąże się z gratyfikacją finansową.

Jeśli ktoś z Państwa byłby skłonny podjąć się tej roli, lub wskazać odpowiednią osobę, bardzo proszę o wysłanie maila do mnie i prof. Gordona Bromage (gebromage (at) uclan.ac.uk). Szczegółowych odpowiedzi odnośnie pracy FAC również może udzielić prof. Bromage.

Z poważaniem

Krzysztof Hełminiak

Dear SALT community,

Please find the August issue of our SALT Newsletter here:

https://www.salt.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/SALT_Newsletter_aug24.pdf


Beware: This newsletter is chock-a-block full of exciting news!

- First light for the Laser Frequency Comb for the HRS!

- The first slitmask IFU will be available in the 2024-2 semester on shared risk basis

- News on the polarimetry calibration

- Introducing the SALT Users Group for Astronomical Resources, SUGAR

and ...

- A new SALT Director and a new Acting Head of Astro-Ops.

And if that is not enough, you get to read some entertaining reports on visiting HET and the SPIE conference in Japan.

Enjoy!

Sincerely,
The SALT Operations team

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Dear SALT Users,

As you may be aware, the SALT Users Group for Astronomical Resources (SUGAR) was established recently to provide an independent point of contact for users to raise requests, concerns, suggestions, or to provide feedback to the SALT Team. Areas that fall within our remit include: data quality, scientific performance, software bugs, SALT provided documentation or support issues. Requests for new software, or new features of existing software, can also be sent to SUGAR.

SUGAR is also responsible for soliciting input from users on scientific directions of upcoming instrumentation and telescope capabilities, when the time comes.

Users can contact SUGAR via the dedicated email address sugar@salt.ac.za or via the permanent Google form here: https://forms.gle/79WbduuHzWhmr5pbA The Google form is anonymous unless you provide your details.

We look forward to working with the SALT User community to help to improve the end user experience of SALT.

Kind Regards,
Daniel Holdsworth
Chairperson SUGAR

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Dear SALT Community,

It has come to our attention that the 2024-2 proposal announcement email sent out in June did not reach some of our community members. Due to this, we have decided to extend the proposal deadline to next Friday, August 2, 2024, at 18:00 SAST (16:00 UTC) .

Kind regards,
Danièl
---
Dr. Danièl N. Groenewald
Acting Head of SALT Astronomy Operations
South African Astronomical Observatory
1 Observatory Road, Observatory, 7925, Cape Town, South Africa
P.O. Box 9, Observatory, 7935, Cape Town, South Africa
Tel: +27 21 200 6934

Dear SALT Community,

This is a reminder that the deadline for SALT proposals for the 2024-2 semester is this Friday , July 26 , 2024, at 18:00 SAST (16:00 UTC). Please find the full announcement with relevant links below.

Additionally, we kindly ask PIs with accepted 2024-1 SALT proposals, to consider submitting more targets that are suitable for observation under poor weather conditions (thick clouds, high seeing constraints) and/or bright conditions. The queue for these conditions is currently sparse. We remind PIs that P4 time for approved programs is free and unlimited, making it ideally suited for observing bright targets under poor weather conditions.

Kind regards,
Danièl

---
Dr. Danièl N. Groenewald
Acting Head of SALT Astronomy Operations
South African Astronomical Observatory
1 Observatory Road, Observatory, 7925, Cape Town, South Africa
P.O. Box 9, Observatory, 7935, Cape Town, South Africa
Tel: +27 21 200 6934

Dear colleagues,

We are now accepting SALT Phase 1 proposals for the period 1 November 2024 - 30 April 2025 (2024 Semester 2).

The Phase 1 proposal deadline is Friday, 26 July 2024, at 18:00 SAST (corresponding to 16:00 UTC).

This proposal call is for SALTICAM, RSS, HRS and NIRWALS. The new slitmask IFU for RSS will also be available. All details of the status of specific instrument modes are available in the Call for Proposals linked below, including changes from previous semesters.

Please submit your proposal via the SALT Principal Investigator Proposal Tool (PIPT) - please update to the latest version available on the website. Instructions, software, and other information about proposing for SALT can be found on the SALT website (http://astronomers.salt.ac.za/). Note also that the web manager will still ask for some user statistics, which the SAAO is required to capture for reporting purposes.

Call for Proposals, including link to information document: http://astronomers.salt.ac.za/proposals/

Instructions for submitting your proposal: http://astronomers.salt.ac.za/proposals/phase-i/

Download the latest PIPT software: http://astronomers.salt.ac.za/software/#PIPT

NIRWALS - description and performance: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MCICfb1XeLsuaylMRffqPRFnccTYX3ZNNm3tspJ8uVY/edit?usp=sharing

RSS slitmask IFU - : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qN2SDIaP1waY6Wu7dFyw-LeaANQft2xe/view

All questions regarding this proposal call should be addressed to: salthelp(at)salt.ac.za

Sincerely,
SALT Astronomy Operations


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Dear SALT community,

Please find the April issue of our SALT Newsletter here:

https://www.salt.ac.za/2024/05/06/newsletter-april-2024/

As usual, there are lots of exciting updates in this issue, in particular on the slitmask IFU.

Cheers, Anja Schroeder


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Dear SALT Community,

The SALT Annual Report 2023 is now ready and can be downloaded from

https://www.salt.ac.za/2024/04/24/salt-annual-report-2023/

in both low as well as high resolution. As it was last year, we are not able to send out hard copies, but feel free to pick up a copy either at the library at the SAAO in Cape Town (they will delivered from the printers in about 10-14 days), or at SALT exhibition booths of international conferences.

Kind regards, Anja Schroeder


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Dear colleagues,

The inaugural workshop on `Synergies in Non-Thermal Astrophysics in Southern Africa’ will be held from 29/7/24 to 2/8/24 at the Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen, Germany. It aims to bring together researchers from collaborations working on current and future multi-wavelength facilities located in southern Africa, such as H.E.S.S., MeerKAT, AMT, and SALT, to discuss multi-wavelength synergies. The workshop is open to all interested researchers.

Contributed sessions will be held dedicated to both extragalactic and galactic astronomy, as well as transient astrophysical phenomena and stellar intensity interferometry. There will also be a number of breakout sessions to foster new research collaborations.

Hybrid attendance will be possible. For in-person attendees there is a workshop fee of 140 EUR; this covers daily lunches and coffee breaks, as well as a drinks reception and workshop dinner. There is no fee for virtual participation. Registration is open at https://indico.ecap.work/event/80/, and is capped at 70 in-person participants.

To support attendance by early career researchers from African Nations, we have obtained a significant amount of travel funding (to cover transport, accommodation, meals and workshop fee) courtesy of Friedrich-Alexander-University’s Emerging Talents Initiative. Researchers who wish to apply for this funding should submit an abstract, and a CV with a half-page statement of interest (including a rough budget request) by email to samuel.spencer@fau.de



Important Dates:

Deadline to apply for travel funding: 19/4/24

Final abstract deadline: 17/5/24

Final registration deadline: 5/7/24



Best wishes,



Sam Spencer, on behalf of the organisers

Dear all,

As many of you know, we have been experiencing technical difficulties with the network at both the SAAO and SALT recently, which are having a negative impact on the proposal preparation and submission process. We have received several new proposals and progress reports, but we are aware that many of you are struggling.

As a result, we have decided to extend the proposal deadline by one week, to Friday 9 February 2024 at 18:00 SAST (corresponding to 16:00 UCT).

Please share the news widely within the SALT community. For the time being, we request that you also please also cc your liaison SA or myself whenever you send an email to salthelp.

I include below the original call as a reminder, with the updated call deadline to prevent confusion.

Apologies for the disruptions.

Sincerely,

Encarni on behalf of SALT Astronomy Operations

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Dear colleagues,

We are now accepting SALT Phase 1 proposals for the period 1 May 2024 - 31 October 2024 (2024 Semester 1).

The NEW Phase 1 proposal deadline is Friday, 9 February 2024, at 18:00 SAST (corresponding to 16:00 UTC).

This proposal call is for SALTICAM, RSS, HRS and NIRWALS. All details of the status of specific instrument modes are available in the Call for Proposals linked below, including changes from previous semesters.

Regarding NIRWALS (SALT’s new IFU-Fed NIR spectrograph), the commissioning and science verification phases are essentially complete, and guaranteed time observations for the instrument team are starting. For Semester 2024-1, 30 hours of telescope time have been set aside for NIRWALS science proposals on a shared risk basis.

PIs intending to use NIRWALS during semester 2024-1 are requested to indicate in their proposal:

a) that they have the capability and willingness to reduce/analyse NIRWALS data using software tools that may require manual tweaking in the event that the full science pipeline has not been completed,

b) discuss how their proposal would help get NIRWALS into routine science operations (for example, by writing brief reports on data quality, providing feedback and suggestions for improving the PIPT and/or the science data pipeline, or describing new methodology for specific science cases).

Please submit your proposal via the SALT Principal Investigator Proposal Tool (PIPT). You may continue to use v5.5 unless you intend to use the new grating, in which case please update to the latest version available on the website. Instructions, software, and other information about proposing for SALT can be found on the SALT website. Note also that the web manager will ask for some user statistics, which the SAAO is now required to capture for reporting purposes.

Call for Proposals, including link to information document: http://astronomers.salt.ac.za/proposals/

Instructions for submitting your proposal: http://astronomers.salt.ac.za/proposals/phase-i/

Download the latest PIPT software: http://astronomers.salt.ac.za/software/#PIPT

NIRWALS - description and performance: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16UUKsQuyB_7a3kIKp3nM5Rx-Ixt39G-OdIxThBk7U-w/edit

All questions regarding this proposal call should be addressed to: salthelp(at)salt.ac.za

Sincerely,
SALT Astronomy Operations

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Dear all,

It seems the announcement didn’t reach everyone in December, not sure why. In case you missed it, here it is again.

REMINDER: SALT Proposal deadline is next week Friday, 2 February 2024, at 18:00 SAST (corresponding to 16:00 UTC). Please see the full announcement with relevant links below:

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Dear colleagues,

We are now accepting SALT Phase 1 proposals for the period 1 May 2024 - 31 October 2024 (2024 Semester 1).

The Phase 1 proposal deadline is Friday, 2 February 2024, at 18:00 SAST (corresponding to 16:00 UTC).

This proposal call is for SALTICAM, RSS, HRS and NIRWALS. All details of the status of specific instrument modes are available in the Call for Proposals linked below, including changes from previous semesters.

Regarding NIRWALS (SALT’s new IFU-Fed NIR spectrograph), the commissioning and science verification phases are essentially complete, and guaranteed time observations for the instrument team are starting. For Semester 2024-1, 30 hours of telescope time have been set aside for NIRWALS science proposals on a shared risk basis.

PIs intending to use NIRWALS during semester 2024-1 are requested to indicate in their proposal:

a) that they have the capability and willingness to reduce/analyse NIRWALS data using software tools that may require manual tweaking in the event that the full science pipeline has not been completed,

b) discuss how their proposal would help get NIRWALS into routine science operations (for example, by writing brief reports on data quality, providing feedback and suggestions for improving the PIPT and/or the science data pipeline, or describing new methodology for specific science cases).

Please submit your proposal via the SALT Principal Investigator Proposal Tool (PIPT). You may continue to use v5.5 unless you intend to use the new grating, in which case please update to the latest version available on the website. Instructions, software, and other information about proposing for SALT can be found on the SALT website. Note also that the web manager will ask for some user statistics, which the SAAO is now required to capture for reporting purposes.

Call for Proposals, including link to information document: http://astronomers.salt.ac.za/proposals

Instructions for submitting your proposal: http://astronomers.salt.ac.za/proposals/phase-i/

Download the latest PIPT software: http://astronomers.salt.ac.za/software/#PIPT

NIRWALS - description and performance: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16UUKsQuyB_7a3kIKp3nM5Rx-Ixt39G-OdIxThBk7U-w/edit


All questions regarding this proposal call should be addressed to: salthelp@salt.ac.za

Sincerely,
SALT Astronomy Operations