Search

A medium- and high-resolution spectroscopic survey of helium-rich hot subdwarfs is being carried out using the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). Objectives include the discovery of exotic hot subdwarfs and of sequences connecting chemically-peculiar subdwarfs of different types. The first phase consists of medium-resolution spectroscopy of over 100 stars selected from low-resolution surveys. This paper describes the selection criteria, and the observing, classification and analysis methods. It presents 107 spectral classifications on the MK-like Drilling system and 106 coarse analyses ($T_{\rm eff}, \log g, \log y$) based on a hybrid grid of zero-metal non-LTE and line-blanketed LTE model atmospheres. For 75 stars, atmospheric parameters have been derived for the first time. The sample may be divided into 6 distinct groups including the classical `helium-rich' sdO stars with spectral types (Sp) sdO6.5 - sdB1 (74) comprising carbon-rich (35) and carbon-weak (39) stars, very hot He-sdO's with Sp $\lesssim$ sdO6 (13), extreme helium stars with luminosity class $\lesssim 5$ (5), intermediate helium-rich subdwarfs with helium class 25 -- 35 (8), and intermediate helium-rich subdwarfs with helium class $10 - 25$ (6). The last covers a narrow spectral range (sdB0 -- sdB1) including two known and four candidate heavy-metal subdwarfs. Within other groups are several stars of individual interest, including an extremely metal-poor helium star, candidate double-helium subdwarf binaries, and a candidate low-gravity He-sdO star., MNRAS Accepted 18/11/20, 20 pages + 26 pages supplementary material

We took a total of 635 B-, V-, and Ic-band CCD frames for the RRab Lyr type variable DVMon, which has a close bright visual companion with a separation of about 1.9′. Observations were made with the 76-cm telescope of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO, South Africa) using SBIG CCD ST-10XME. For the first time, we obtained reliable separate PSF-photometry of both stars and determined their coordinates. We used all available data to construct the O — C diagram spanning a 110-year long time interval, which allowed us to reveal at least three sudden changes of the pulsation period around JD 2438000, 2453500, and 2456500. Our high resolution echelle spectra with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) showed that DV Mon belongs to type ab RR Lyrae variables of the Galactic thick disk.

We briefly describe the large observational project MAGIC aimed at mass spectroscopic studies of stars of different subsystems of our Galaxy. The project was carried out on the Southern African Large Telescope (hereafter referred to as SALT) with efficient use of its capabilities, site’s climate, and spectroscopic instruments. We discuss in detail the issues of high-resolution spectroscopy when studying the chemical composition of Galactic Cepheids. Observations of these objects with HRS echelle spectrograph of SALT telescope started in 2016 and currently the number of such observations exceeds one hundred. Spectra were acquired in the medium-resolution mode (R ~36 500–39 000)with a high signalto-noise ratio (S/N ~50–220). All obtained echelle images acquired were reduced with a package that we developed based on standard MIDAS system. We describe standard reduction steps using the Cepheid RSNor as a test object. Based on the data of spectroscopic observations we determined the atmospheric parameters and the abundances of 31 chemical elements (36 neutral atoms and ions) whose absorption lines are observed in the spectrum of RSNor. We performed all computations using two methods and showed that echelle spectra acquired in the medium-resolution mode of HRS can be used to study the chemical composition of Cepheids with good accuracy and that the results agree with the results of other studies within the quoted errors.

In the last two decades, very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy has reached maturity: over 200 sources have been detected, both Galactic and extragalactic, by ground-based experiments. At present, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) make up about 40% of the more than 200 sources detected at very high energies with ground-based telescopes, the majority of which are blazars, i.e. their jets are closely aligned with the line of sight to Earth and three quarters of which are classified as high-frequency peaked BL Lac objects. One challenge to studies of the cosmological evolution of BL Lacs is the difficulty of obtaining redshifts from their nearly featureless, continuum- dominated spectra. It is expected that a significant fraction of the AGN to be detected with the future Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory will have no spectroscopic redshifts, compromising the reliability of BL Lac population studies, particularly of their cosmic evolution. We started an effort in 2019 to measure the redshifts of a large fraction of the AGN that are likely to be detected with CTA, using the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). In this contribution, we present two results from an on-going SALT program focused on the determination of BL Lac object redshifts that will be relevant for the CTA observatory., 15 pages, 4 figures, 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference

Accurate metallicities of RR Lyrae are extremely important in constraining period-luminosity-metallicity relationships (PLZ), particularly in the near-infrared. We analyse 69 high-resolution spectra of Galactic RR Lyrae stars from the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). We measure metallicities of 58 of these RR Lyrae stars with typical uncertainties of 0.13 dex. All but one RR Lyrae in this sample has accurate ({\sigma}_parallax ~ 10%) parallax from Gaia. Combining these new high resolution spectroscopic abundances with similar determinations from the literature for 93 stars, we present new PLZ relationships in WISE W1 and W2 magnitudes, and the Wesenheit magnitudes W(W1,V-W1) and W(W2,V-W2)., Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, accepted in MNRAS

Acknowledgements. We thank the anonymous referee for useful comments. We thank Marco Fiaschi for carrying out some of the Asiago observations. EK is supported by the Turku Collegium of Science, Medicine and Technology. EK also acknowledge support from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC; ST/P000312/1). ECK acknowledges support from the G.R.E.A.T. research environment and support from The Wenner-Gren Foundations. MF is supported by a Royal Society – Science Foundation Ireland University Research Fellowship. EC, LT, AP, and MT are partially supported by the PRIN-INAF 2017 with the project “Towards the SKA and CTA era: discovery, localization, and physics of transient objects”. HK was funded by the Academy of Finland projects 324504 and 328898. TWC acknowledges the EU Funding under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 842471. LG was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 839090. This work has been partially supported by the Spanish grant PGC2018-095317-B-C21 within the European Funds for Regional Development (FEDER). MG is supported by the Polish NCN MAESTRO grant 2014/14/A/ST9/00121. KM acknowledges support from EU H2020 ERC grant no. 758638. TMB was funded by the CONICYT PFCHA / DOCTORADOBECAS CHILE/2017-72180113. MN is supported by a Royal Astronomical Society Research Fellowship. Based on observations collected at the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere under ESO programmes 67.D-0438, 60.A-9475, 199.D-0143, and 1103.D-0328. Some of the observations reported in this paper were obtained with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) under programme 2018-1-DDT-003 (PI: Kankare). Polish participation in SALT is funded by grant No. MNiSW DIR/WK/2016/07. Based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope, operated by the Nordic Optical Telescope Scientific Association at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, Spain, of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. The data presented here were obtained in part with ALFOSC, which is provided by the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (IAA) under a joint agreement with the University of Copenhagen and NOTSA. This work is partly based on the NUTS2 programme carried out at the NOT. NUTS2 is funded in part by the Instrument Center for Danish Astrophysics (IDA). The Liverpool Telescope is operated on the island of La Palma by Liverpool John Moores University in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias with financial support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council. This paper is also based on observations collected at the Copernico 1.82 m and Schmidt 67/92 Telescopes operated by INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova at Asiago, Italy. Based on observations obtained at the Gemini Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the National Science Foundation (United States), the National Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva (Argentina), and Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Brazil). Observations were carried out under programme GS-2017A-C-1. This project used data obtained with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), which was constructed by the Dark Energy Survey (DES) collaboration. Funding for the DES Projects has been provided by the DOE and NSF (USA), MISE (Spain), STFC (UK), HEFCE (UK), NCSA (UIUC), KICP (U. Chicago), CCAPP (Ohio State), MIFPA (Texas A&M University), CNPQ, FAPERJ, FINEP (Brazil), MINECO (Spain), DFG (Germany) and the collaborating institutions in the Dark Energy Survey, which are Argonne Lab, UC Santa Cruz, University of Cambridge, CIEMAT-Madrid, University of Chicago, University College London, DES-Brazil Consortium, University of Edinburgh, ETH Zürich, Fermilab, University of Illinois, ICE (IEEC-CSIC), IFAE Barcelona, Lawrence Berkeley Lab, LMU München and the associated Excellence Cluster Universe, University of Michigan, NOAO, University of Nottingham, Ohio State University, OzDES Membership Consortium, University of Pennsylvania, University of Portsmouth, SLAC National Lab, Stanford University, University of Sussex, and Texas A&M University. Based on observations obtained with the Samuel Oschin 48-inch Telescope at the Palomar Observatory as part of the Zwicky Transient Facility project. ZTF is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. AST-1440341 and a collaboration including Caltech, IPAC, the Weizmann Institute for Science, the Oskar Klein Center at Stockholm University, the University of Maryland, the University of Washington, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron and Humboldt University, Los Alamos National Laboratories, the TANGO Consortium of Taiwan, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. Operations are conducted by COO, IPAC, and UW. Based on observations at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO Prop. ID 2017A-0260; and PI: Soares-Santos), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The Pan-STARRS1 Surveys (PS1) and the PS1 public science archive have been made possible through contributions by the Institute for Astronomy, the University of Hawaii, the Pan-STARRS Project Office, the Max-Planck Society and its participating institutes, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, The Johns Hopkins University, Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, the Queen’s University Belfast, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Incorporated, the National Central University of Taiwan, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation Grant No. AST-1238877, the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Some of the data presented in this paper were obtained from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST). STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. This work is based in part on archival data obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA. This research has made use of NED which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. We have made use of the Weizmann Interactive Supernova Data Repository (Yaron & Gal-Yam 2012, https://wiserep.weizmann.ac.il)., 1 iraf is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which are operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation., The fraction of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) occurring in the central regions of galaxies is not well constrained at present. This is partly because large-scale transient surveys operate at optical wavelengths, making it challenging to detect transient sources that occur in regions susceptible to high extinction factors. Here we present the discovery and follow-up observations of two CCSNe that occurred in the luminous infrared galaxy (LIRG) NGC 3256. The first, SN 2018ec, was discovered using the ESO HAWK-I/GRAAL adaptive optics seeing enhancer, and was classified as a Type Ic with a host galaxy extinction of AV = 2.1−0.1+0.3 mag. The second, AT 2018cux, was discovered during the course of follow-up observations of SN 2018ec, and is consistent with a subluminous Type IIP classification with an AV = 2.1 ± 0.4 mag of host extinction. A third CCSN, PSN J10275082−4354034 in NGC 3256, was previously reported in 2014, and we recovered the source in late-time archival Hubble Space Telescope imaging. Based on template light curve fitting, we favour a Type IIn classification for it with modest host galaxy extinction of AV = 0.3−0.3+0.4 mag. We also extend our study with follow-up data of the recent Type IIb SN 2019lqo and Type Ib SN 2020fkb that occurred in the LIRG system Arp 299 with host extinctions of AV = 2.1−0.3+0.1 and AV = 0.4−0.2+0.1 mag, respectively. Motivated by the above, we inspected, for the first time, a sample of 29 CCSNe located within a projected distance of 2.5 kpc from the host galaxy nuclei in a sample of 16 LIRGs. We find, if star formation within these galaxies is modelled assuming a global starburst episode and normal IMF, that there is evidence of a correlation between the starburst age and the CCSN subtype. We infer that the two subgroups of 14 H-poor (Type IIb/Ib/Ic/Ibn) and 15 H-rich (Type II/IIn) CCSNe have different underlying progenitor age distributions, with the H-poor progenitors being younger at 3σ significance. However, we note that the currently available sample sizes of CCSNe and host LIRGs are small, and the statistical comparisons between subgroups do not take into account possible systematic or model errors related to the estimated starburst ages., DOCTORADOBECAS CHILE/2017-72180113, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron and Humboldt University, EU H2020 ERC 758638, IFAE Barcelona, IPAC, Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, KICP, MIFPA, Marie Skłodowska-Curie 839090,PGC2018-095317-B-C21, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, NOAO, National Central University of Taiwan, National Optical Astronomy Observatories, Science Foundation Ireland University, Turku Collegium of Science, Medicine and Technology, Weizmann Institute for Science, National Science Foundation NSF, U.S. Department of Energy USDOE, National Aeronautics and Space Administration AST-1238877,NNX08AR22G NASA, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation NAS5-26555 GBMF, Merck Institute for Science Education MISE, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign UIUC, Stanford University SU, Argonne National Laboratory ANL, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 2017A-0260 LBNL, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Ohio State University OSU, California Institute of Technology CIT, University of Chicago, University of Michigan U-M, University of Washington UW, Johns Hopkins University JHU, Texas A and M University TAMU, University of Maryland UMD, University of Hawai'i UH, Los Alamos National Laboratory LANL, University of Portsmouth, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory SAO, National Centre for Supercomputing Applications NCSA, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory SLAC, National Research Council NRC, Space Telescope Science Institute STScI, Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Ohio State University CCAPP, Wenner-Gren Stiftelserna, Science and Technology Facilities Council ST/P000312/1 STFC, Royal Society, Royal Astronomical Society MNiSW DIR/WK/2016/07 RAS, University College London UCL, European Commission 842471 EC, University of Nottingham, University of Sussex AST-1440341, University of Edinburgh ED, Queen's University Belfast QUB, Durham University, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG, Suomen Akatemia 324504,328898, Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica CONICYT, Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva MINCyT, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MINECO, Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação MCTI, Liverpool John Moores University LJMU, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft MPG, Narodowe Centrum Nauki 2014/14/A/ST9/00121 NCN, Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro FAPERJ, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos FINEP, European Regional Development Fund ERDF, Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem ELTE

The impact of stellar rotation on the morphology of star cluster colour-magnitude diagrams is widely acknowledged. However, the physics driving the distribution of the equatorial rotation velocities of main-sequence turn-off (MSTO) stars is as yet poorly understood. Using Gaia Data Release 2 photometry and new Southern African Large Telescope medium-resolution spectroscopy, we analyse the intermediate-age ($\sim1\,$Gyr-old) Galactic open clusters NGC 3960, NGC 6134 and IC 4756 and develop a novel method to derive their stellar rotation distributions based on SYCLIST stellar rotation models. Combined with literature data for the open clusters NGC 5822 and NGC 2818, we find a tight correlation between the number ratio of slow rotators and the clusters' binary fractions. The blue-main-sequence stars in at least two of our clusters are more centrally concentrated than their red-main-sequence counterparts. The origin of the equatorial stellar rotation distribution and its evolution remains as yet unidentified. However, the observed correlation in our open cluster sample suggests a binary-driven formation mechanism., 9 pages, 7 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

This paper presents results from photometric and statistical-parallax analysis of a sample of 850 field RR Lyrae (RRL) variables. The photometric and spectroscopic data for sample RRLs are obtained from (1) our new spectroscopic observations (for 448 RRLs) carried out with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT); (2) our photometric observations using the 1.0-m telescope of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), and (3) literature. These are combined with accurate proper motion data from the second release of \textit{Gaia} mission (DR2). This study primarily determines the velocity distribution of solar neighborhood RRLs, and it also calibrates the zero points of the RRLs visual V-band luminosity-metallicity (LZ or $M_V-$[\text{Fe/H}]) relation and their period-luminosity-metallicity (PLZ) relations in the \textit{WISE} $W_1-$ and \textit{2MASS} $Ks-$band. The calibrated PLZ and LZ relations are used to estimate the Galactic Center distance and the distance modulus of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), which are found to be 7.99$\pm$0.49\,kpc and 18.46$\pm$0.09 \,mag, respectively. All our results are in excellent agreement with available literature based on statistical parallax analysis, but are considerably more accurate and precise. Moreover, the zero-points of our calibrated PLZ and LZ relations are quite consistent with current results found by other techniques and yield the LMC distance modulus that is within 0.04\,mag of the current most precise estimate., 20 pages,21 figueres

The addition of multiple “mini-trackers” (MTs) to the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) would create in effect several four-to-six-meter class telescopes that take advantage of the SALT 10-meter diameter primary mirror’s 35 degree diameter uncorrected field-of-view. These devices, with a 100 square degree patrol area, would provide valuable follow up capability for the large astronomical surveys either in operation (e.g. MeerKAT, eROSITA, Gaia), or expected to begin operations soon (e.g. LSST, SKA, Euclid). A feasibility study was conducted to evaluate the technical practicality associated with the design, fabrication, integration, and testing of a prototype MT for SALT. The study determined that the development of a mini-tracker was indeed feasible, and work has begun on the concept design phase of the project.

We are developing a high-resolution near-infrared spectrograph for exoplanet searches with telescopes in Suther- land, South Africa; the South Africa Near-infrared Doppler (SAND) instrument. It covers the z- and Y -bands (0.83–1.10 µm) simultaneously with a maximum spectral resolution of 55, 000. This specification enables the precise radial velocity (RV) measurements to search for both giant planets around young stars and habitable planets around nearby M-dwarfs. The SAND is a fiber-fed instrument and, therefore, can be installed into several telescopes at the same site by changing the fiber connection. It will be operated mainly on the PRIME telescope, which is newly developed by Osaka University in Japan. The InfraRed Survey Facility (IRSF) and the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) are also candidate telescopes for the installation. Inside the SAND spectrograph, a star image ejected from the fiber is sliced half and each sliced image is spectrally dispersed by an echelle grating. As a reference source for the wavelength calibration, light transmitted from a Fabry-Perot Etalon is simultaneously injected into the spectrograph and share the almost identical optical pass. The SAND is expected to realize RV-measurements for targets in large stellar associations at the southern sky, with exclusive and flexible use of the telescope time.

How do you use modern web technologies to build a user-friendly browser-based data archive? We answer this question for the data archive of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) and Southern African Large Telescope, which lets users make complex searches, view FITS files and make data requests. The software stack includes React, NodeJS, GraphQL and PostgreSQL. The archive is hosted on virtual Ubuntu servers. The development workflow uses tools like Github Actions, Reviewable and Prettier. The archive forms part of the SAAO's artificial intelligence based approach to observing.

We present a low-resolution spectrograph design for the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) primarily aimed at efficient identification spectroscopy of transients. The design extends the existing Robert-Stobie Spectrograph (RSS) by adding a new simultaneous red channel for wide visible wavelength coverage (360 nm to 900 nm). The design delivers R ~800 in the blue channel using the existing RSS optics and R ~2000 at a peak end-to-end instrument efficiency of 44% via the new red channel. We describe the instrument’s requirements, optical design and expected performance. Synergies with existing RSS functionality are explored that will allow dual-beam multi-object and future integral field unit spectroscopy.

SALT is a 10-m class optical telescope located in Sutherland, South Africa, owned by an international consortium and operated in fully queue-scheduled mode by the South African Astronomical Observatory. In this paper we present an update on all observatory performance metrics since the start of full science operations in late 2011, including science time, weather and technical downtime, and time used for planned engineering activities and commissioning. We analyze key statistics describing the science output of SALT, the completion fractions of scheduled observations and programs per priority class, and analyze the more than 260 refereed papers since the start of operations in 2011 until the end of 2019. We further discuss 2020, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our metrics, and the resulting, successful move to full remote operations since May 2020. The SALT refereed paper has continued along a similar trend to other 6-10 m observatories (when scaled by the number of telescopes). When scaled by operations costs (where known), SALT is still clearly very cost-effective compared to most other large telescope operations. It is interesting to note that, while our main workhorse instrument, the RSS spectrograph, still produces the largest number of papers and dominates our best conditions queue (i.e. dark time, best seeing, photometric conditions), with the arrival of the high-resolution data reduction pipeline at the end of 2016, the HRS is now used ~40% of the time and is our main instrument during bright Moon and poorer conditions. Spectropolarimetry continues to be widely. Our Fabry- Perot system is undergoing repairs and it is hoped it will be back online in the latter part of 2021. We also briefly discuss our upcoming instrumentation and facility developments and show SALT's near- and long-term exciting future.

We describe efforts to equip the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) for precision radial velocity (PRV) work. Our current focus is on commissioning the high-stability (HS) mode of the High-Resolution Spectrograph (HRS), the mode intended to support exoplanet science. After replacing the original commercial iodine cell with a custom-built, precisely characterised one and following established best practice in terms of observing strategy and data reduction, this system now delivers 3-4 m/s radial velocity stability on 5th and 6th magnitude stars. Unfortunately, the throughput is compromised by the HRS dichroic split being at 555 nm (i.e. roughly midway through the 100 nm span of the iodine absorption spectrum). Furthermore, SALT’s fixed elevation axis limits the exposure time available for a given target and hence the depth and/or precision achievable with the iodine cell. The HS mode’s simultaneous ThAr option uses the full 370–890 nm passband of the HRS and does not suffer gas cell absorption losses, so it may be more suitable for exoplanet work. The first step was to quantify the internal stability of the spectrograph, which requires simultaneously injecting arc light into the object and calibration fibres. The HS mode’s optical feed was modified accordingly, stability test runs were conducted and the necessary analysis tools were developed. The initial stability test yielded encouraging results and though more testing is still to be done, SAL a laser frequency comb to support the development of HRS PRV capability.

Spectroscopy is a powerful tool for detecting variability in the rapidly oscillating Ap (roAp) stars. The technique requires short integrations times and high resolution, and so is limited to only a few telescopes and instruments. To test the capabilities of the High Resolution Spectrograph (HRS) at the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) for the study of pulsations in roAp stars, we collected 2.45 hr of high-resolution data of the well studied roAp star $\alpha$ Cir in a previously unused instrument configuration. We extracted radial velocity measurements using different rare earth elements, and the core of H$_\alpha$, via the cross correlation method. We performed the same analysis with a set of $\alpha$ Cir data collected with the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph to provide a benchmark for our SALT HRS test. We measured significant radial velocity variations in the HRS data and show that our results are in excellent agreement between the two data sets, with similar signal-to-noise ratio detections of the principal pulsation mode. With the HRS data, we report the detection of a second mode, showing the instrument is capable of detecting multiple and low-amplitude signals in a short observing window. We concluded that SALT HRS is well-suited for characterising pulsations in Ap stars, opening a new science window for the telescope. Although our analysis focused on roAp stars, the fundamental results are applicable to other areas of astrophysics where high temporal and spectral resolution observations are required., Comment: Accepted for publication in PASP. 10 Pages, 5 figures, 2 tables

We report the results of our study of the high-velocity (\approx160 km/s) runaway O star CPD-64 2731 and its associated horseshoe-shaped nebula discovered with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. Spectroscopic observations with the Southern African Large Telescope and spectral analysis indicate that CPD-64 2731 is a fast-rotating main-sequence O5.5 star with enhanced surface nitrogen abundance. We derive a projected rotational velocity of \approx300 km/s which is extremely high for this spectral type. Its kinematic age of \approx6 Myr, assuming it was born near the Galactic plane, exceeds its age derived from single star models by a factor of two. These properties suggest that CPD-64 2731 is a rejuvenated and spun-up binary product. The geometry of the nebula and the almost central location of the star within it argue against a pure bow shock interpretation for the nebula. Instead, we suggest that the binary interaction happened recently, thereby creating the nebula, with a cavity blown by the current fast stellar wind. This inference is supported by our results of 2D numerical hydrodynamic modelling., Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Blazars are radio-loud Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) with relativistic jets oriented towards the observer's line-of-sight. Based on their optical spectra, blazars may be classified as flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) or BL Lacs. FSRQs are more luminous blazars with both narrow and broad emission and absorption lines, while BL Lacs are less luminous and featureless. Recent studies show that blazars dominate (93%) the already-identified EGRET sources (142), suggesting that among the unidentified sources (129) there could still be faint blazars. Due to the presence of a strong non-thermal component inside their jets, blazars are found to display a weaker depression at 4000 �� (K4000, Proceedings paper of IAU S356 "Nuclear Activity in Galaxies Across Cosmic Time" (Ethiopia) accepted to be published under the Cambridge University Press, eds M.Povi\'c, P.Marziani, J.Masegosa, H.Netzer, S.H.Negu and S.B.Tessema

We present the results of an optical spectroscopic survey of 46 heavily obscured quasar candidates. Objects are selected using their mid-infrared (mid-IR) colours and magnitudes from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and their optical magnitudes from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Candidate Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) are selected to have mid-IR colours indicative of quasar activity and lie in a region of mid-IR colour space outside previously published X-ray based selection regions. We obtain optical spectra for our sample using the Robert Stobie Spectrograph on the Southern African Large Telescope. Thirty objects (65%) have identifiable emission lines, allowing for the determination of spectroscopic redshifts. Other than one object at $z\sim2.6$, candidates have moderate redshifts ranging from $z=0.1$ to $0.8$ with a median of 0.3. Twenty-one (70%) of our objects with identified redshift (46% of the whole sample) are identified as AGNs through common optical diagnostics. We model the spectral energy distributions of our sample and found that all require a strong AGN component, with an average intrinsic AGN fraction at 8$\,\mu$m of 0.91. Additionally, the fits require large extinction coefficients with an average $E(B-V)_\textrm{AGN} = 17.8$ (average $A(V)_\textrm{AGN} = 53.4$). By focusing on the area outside traditional mid-IR photometric cuts, we are able to capture and characterise a population of deeply buried quasars that were previously unattainable through X-ray surveys alone., Comment: 17 pages, 16 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

SXP4.78 was originally discovered in 2000 as a pulsar in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) but it was not spatially located at that time. A new detection in 2018 with the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory during a Type II outburst permitted its position to be accurately located and its optical counterpart identified. We report X-ray and optical monitoring covering epochs before and during the outburst. Using photometric data we show the long-term variability of the Be disc where we present flux and colour changes associated with the disc growth and decay over a period of ~6000 days. We show evidence of disc growth during the recent outburst through an increase in the H-alpha equivalent width and photometric flux. Period analysis was performed using both optical photometric and spectroscopic data, but with no significant detection of an orbital period. A modest periodic signature of 2.65 days was detected from the OGLE I band data, however, but we attribute that to the non-radial pulsations (NRPs) of the Be star. We also obtained a blue spectrum from the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) which permits us to classify the spectral type as B0.5 IV-V., Accepted for publication in MNRAS after minor revision

New spectra of 81 ultracool dwarfs (spectral types M7 and later) are discussed. Spectral classifications of 49 objects are available in the literature, while 32 objects are newly classified. The known spectral types were used to test an automated classification scheme, which relies primarily on template fitting, supplemented by matching of spectral indices calibrated against the template spectra. An attempt was made to quantify the uncertainty in the spectral types, which is generally better than two subclasses. Objects for which spectral types differ by more than one subclass from the literature classifications are discussed individually. Discrepancies between automated classifications based on respectively template fitting and spectral index matching, may be useful for flagging objects with unusual spectra. Aside from the 32 first-time classifications, alternative classifications are presented for 32 previously classified dwarfs. Very large (equivalent width greater than 130 \AA) H$\alpha$ flares are reported for the known ultracool dwarf binary 2MASS J15200224$-$4422419; curiously, the object does not appear to have quiescent emission lines. Non-zero equivalent width measurements are listed for a further 29 objects., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 33 pages, 12 figures, 6 tables

In this paper, we report the results of spectroscopic and photometric observations of the candidate evolved massive star MN48 disclosed via detection of a mid-infrared circular shell around it with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Follow-up optical spectroscopy of MN48 with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) carried out in 2011--2015 revealed significant changes in the spectrum of this star, which are typical of luminous blue variables (LBVs). The LBV status of MN48 was further supported by photometric monitoring which shows that in 2009--2011 this star has brightened by approx 0.9 and 1 mag in the V and I_c bands, respectively, then faded by approx 1.1 and 1.6 mag during the next four years, and apparently started to brighten again recently. The detected changes in the spectrum and brightness of MN48 make this star the 18th known Galactic bona fide LBV and increase the percentage of LBVs associated with circumstellar nebulae to more than 70 per cent. We discuss the possible birth place of MN48 and suggest that this star might have been ejected either from a putative star cluster embedded in the HII region IRAS 16455-4531 or the young massive star cluster Westerlund 1., 11 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

First Cepheids observations using echelle-spectrograph HRS fed by Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) were realized during 2016. All spectra have been obtained in the medium resoltion mode (R≈31000–41000) wth high S/N ratio near 50–220. All data were processed using package developed by authors based on the standard system of astronomical data reduction MIDAS. Using new echelle data we found the atmosphere parameters and chemical composition for 30 faint Cepheids of southern hemisphere, where for the most of theses stars these results we obtained for the first time. 28 stars are Cepheids after the first-dredge up stage, while ASAS 075842-25336.1 and ASAS 1131714-6605.0 having remarkable Li I 6707.8 Å absorption line and anomalous CNO and Na content could be consider as first crossing of the Cepheids instability strip.

A primary aim of the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission is to find and characterize heavily obscured Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). Based on mid-infrared photometry from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and optical photometry from the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys, we have selected a large population of luminous obscured AGN (i.e., obscured quasars). Here we report NuSTAR observations of four WISE-selected heavily obscured quasars for which we have optical spectroscopy from the Southern African Large Telescope and W. M. Keck Observatory. Optical diagnostics confirm that all four targets are AGNs. With NuSTAR hard X-ray observations, three of the four objects are undetected, while the fourth has a marginal detection. We confirm that these objects have observed hard X-ray (10-40 keV) luminosities at or below ~ 10^43 erg s^-1. We compare X-ray and IR luminosities to obtain estimates of the hydrogen column densities (N_H) based on the suppression of the hard X-ray emission. We estimate N_H of these quasars to be at or larger than 10^25 cm^-2, confirming that WISE and optical selection can identify very heavily obscured quasars that may be missed in X-ray surveys, and do not contribute significantly to the cosmic X-ray background. From the optical Balmer decrements, we found that our three extreme obscured targets lie in highly reddened host environments. This galactic extinction is not adequate to explain the more obscured AGN, but it may imply a different scale of obscuration in the galaxy., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, 11 pages, 10 figures

We report the discovery of a spiral-like nebula with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and the results of optical spectroscopy of its associated star TYC 8606-2025-1 with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). We find that TYC 8606-2025-1 is a G8 III star of $\approx3$ M$_\odot$, showing a carbon depletion by a factor of two and a nitrogen enhancement by a factor of three. We also derived an excess of s-process elements, most strongly for barium, which is a factor of three overabundant, indicating that TYC 8606-2025-1 is a mild barium star. We thereby add a new member to the small group of barium stars with circumstellar nebulae. Our radial velocity measurements indicate that TYC 8606-2025-1 has an unseen binary companion. The advanced evolutionary stage of TYC 8606-2025-1, together with the presence of a circumstellar nebula, implies an initial mass of the companion of also about 3 M$_\odot$. We conclude that the infrared nebula, due to its spiral shape, and because it has no optical counterpart, was ejected by the companion as a consequence of a very late thermal pulse, during about one orbital rotation., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We report the discovery of a square axisymmetric circumstellar nebula around the emission-line star HD 93795 in archival Spitzer Space Telescope 24 micron data. We classify HD 93795 as an B9 Ia star using optical spectra obtained with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). A spectral analysis carried out with the stellar atmosphere code FASTWIND indicates that HD 93795 only recently left the main sequence and is evolving redward for the first time. We discuss possible scenarios for the origin of the nebula and suggest that HD 93795 was originally a binary system and that the nebula was formed because of merger of the binary components. We also discuss a discrepancy between distance estimates for HD 93795 based on the Gaia data and the possible membership of this star of the Car OB1 association, and conclude that HD 93795 could be at the same distance as Car OB1., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

The structure and kinematics of gaseous, disk-halo interfaces are imprinted with the processes that transfer mass, metals, and energy between galactic disks and their environments. We study the extraplanar diffuse ionized gas (eDIG) layer in the interacting, star-forming galaxy NGC 5775 to better understand the consequences of star-formation feedback on the dynamical state of the thick-disk interstellar medium (ISM). Combining emission-line spectroscopy from the Robert Stobie Spectrograph on the Southern African Large Telescope with radio continuum observations from Continuum Halos in Nearby Galaxies - an EVLA Survey, we ask whether thermal, turbulent, magnetic field, and cosmic-ray pressure gradients can stably support the eDIG layer in dynamical equilibrium. This model fails to reproduce the observed exponential electron scale heights of the eDIG thick disk and halo on the northeast ($h_{z,e} = 0.6, 7.5$ kpc) and southwest ($h_{z,e} = 0.8, 3.6$ kpc) sides of the galaxy at $R < 11$ kpc. We report the first definitive detection of an increasing eDIG velocity dispersion as a function of height above the disk. Blueshifted gas along the minor axis at large distances from the midplane hints at a disk-halo circulation and/or ram pressure effects caused by the ongoing interaction with NGC 5774. This work motivates further integral field unit and/or Fabry-Perot spectroscopy of galaxies with a range of star-formation rates to develop a spatially-resolved understanding of the role of star-formation feedback in shaping the kinematics of the disk-halo interface., 20 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

We report the discovery of a handful of optical hydrogen-poor knots in the central part of an extended infrared nebula centred on the [WO1] star WR 72, obtained by spectroscopic and imaging observations with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) images of the nebula show that it is composed of an extended almost circular halo (of $\approx6$ arcmin or $\approx2.4$ pc in diameter) and an elongated and apparently bipolar inner shell (of a factor of six smaller size), within which the knots are concentrated. Our findings indicate that WR 72 is a new member of the rare group of hydrogen-poor planetary nebulae, which may be explained through a very late thermal pulse of a post-AGB star, or by a merger of two white dwarfs., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present a concept low-resolution spectrograph design for the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) based on the O’Donoghue-Clemens Spherical Transmission Grating Spectrometer (STGS) principle. The design delivers R ~ 700 between 380 nm and 760 nm with a peak total efficiency estimated at 45%. This instrument type remains largely invariant with telescope size and can fit into a very compact volume (650 mm × 650 mm × 400 mm). This can truly be a new technology which may transform future instrument design — especially when matched to extremely large telescopes.

SALT is a 10-m class optical telescope located in Sutherland, South Africa, owned by an international consortium and operated in fully queue-scheduled mode by the South African Astronomical Observatory. Since the start of its science operations in late 2011 and particularly since the start of its integrated operations, all the key metrics have continued to increase at a significant pace, breaking records nearly every semester: program completion, completion levels per priority, number of observed blocks, and publications. In this paper we present an update of all of our performance metrics and the strategic changes that have been and are taking place, in line with the new Strategic Plan for SALT and the SAAO.

Major improvements to the SALT prime focus guidance system have been implemented over the last two years in the form of a new compact, modular and removable system with high optical efficiency. A double-probe positioning system allows both translation and rotation guidance, while optional beam-splitting allows closed-loop focus feedback to stabilise the focal plane. The features of this new system, its mechanical and optical performance and its control system architecture are presented.

The South African astronomical community together with the international SALT community recently completed a process to detail a science strategy for SALT, the 10m international telescope that SAAO operates. After six years of science operations, the telescope is a very cost-effective large telescope science producer. The strategy was adopted by the SALT Board, and has already resulted in funding choices for the next stage of instrumentation. The SALT strategy intertwines with that of the SAAO and South African optical astronomy in general. This paper outlines the process followed, the main motivations and plans for the next stage, including risks and challenges. This paper in particular concentrates on the plans to making SAAO/SALT a major player in time domain astrophysics, one of three adopted strategic science focus areas. Plans include a novel design for a high-efficiency spectrograph serving transient follow-up, for which South Africa is well positioned; advanced software aiming to make the whole mountain-top operate as a single transient machine; feasibility studies into revolutionizing SALT observations by utilizing the primary mirror's hundreds of square degree size uncorrected field-of-view. Other SPIE papers in this meeting describe these and other developments at SALT and SAAO in more detail

Washburn Astronomical Laboratories of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Astronomy Department is developing a near infrared (NIR) integral field spectrograph for the 11-meter Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). This instrument will extend SALT’s capabilities into the NIR, providing medium resolution spectroscopy over the wavelength range of 0.8 to 1.7 microns. The integral field unit (IFU) is optimized for sampling nearby galaxies with an on-sky hexagonal extent of 24 x 28 arcsec containing 217 fibers of 1.33 arcsec diameter (median SALT seeing is 1.5 arcsec). Two separate blocks of 15 sky fibers are adjustable to distances ranging 54 to 165 arcsec from the IFU. This spectrograph, formerly known as RSS-NIR, was originally designed to mount at prime focus coupled to an optical spectrograph through a dichroic beam-splitter. The need to simplify telescope operations at prime focus prompted its reconfiguration into a fiber-fed, cooled, bench spectrograph, resulting in lower instrumental thermal background with a separate cooled collimator, stabilization of the pupil illumination in the spectrograph due to the azimuthal scrambling properties of fibers, and higher throughput at short wavelengths. Field-flattening and sky subtraction with the existing slit spectrograph has been challenging due to SALT’s varying pupil as the instrument payload tracks across the fixed primary mirror during observations. Simulations show that fiber scrambling of the pupil will improve the achievable sky subtraction residuals by 1-2 orders of magnitude. In this paper we present an overview of the reconfigured spectrograph design, its improved expected performance, and the new science drivers for NIR integral field spectroscopy.

We report on commissioning the iodine absorption cell in the High Resolution Spectrograph (HRS) on the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). The low-, medium- and high-resolution (LR, MR and HR) modes of this fibre-fed, dual-channel, white-pupil vacuum echelle spectrograph have been in use by the SALT consortium since 2014, but the high-stability (HS) mode requires exoplanet expertise not available in our community. The original commercial HRS iodine cell was unsuitable due to an excess of iodine so it was replaced with a suitable custom-built cell. This cell was characterised at high signal-to-noise, at a resolution of 106, using the Fourier Transform Spectrometer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology before incorporation into the HRS HS bench. A combination of calibration frames and on-sky data were then used to produce an HRS-specific version of an IDL software package that derives precision radial velocities (PRVs) from spectra taken through an iodine cell. Bright stars with highly stable RVs observed during a short engineering campaign in May 2018 demonstrate that SALT HRS is currently capable of delivering Doppler precision of 4-7m/s.

Washburn Astronomical Laboratories in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Astronomy Department is developing a near infrared (NIR) integral field spectrograph for the 11-meter Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). This instrument will extend SALT’s capabilities into the NIR, providing medium resolution spectroscopy over the wavelength range of 0.8 to 1.7 microns. Formerly known as RSS-NIR, this spectrograph was originally designed to mount at the prime focus of SALT and share a common collimator and spaceframe structure with the visible wavelength Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS-VIS). However, to maximize performance of both the instrument and telescope, its configuration has been changed into a fiber fed instrument located in the spectrometer room below the telescope7. This change necessitated the addition of several new components, including a separate collimator; a fiber integral field unit (IFU); a means to inject light from the telescope into the fibers; and a cooled enclosure to house the spectrograph, collimator, and pseudo-slit end of the fiber cable. The new collimator consists of four refractive elements, one of which is calcium fluoride, and requires a new lens barrel and support structure. The new fiber system incorporates a hexagonally arranged 217-fiber IFU and two mini-bundles containing 15 sky fibers each. The IFU is fabricated out of a two-part clam-shell stainless steel ferrule. The existing SALT fiber instrument feed (FIF) mechanism is adapted to position the IFU and sky bundles on sky, while a slave motion on flexure pivots ensures that the fibers remain telecentric. A 42-m protected fiber cable spans the distance between the telescope prime focus and the pseudo-slit in the spectrometer room. The cable is constructed out of four 25mm outer diameter flexible conduits. Within the conduit, each fiber is individually protected in its own Teflon tube. The route of the fiber cable through the telescope requires careful accommodation of controlled bending. The pseudo-slit comprises a line of mini v-groove blocks attached to the slit plate. The slit, collimator, and spectrograph are housed inside a 40 cold enclosure in the SALT spectrometer room. The cooling system, developed by Norlake Scientific to our specifications, carefully controls against thermal shock and humidity. This paper describes the design, integration, and laboratory verification of the reconfigured spectrograph system, as well as our experiences operating in a -40 ambient pressure environment.

After encountering difficulties in coordinating the compilation of the daily SALT software log between Sutherland and Cape Town, and struggling to identify the configuration of the telescope at a point in time, a new, automated system to record and consolidate the changes made to the telescope on a day-to-day basis has been developed. This has resulted in a reduction of administration overhead, more complete and timeous reporting of changes, and a daily report that is consistently formatted and contains easily searchable metadata.

We present new spectropolarimetric data for WR 42 collected over 6 months at the 11-m Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) using the Robert Stobie Spectrograph., 2 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in RNAAS

Asynchronous polars (APs) are accreting white dwarfs (WDs) that have different WD and orbital angular velocities, unlike the rest of the known polars, which rotate synchronously (i.e., their WD and orbital angular velocities are the same). Past nova eruptions are the predicted cause of the asynchronicity, in part due to the fact that one of the APs, V1500 Cyg, was observed to undergo a nova eruption in 1975. We used the Southern African Large Telescope 10m class telescope and the MDM 2.4m Hiltner telescope to search for nova shells around three of the remaining four APs (V1432 Aql, BY Cam, and CD Ind) as well as one Intermediate Polar with a high asynchronicity (EX Hya). We found no evidence of nova shells in any of our images. We therefore cannot say that any of the systems besides V1500 Cyg had nova eruptions, but because not all post-nova systems have detectable shells, we also cannot exclude the possibility of a nova eruption occurring in any of these systems and knocking the rotation out of sync., 7 pages, 4 figures, to be published in MNRAS

The gamma-ray binary system PSR B1259-63/LS 2883 went through periastron in May 2014. We report on the optical spectroscopic monitoring of the system from 33 d before to 78 d after periastron, undertaken with the Southern African Large Telescope. The H alpha and He I (lambda 6678) lines exhibit an orbital variation around periastron, with the line strengths reaching a maximum similar to 13 d after periastron. The line strength is weaker than observed around the previous periastron in 2010. There is also a marked change in the line strength and asymmetry around the first disc crossing. These observations are consistent with the disruption of the circumstellar disc around periastron due to the interaction with the pulsar.

Classical novae (CNe) are interacting binary systems whose outbursts are powered by a thermonuclear runaway in accreted material onto the surface of a white dwarf (WD). The secondary star in such systems fills its Roche lobe and material is transferred onto the WD primary star via an accretion disk. Recurrent novae (RNe) show many similarities to CNe, but have had more than one recorded outburst. RNe play an important role as one of the suspected progenitor systems of Type Ia supernovae, which are used as primary distance indicators in cosmology. Thus, it is important to investigate the nature of their central binary systems to determine the relation between the parameters of the central system and the outburst type, and finally ascertain the population of novae that might be available to give rise to the progenitors of Type Ia SNe. A low outburst amplitude is adopted as a criterion that may help distinguish RNe from CNe and was therefore used to select targets for observations from ground-based observatories including the Liverpool Telescope and the Southern African Large Telescope as well as the full-sky space-based archive of the Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI). We found that at least four objects currently classified as CNe are possibly RNe candidates based on their quiescent spectra. We also searched the SMEI archive for additional outbursts of bright CNe that might otherwise have been missed but did not find a conclusive example.

We describe observations of the apparently empty ring galaxy ESO 474-G040 obtained with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). The observations, consisting of imaging, long-slit spectroscopy and Fabry-Perot mapping of the H-alpha line, allow determining the ring kinematics as well as estimating the metallicity of the ring and the stellar population composition in its various parts. We propose that the object could best be understood as being the result of a past merger of disk galaxies, which formed a gas ring that subsequently disrupted via the bead instability and is presently forming stars.

The MeerKAT radio telescope array, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), and eventually the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) will usher in a remarkable new era in astronomy, with thousands of transients being discovered and transmitted to the astronomical community in near-real-time each night. Immediate spectroscopic follow-up will be critical to understanding their early-time physics - a task to which the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is uniquely suited, given its southerly latitude and the 14-degree-diameter uncorrected field (patrol area) of its 10-m spherical primary mirror. A new telescope configuration is envisioned, incorporating multiple mini-trackers that range around a much larger patrol area of 35 degrees in diameter. Each mini-tracker is equipped with a small spherical aberration corrector feeding an efficient, low resolution spectrograph to perform contemporaneous follow-up observations., Comment: 13 pages, presented at SPIE Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2018

I present an overview of the ongoing observational programs utilizing the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), focussing on magnetic Cataclysmic Variables and Low Mass X-ray Binaries. SALT’s instruments and capabilities are well suited to time resolved studies of the accretion phenomena exhibited in these systems. Initial observations, using SALTICAM, have been used to derive high time resolution (~100ms) eclipse light curves, with high signal-to-noise, of Polars. Recently this work has been extended to time resolved spectroscopic studies, utilizing the SALT Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS), allowing an opportunity to probe how the emission lines change during eclipse. A program to search for and characterize quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in magnetic CVs using the SAAO 1.9-m telescope, begun in 2012, has been expanded to include observations with a photon counting camera (BVIT) on SALT. A multi-longitude campaign involving SALT, other SAAO facilities plus the ESO NTT, was carried out in March/April 2012 on the enigmatic gamma ray source, XSS J12270–4859, which has revealed the that system exhibits spectral line variations, from absorption to emission, seemingly over timescales of < 1 h.

Our study of the long-term superorbital variability in Be X-ray binaries using 22 yrs light curve from MACHO and OGLE databases, has revealed 200 - 3000d quasi-period variations in almost all of them with amplitudes ranging up to 1.2 mag. These variations are related to the formation and dissipation of the Be star circumstellar disc. We present the preliminary results of optical spectroscopic observations of a sample of Magellanic Clouds Be/X-ray binaries (BeX) taken throughout their superorbital cycle. These observations were carried out with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) using the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS) in long-slit mode. For each observing night we obtained both wide wavelength and high-resolution spectra. This allows us to follow the evolution of the size and structure of the Be equatorial disc and to separate the various emitting components, in particular the spectrum of the Be disc. We used the high-resolution spectra for spectral classification of the underlying B star and determination of the rotational and radial velocities.

We present our study of long-term properties of Be/X-ray binaries (BeX) in the Magellanic clouds using archival optical photometry from the massive astrophysical compact halo object (MACHO) and optical gravitational lensing experiment (OGLE) IV projects. We combined these with optical spectroscopic observations obtained with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) to provide an understanding of their multi-wavelength properties. As an example we report some of our results on our study of the most extreme BeX source A0538-66 and discuss the implications of its system parameters on the observed multi-wavelength variabilities.

The Fermi Gamma-Ray Space telescope has identified 1741 active galactic nuclei during its first four years of observation (2008-2012) and detected 1145 blazars and 573 blazar candidates of uncertain type (BCUs) as listed in the Third Fermi-LAT Point Source Catalog (3FGL). Since Fermi typically operates in survey mode, sources from the whole sky are monitored almost continuously. Daily or sub-daily Fermi-LAT binned light-curves of bright blazars above 100 MeV can be produced for any given time range since August 2008. It is thus possible to identify flaring periods of blazars and trigger observations with South Africa-based optical telescopes to perform gamma-ray versus optical correlation studies of flux variability. Also, the recently commissioned polarisation capability of the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS) on the 10-meter class Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), Sutherland, is expected to contribute to the characterisation of the wavelength dependent radiation emission mechanisms of these objects. We report our preliminary studies on the blazar 4C +01.02 and discuss the prospects for spectro-polarimetry of a broader sample of flaring blazars.

Of the 271 sources in the 3rd EGRET catalogue, 131 were reported as unidentied, i.e. not associated with any particular class of point source in the sky. Since the largest fraction of the EGRET sources were extragalactic, a sample of 13 extragalactic unidentied sources have been selected for multi-wavelength follow-up studies. Five of the selected EGRET sources coincide with gamma-ray flux enhancements seen in the Fermi-LAT data after one year of operation. In this article, we report the multi-wavelength properties of, among others, the 5 sources detected by Fermi-LAT from our sample of high galactic latitude unidentied EGRET sources. Recent spectroscopic observations with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) conrmed one of the unidentied EGRET sources as a possible Seyfert 2 galaxy, or alternatively, a narrow line radio galaxy. The detected gamma-ray emission (Eγ > 30 MeV) of the 5 coinciding EGRET/Fermi-LAT sources are tted with external Compton and Synchrotron Self Compton (SSC) models to investigate the energetics required to produce the EGRET/Fermi gamma-ray flux. In all the models the inclination angle of the jet with respect to the observer is jet 60, between those of Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2/radio galaxies. These results confirm the possibility of Seyfert and radio galaxies sources are constituting a new class of gamma-ray source in the energy range Eγ > 30 MeV.

We report the discovery of a circular mid-infrared shell around the emission-line star Wray 16-137 using archival data of the Spitzer Space Telescope. Follow-up optical spectroscopy of Wray 16-137 with the Southern African Large Telescope revealed a rich emission spectrum typical of the classical luminous blue variables (LBVs) like P Cygni. Subsequent spectroscopic and photometric observations showed drastic changes in the spectrum and brightness during the last three years, meaning that Wray 16-137 currently undergoes an S Dor-like outburst. Namely, we found that the star has brightened by \approx 1 mag in the V and I_c bands, while its spectrum became dominated by Fe ii lines. Taken together, our observations unambiguously show that Wray 16-137 is a new member of the family of Galactic bona fide LBVs., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters

The origin of extended main sequence turnoffs (eMSTOs) in intermediate-age (1-3 Gyr) clusters is one of the most intriguing questions in current star cluster research. Unlike the split main sequences found in some globular clusters. which are caused by bimodal populations in age and/or chemical abundances, eMSTOs are believed to be owing to stellar rotation. We present a spectroscopic survey of MSTO stars in a nearby, intermediate-age (\unit[0.9]{Gyr}), low mass ($\sim 1.7\times10^3 M_\odot$) Galactic open cluster, NGC 5822. We derive a clean sample of member stars based on \textit{Gaia} proper motions and parallaxes and confirm the existence of an eMSTO. Using medium-resolution ($R\sim 4000$) Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) spectra, we derive the rotational velocities of 24 member stars (representing 20\% completeness around the eMSTO region) and find that the loci of the main sequence stars in the eMSTO region show a clear correlation with the projected rotational velocities in the sense that fast rotators are located on the red side of the eMSTO and slow rotators are found on the blue side. By comparison with a synthetic cluster model, we show that the stellar rotational velocities and the eMSTO of NGC 5822 can be well reproduced and we conclude that stellar rotation is the main cause of the eMSTO in NGC 5822., 13 pages, 7 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in ApJ

We measure a value for the cosmic expansion of $H(z) = 89 \pm 23$(stat) $\pm$ 44(syst) km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$ at a redshift of $z \simeq 0.47$ based on the differential age technique. This technique, also known as cosmic chronometers, uses the age difference between two redshifts for a passively evolving population of galaxies to calculate the expansion rate of the Universe. Our measurement is based on analysis of high quality spectra of Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) obtained with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) in two narrow redshift ranges of $z \simeq 0.40$ and $z \simeq 0.55$ as part of an initial pilot study. Ages were estimated by fitting single stellar population models to the observed spectra. This measurement presents one of the best estimates of $H(z)$ via this method at $z\sim0.5$ to date., 16 pages, 7 figures, 5 tables, fixed typos on H(z) values for figure 4, also for section 4