Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Sutherland says farewell to Phil & Anne!

Today was Phil & Anne's last day in Sutherland & extensive plans had been hatched for the occasion.  The crowd gathered outside the front of the hostel...


Martin, our most distinguished master of ceremonies, welcomed the slightly nervous looking guests of honour (who, no doubt, sensed that they might be in for something slightly unusual).


Due to budget constraints, the trumpet salute to welcome the royal couple took the form of a vuvuzela chorus.


Phil was then presented with his very own vuvuzela (custom made, hexagonally shaped to match the SALT mirror segments), signed by members of the SALT team.


Following an extensive FMECA (failure mode, effects, & criticality analysis) to ensure the safety of all concerned, it was decided that Phil should first attend a vuvuzela training course before attempting to operate this new SALT instrument.


Next up - the promise of a 21 gun saltute to mark this day...


But, alas - financial constraints limited us to the use of one of Eben's cannons.  To the surprise of most, the size of the cannon is no indicator of how loud the blast is!


An aerial display by the Red Arrows, or even the South African Air Force's Silver Falcons would've been an ideal addition to the proceedings...


However - Ismail rejected the proposal on the grounds of budgetary constraints & so we were forced to call upon Hitesh for a series of flybys with Deon's somewhat bedraggled "Dirty Sanchez".  This amounted to an invasion of Verreaux Eagle airspace & soon the pale intruder was joined in the sky by the menacing resident & escourted out of range. 


Ceremony aside for a moment, Phil was presented with a handmade gentleman's folder knife...


This is yet another of Eben's beautiful works of functional art.  The blade is RWL34 steel, the bolster is Alphen Powder Damascus, the handle is made of fossilised mammoth molar & the SALT logo & Eben's trademark were etched onto the blade using ferric chloride.


Just when things seemed to be settling down, along came the coach with which Phil & Anne were to be conveyed to the Rec Centre...


Luxury transport, Sutherland style!


With the meter running, there was only time for a Quick speech - something Phil has had to learn about during his 7 years in SA!


 



Then everyone was hauled around behind the hostel for a group photo with SALT in the background.


With that, it was time to go!


With a brave wave, the dignitaries were off...


Not quite into the sunset, but well on their way!


Over at the Rec Centre, while waiting for lunch, there was time to marvel at the amazing knife yet again :)


For once the hostel ladies got to take a break as well since lunch was provided by the Sutherland Hotel.


No one was left hungry!



& some tables even managed to stave off serious thirst as well ;)


Eventually it was time to say goodbye & wish Phil & Anne a safe trip back to CT & then on to the UK...


Everything of the best to you both in whatever adventures lie ahead!  Do visit us again soon :)

Night Log 2011-08-30

SA: Alexei
SO: Zolisa
Others: Charl, Keith, Jonathan, Lisa, Eric, Steve

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Summary
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=> Very strong wind and hight humidity.
No observations tonight.

=> Some tests with modified MOS sofware.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-29

SA: Alexei
SO: Zolisa
Others: Anthony, Eric Hooper, Steve Potter, Lisa

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Summary
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=> More commissioning MOS observations tonight.

=> Much better data for MOS program 2010-1-UW-008

=> Some science data were taken for program:
2010-1-DC-002
2010-1-RSA_OTH-001

=> Morning sky long-slit spectra for calibrations.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Prof. Mark Bailey's Speech during the Mayoral Reception for the SALT Board Meeting

During the Mayoral Reception at Palace Demesne for the May 2011 SALT Board Meeting at Armagh Observatory, Prof. Mark Bailey made the following speech about the importance of projects like SALT. I found it was particular inspiring and applicable to South Africa, UK, and all our partners. Prof. Bailey kindly shared his notes from the event.

Minister, Mayor, SALT Board Members and Astronomers… First, I want to thank the Mayor for hosting this evening’s reception for the SALT Board and the other international visitors to Armagh this week, associated with the Armagh Observatory’s involvement together with UK University partners in the Southern African Large Telescope project. Secondly, I want to thank the Minister of the Department of
Culture, Arts and Leisure, Caral Ni Chuilin, for kindly making time to be with us this evening, from what I am sure is an extraordinarily busy schedule.

I may mention that the Observatory’s involvement in this project began a little over ten years ago. We (that is the UK SALT Consortium as a whole) and other SALT partners each managed to raise a subscription in excess of $1M to enable the telescope to be built, and we now pay an annual subscription to cover running and other operational costs of the telescope in proportion to our shareholding in the large telescope.

Reflecting on the Observatory’s involvement in SALT over the past decade, it is worth noting that the reasons for our involvement speak now just as loudly as they did then. There are many scientific benefits that flow to the Observatory and its UK partners from having access to “our own” share of a 10-metre class telescope in the Southern hemisphere, for example to develop new projects or to continue existing projects that can only be addressed by access to one of the largest telescopes on Earth; and by using our access to such a facility to strengthen our ability to attract additional research funding from the UK Research Councils; and, not least, to attract the highest possible quality of postdoctoral and postgraduate research staff to use the telescope and carry out the research on a day-to-day (or night-to-night) basis.

In addition, there are a number of very important “collateral” benefits from our involvement in the project, notably the important educational and inspirational “spin offs” from the project, and how these feed back into core DCAL Departmental objectives: for example, the growth of cultural capital, the development of a
confident, creative community, and the need to inspire young people with a love of science and mathematics — the so-called “STEM” subjects that lie at the heart of every modern high value-added economy — and which are of growing concern to governments across Europe as the EU seeks to remain competitive in relation to the other principal economic zones.

In this sense we are all part of the SALT challenge: the goal to achieve not just for South Africa but for each of our individual nations, an educated, articulate and scientifically knowledgeable citizenry, and to use astronomy as a leader and exemplar in the internationalization of science. Astronomy addresses some of the most difficult questions of existence, and yet draws people together in a shared enterprise to discover in a collaborative way the origin of our Universe and the detailed interactions and structures of all the objects within it.

At the SALT Ground-breaking ceremony at Sutherland on Friday 1st September 2000, a little over ten years ago, it was noted that what we were seeing was a reawakening of the South African nation’s awareness and appreciation of science, and also — here it was the Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology
speaking “… how the investment of public funds in the construction and operation of SALT would provide distinct and substantial benefits for the development of our people, out technology and the economy”.

Others drew attention to the intellectual “spin-off” from the project, especially towards young people: “We will use this fantastic telescope to allow children to wonder about the possible and to dream about the future, and out of that wondering to cultivate curiosity about science and technology”. At that moment in the proceedings, a baby started crying; and, without missing a step, that speaker remarked that he wanted to thank that mother and father for bringing a baby to such an occasion, and urged them to stay: “The child, like SALT, represents the future!”

That child will be about eleven years old now, and it would be interesting to know whether he or she is now taking an interest in science; what that person’s goals and ambitions are; and what they will be in a further decade. Some of you here probably know who he/she is.

In the same way, and before handing over to the Northern Ireland Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure, I would like to emphasize an important historical lesson, namely that the principal benefit of carrying out fundamental research, and indeed of any major scientific programme like SALT, is often the discovery of the unexpected; a result totally unpredictable at the time of the project’s conception, and — like the maturity of a child into adulthood — impossible to know in advance where it might lead.

Like the child, SALT is growing up, and I would like to thank not just my own Minister for her Department’s support of astronomy at Armagh over the years but also the South African National Research Foundation and the Department of Science and Technology for their continued support for SALT, support which through the many expected, unexpected spin-offs will undoubtedly ensure for SALT a significant long-term legacy to the overall development of world science, and of South African science in particular.

Night Log 2011-08-28

SA: Alexei
SO: Zolisa
Others: Anthony, Eric, Steve Potter, charl, Hitesh

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Summary
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=> First real science MOS data in 2011 were observed tonight!

=> Commissioning MOS data were taken:
2010-1-UW-008
2011-2-RSA-014

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-27

SA: Alexei
SO: Zolisa
Others: Anthony, Eric, Steve Potter

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Summary
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=> First MOS science data in 2011.

=> We tried to use different ways to align MOS fields with masks.

=> Not stable weather during the night with high enough humidity

=> Some MOS data for 2010-1-UW-008

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-26

SA: Alexei
SO: Zolisa
Others: Anthony, Eric Hooper, Steve Potter

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Summary
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=> High humidity. Did not open.

=> MOS tests with dummy tracks during most of the time.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-25

SA: Alexei
SO: Zolisa
Others: Anthony, Steve Potter

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Summary
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=> Clear night with strong variations of seeing (from 1" to 3")

=> Data taken tonight for the following programs"
ENG_SCAM
2010-1-UNC-002
2010-1-DC-002
2010-1-RSA_OTH-001
2010-1-RSA_OTH-005

=> Some MOS commissioning games

=> Some spectral data were taken for throughput tests since access platform was removed:
spectrophotometric star observations with GR300.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-24

SA: Alexei
SO: Zolisa
Others: Anthony, Charl

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Summary
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=> Observational night with high humidity and some cirrus

=> Data were taken to calculate map SCAM<=>RSS

=> Data taken tonight for the following programs:
2010-1-UNC-002
2010-1-RSA_OTH-012
2010-1-RSA_OTH-005

Monday, August 22, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-21

SA: Amanda
SO: Siphelo
Others: Paul, Anthony, David G., Hooper

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Summary
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. High humidity. Closed.

. Data taken for MOS commissioning all night.
2010-1-UW-008
2011-2-UW-005
2011-2-RSA-014
2011-2-UW_RU-002

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-20

SA: Amanda
SO: Siphelo
Others: Paul, David G., Anthony, Hooper, Charl, Johan, Laure, Marisa

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Summary
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. Clear night with high wind.

.Data taken tonight for the following programs:
ENG_RSS (twilight flats)
2010-1-DC-002
2010-1-UW-008
2011-2-RSA-014
2010-1-RSA_RU-001
2011-2-UW_RU-002

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-19

SA: Amanda
SO: Siphelo
Others: Paul, David G., Hooper, Ant, Laure, Marisa, Charl

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Summary
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. It was a high-humidity roller coaster night: opened for flats, closed, opened for an attempted BVIT observation, closed, opened for MOS commissioning.

. First night of official MOS commissioning! Made valuable progress on using this mode. See lots of notes in the log.

. Data taken for the following programs:
ENG_RSS (twilight flats, 650 & 664.5)
2011-2-UW_RU-002 (MOS engineering)
2011-2-RSA_OTH_UKSC-001 (acquisition only)
2010-1-UW-008
2011-2-RSA-014

Friday, August 19, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-18

SA: Amanda
SO: Siphelo
Others: Phil, Patricia, Eugene, Paul, David G., Hooper, Keith

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Summary
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. High winds and high humidity. Did not open.

. Data taken for the following program:
2010-1-UKSC-005 (arc stability tests)

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Proposal Summary

SALT received 176 proposals asking for a total of 1888 hours from only 662 hours being available. The proposals included 317 different investigators from 21 different countries spread over 88 different institutions. The first proposal in was from Mathew Schurch from University of Cape Town and the last official entry was from Brent Miszalski at SAAO--submitted just 5 seconds prior to the deadline.

The proposals asked a wide range of science questions: From looking at near-earth asteroids to high redshift galaxies. Over 45% of the proposals were asking to look at stars or other stellar sources, 60% of the proposals were looking at sources in our own galaxy or its satellites, and the remaining proposals were looking at extragalactic sources. Of the proposals, we have two looking at asteroids in the solar system, 12 looking at white dwarf stars, 21 looking at binary stars, 7 looking at different types of nebula, and over 30 proposals investigating black holes in either our own galaxy or others. In addition, we have 9 proposals looking at sueprnova, 11 proposals researching AGN, 11 looking at galaxy clusters, and 6 were looking at galaxies when the Universe was only a few billion years old.

The telescope allocation committees at each partner have now done their job and awarded time to the proposals for the coming semester. The notifications have been sent out and it is now on to the next stage of the process where investigators of successful proposals will complete the details of their observations and prepare for the coming semester.

Night Log 2011-08-17

SA: Amanda
SO: Siphelo
Others: Laure, Marisa

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Summary
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. A cloudy to clear night with strong wind. The majority was bright time.

. Data taken for the following programs:
2011-2-RSA_IUCAAA-001 (twilight flats)
2010-RSA_UKSC_GU-001
2010-1-RSA_UKSC_OTH-002
2011-2-RSA-012
2010-1-UKSC-005
2010-1-DC-002
2010-1-UKSC-002
2010-1-RSA_OTH-008 (initial tests)

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-16

SA: Encarni
SO: Patrick
Others: Amanda, Alexei, David, Hamish, Simon, Siphelo. Francois, Keith and Hitesh to help with CCAS/SPS issues. Alex and Milosh for a quick visit. Laure, Marisa, Yann and Aziz. Apologies if I forgot someone!!

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Summary
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* Clear night with NNE wind, 30 km/h wind and variable seeing.

* Science data for:
2010-1-RSA_UKSC_OTH-002
2010-1-RSA_OTH-001
2010-1-RSA_OTH_IUCAA-001
2010-1-RSA_OTH-002
2010-1-UKSC-005
2010-1-DC-002
2010-1-RSA_UKSC_GU-001
2010-1-UC-001
2010-1-RSA_UKSC-003

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-15

SA: Encarni
SO: Patrick
Others: Alexei. Francois to help with mirror alignment at the beginning of the night. Marisa, Laure, Yann and Aziz, in and out.

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Summary
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* Cirrussy, low humidity night

Science data for:
2010-1-DC-002
2010-1-RSA_UKSC_OTH-002
2011-2-RSA_POL-001
2010-1-RSA_OTH_IUCAA-001
2010-1-UKSC-005
2010-1-RSA_OTH-012
2010-1-RSA_UKSC-003
2010-1-UKSC-002
2010-1-RSA-004

Monday, August 15, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-14

SA: Encarni
SO: Patrick
Others: Alexei. Andry and Alex for a quick visit. Laure, Marissa, and the French team, in and out.

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Summary
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* Clear night with high winds - closed up at about 23:20 due to high humidity.

* Science data for:

2011-2-RSA_IUCAA-001 (twilight flats)
2010-1-RSA_OTH-002
2010-1-DC-002
2010-1-RSA_UKSC_OTH-001
2010-1-RSA_OTH-001

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-13

SA: Encarni
SO: Patrick
Others: Alexei. Eben, Charl, Keith, Johan at the beginning of the night. Park and Kailash from the 1m for a tour and a coffee. Laure, Marissa and the two French astronomers, back and forth.
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Summary
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Got the tracker back!!!! Thanks Eben, Charl, Johan, Chris and Keith!!! :) :) :)

Night lost to high humidity. We can't have it all, it seems


Saturday, August 13, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-12

SA: Encarni
SO: Patrick
Others: Charl (back early from holiday), Eben, Keith, Chris.

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Summary
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Horrible weather tonight, with rain, ridge cloud, high winds and brrr so cold!

Stayed closed all night. No data taken.

Tracker team worked until about midnight and decided to install a new motor tomorrow.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Rush Hour in Sutherland


Night Log 2011-08-11

SA: Encarni
SO: Patrick
Others: Alexei.

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Summary
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Another cirrussy night, and again no observations due to a broken tracker antigravity motor.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-10

SA: Encarni
SO: Patrick
Others: Alexei. Chris, Amanda, Keith, Jonathan and Eben at the beginning of the night.

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Summary
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* Cirrussy night.

* No observations possible due to problems with the Antigravity motor of the tracker.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-09

SA: Paul
SO: Siphelo
Others: Steve, Encarni, Alexei

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Summary
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- Had strange weather night with large variations in seeing. Was between 2 and 4'' for most of the night.

- The bad seeing and bright limited the proposals that we could observe. Data were collected for the following proposals:

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-08

SA: Paul
SO: Siphelo
Others: Steve C, Johnathan

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Summary
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- Data taken for the following proposals:
2011-2-RSA_IUCAA-001
2010-1-DC-002
2010-1-RSA_POL_OTH-001
2011-2-RSA_POL-001

- Night cut short by technical issues.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-07

SA: Paul
SO: Siphelo
Others: David

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Summary
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- Cloudy the whole night.
- Performed engineering observations to test the reliability of the guidance system.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-06

SA: Paul
SO: Siphelo
Others: David

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Summary
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- Weater at the beginning of the night did not look promising, but it quickly turned around. We had high humidity for most of the night.

- Data taken for the following programs:
2010-1-RSA_OTH-001
2010-1-DC-002
2010-RSA_UKSC_GU-001
2010-1-RSA_OTH_IUCAA-001
2011-2-RSA_IUCAA-001

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-05

SA: Paul
SO: Siphelo
Others: David

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Summary
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After snow in day, ridge cloud all night.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-04

SA: Paul
SO: Siphelo
Others: David

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Summary
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- Night lost to rain and high humidity
- Did RSS engineering tests

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Supernovae Galore!

Over the past month SALT has followed up on three different supernovae. The first two were initially discovered by an amateur astronomer here in the Western Cape, Berto Monard. Berto is a well-renowned supernova and GRB hunter and was awarded the Gill Medal by the ASSA in 2004. The first supernova we followed up on was SN 2011eb (PSN J01573658-5748008). It was first discovered by Berto on the night of July 9 and we followed up with spectroscopy the following night. It was identified as a Type Ia supernova within a few days of maximum light. The findings have been publised as CBAT 2764. Images of the SN and it's host galaxy can be found here and here. Below is the SALT spectrum and model used to make the ID.


The next supernova, SN 2011ec, was captured a couple nights later at the very end of the night as twilight was approaching. It was another of Berto's discoveries, but he had done so on 14 May so we were following up about two months or so after maximum light. The ID confirms that it is a Type Ia of that age. While not groundbreaking in and of itself, it does show that SALT is capable of observing late-stage extragalactic supernovae relatively easily. The findings have been published as CBAT 2765 and the spectrum is shown below and an image can be found here.


Thirdly, and most exciting, are the spectroscopy obtained this week of SN 2011ei which appears to be an energetic "hypernova" similar to SN 2003bg. This initial finding has been published as ATel #3526. Shown below is our first spectrum plotted at the top along with other similar objects from the past. We will be following up on this object as much as we can to get better signal-to-noise and to monitor its evolution.


Night Log 2011-08-03

SA: Paul
SO: Siphelo
Others: David

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Summary
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- Thin clouds most of the night. Observations were cut short due to strong wind. Closed 01:00
- Some time was also lost to technical issues.
- Observed a transiting exoplanet with BVIT.
- Made various engineering observations

Data taken for:
- 2010-1-RSA_OTH-001

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-02

SA: Amanda
SO: Zolisa
Others: Steve P., Paul, David, Hamish, AVG, Hitesh

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Summary
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. Dark, mostly clear night (some thin cloud passing through; clear by 03:30).

. Data taken for the following programs:
2011-2-UW-010 (calsys flats)
2010-1-DC-002
2011-2-RSA-006
2010-1-RSA_OTH-001
2011-2-RSA_IUCAA-001
2011-2-RSA-002
2011-2-UW-01

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Night Log 2011-08-01

SA: Amanda
SO: Zolisa
Others: Steve P., Dave C., Keith, AVG

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Summary
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. Clear, dark night. Lost a few hours in the morning due to a tracker problem.

. Data taken for the following programs:
2011-2-RSA_OTH_UKSC-001 (BVIT)
2011-2-RSA-006
2010-1-RSA_OTH-001
2010-1-RSA_OTH-005
2011-2-UW-010

Monday, August 1, 2011

Night Log 2011-07-31

SA: Amanda
SO: Patrick
Others: Steve P.

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Summary
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. A dark, clear, photometric night.

. Data taken for the following programs:
2010-1-UNC-002
ENG_RSS (throughput comp. tests)
2011-2-RSA_OTH-002
2010-1-RSA_OTH-001
ENG_POINT (non-sidereal)
2011-2-RSA-006
2010-1-RSA_OTH-012