Delta Scorpii 2011 - Day 10, July 07

This message is being written while the last night is coming to the end and, probably, will only be finished when I get home.
We had 10 nights at the IAC80 and this one is the last.
Tomorrow is the trip back home and our flight leaves Los Rodeos, Tenerife North, at 13:20 local time.
As reported before, there are some personal equipments in use and the removal must be done by the competent personnel. We cannot do it.
They will be here tomorrow morning, after 09:00.
We shall meet them to take our belongings, pack them and rush to the airport.
Tonight, our only target will be Delta Scorpii, so that we can sleep for a while.
By the physical limitations of the telescope, the hour limit is 02:18 local time.
We make 3 series of 30 minutes in the helium II line, 30 minutes in the 4500 line and 30 minutes in the Halpha line, plus the correspondent calibration spectra, before and after every capture.
After the end of the captures, we must back up the data and complete all the procedures to park the telescope.
This means that the night today will end by 03:00.
That's what we did. And, by 09:00 the maintenance personnel quickly removed all our equipments.
We left the observatory at 09:40, stopped for a cake and a coffee in La Esperanza and went to the IAC, in La Laguna, to buy some pins, sweatshirts etc.
The flight from Tenerife to Madrid had a delay of almost 01:30 and we managed to catch the flight from Madrid to Lisboa just at the last minute.
After take off from Tenerife I took this photo.



It is a memory of 10 unforgettable nights.

Alberto

Delta Scorpii 2011 - Day 9, July 06

This was the last night with the team complete.
Anatoly Miroshnichenko and Thierry Garrel went home and only Alberto and José Ribeiro still stay for the last night.
This night number 9 was again very good and we managed to complete all the objectives.
First Delta Scorpii in all the domains, the reference star 40 Ophiuchi, 66 Ophiuchi, Gamma Cassiopeiae and 6 Cephei were the objects of the night.
At a certain point, the dome was not synchronized with the telescope and had to be initialized again.
From then on it performed correctly all night.
As I reported earlier, this mission made use of one of our spectroscopes, science camera and personal computers.
To guarantee the success of the mission, in case of a malfunction, there was a spare set of spectroscope, science camera, and personal computers as well.
This photo shows the spectroscope and science camera brought by Thierry, being accommodated for the trip back home.



All the data are being analyzed by the PI, Anatoly Miroshnichenko and, in due time, he will present the conclusions.
But there is a conclusion about which it is the time to speak: - This mission had a team at work.
A team is not a group of skilled people put together.
A team is a group of people who are skilled for a particular task and who put their skills at the service of the objectives of that task, in a coordinated way.
There is no team without coordination and cooperation and it is not necessary that every team member is able to perform all the actions required for the success of the task.
A good team work originates synergies that make the abilities of the group be much higher than the sum of individual skills.
This group formed a team.
Each one accomplished his tasks on the right time and in a perfect coordination.
For that reason, 10 nights, or 10 days of 12 hours of work each, elapsed very rapidly and the totality of the objectives were achieved.
It is time now to wait for the results.
This afternoon, me and José Ribeiro took Anatoly to the Tenerife South airport and, on the way, had lunch at Vila Flor, in an open terrace, at a typical restaurant.



While I write this message, we are making flats and waiting for the astronomical night.
Tomorrow I will make a short report of this last night.

Alberto

Delta Scorpii 2011 - Day 8, July 05

Last night has been again an excellent night.
The targets were, beyond the flats, Delta Scorpii in the domains of this mission, the reference star 40 Ophiuchi, Delta Scorpii again but in Hgamma, 66 Ophiuchi, 6 Cephei and Gamma Cassiopeiae.
The 6 hours of the astronomical night have been fully exploited.
We wake up at 13:00 hours with the intention of taking the cable car to the top of the Teide.
It seems that the winds, at the top, were blowing at 65 km/hour and, consequently, the funicular was stopped.
So we made a short walk in the Cañadas del Teide.



There are a lot of tracks in there, but we do not have the time for long walks.
While the setup was set to capture flats, before the astronomical night arrived for the 9th night, we went to watch the sunset and to have a view of the island of La Palma.



We completed 8 nights out of 10, and, from the point of view of telescope utilization and accomplishment of objectives, we are near the 100% mark.
We would like to take possession of the IAC80.


But the IAC probably would not agree.
So we took this photo just for fun.

Alberto

Delta Scorpii 2011 - Day 7, July 04

Last night has been excellent.
The wind remained within the limits all night and there were no technical problems.
Like every other day, so far, we started with the flats and, by 22:40 local time, continued with Delta Scorpii in all the domains reported earlier, with the reference star 40 Ophiuchi, with upsilon Saggitarii, with 66 Ophiuchi, to finish with Gamma Cassiopeiae.
Everything is now running routinely.
The weather conditions have been good and we have been able to complete all the objectives for each night.
There are three nights remaining and we have the hope that our luck continues until the end of the mission.
If the weather depends on mother nature, the adaptation and the performance of the equipments depends on the work of the technical staff.
They did a great job.
I show now some photos taken during the preparations of the set up.

The crew prepares the assembly of the accessories box.

And attaches it to the telescope.

The auto guiding camera, FOVIA, installed in the accessories box.

And the spectroscope attached to the accessories box.


More to come tomorrow.

Alberto

Delta Scorpii 2011 - Day 6, July 03

Last night has been the first of the second part of this mission.
All day long there were strong winds, with gusts.
By 18:00 hours we started the capture of flats, awaiting for the astronomical night, what happens by 22:40 local time, 21:40 UTC.
But the wind speed, the average for the last 5 minutes was above 45 km/hour and the maximum, also in the last 5 minutes was above 55 km/hour, and the dome could not be open because the operational limits were exceeded.
Close to midnight the wind speed started to decrease and we were able to initiate the capture of spectra, first of Delta Scorpii, but only in two domains because there was no time for more, then of Chi Ophiuchi, EW Lacertae, 66 Ophiuchi, to end with Gamma Cassiopaiae.
The wind speed went on slowing during the night and at dawn was almost calm.
The night, under the wind was cold outside. So a group of students who were training photometry near the MONS came to visit us and to warm up from the cold. They even managed to go to the dome at a time when we had to close it and make flats.


The "calima" disappeared with the variation of the winds and, for the first time, we got a view of the Gran Canaria.
Here it is, with a foreground of flowers and with the dome of the IAC80.

The weather is clear and warm here at the observatory, but, when we went down to La Esperanza, it was cloudy and cold, under a dense layer of clouds.
We don't think that the cloud layer may climb up to the altitude of the observatory and expect to have another excellent night.

Alberto

Delta Scorpii 2011 - Day 5, July 02

Last night the wind was absolutely calm at the beginning of the astronomical night and stood calm all night.
The "calima" was back, denser than before.
But we were able to complete all the program established for the night.
By 18:00, the telescope was set to make the flats related to the previous night:
- 18x300 seconds for the Halpha.
Then we performed the flats for the first observation of the night:
- 18x300 seconds for the Helium II.
Next we prepared for the Delta Scorpii, to start by the Helium II:
Here is a sequence of actions taken:
1 - Calibration spectrum with the Filly bulb;
2 - Spectra in Helium II, line 4686 - 6x300 seconds;
3 - Calibration spectrum with the Filly bulb;
4 - Spectra in Helium II, line 4686 - 6x300 seconds;
5 - Calibration spectrum with the Filly bulb;
6 - Spectra in Helium II, line 4686 - 6x300 seconds;
7 - Calibration spectrum with the Filly bulb;
8- Change the domain to Mg II
9 - Calibration spectrum with the Filly bulb;
10- Spectra in Mg II, line 4481/Helium I, line 4471;
11- Calibration spectrum with the Filly bulb;
12- Change the domain to Halpha;
13- Calibration spectrum in Neon;
14- Spectra in Halpha, line 6563/Helium I, line 6678 - 15x300 seconds;
15- Calibration spectrum in Neon.
To ease the reading of this list I interrupt it with an image of the IAC80 control panel.

At this time the telescope reached the limit for Delta Scorpii and we switched to 66 Ophiuchi. And the sequence continues:
16- Calibration spectrum in Neon;
17- Spectra in Halpha, line 6563/Helium I, line 6678 - 12x300 seconds;
18- Calibration spectrum in Neon.
When this was finished, there were just 50 minutes remaining before the end of the astronomical night and the next target was Gama Cassiopaiae, a star where Anatoly Mirochnichenko and José Ribeiro have a collaboration with the Czech Republic.
And the sequence was:
19- Calibration spectrum in Neon;
20- Spectra in Halpha, line 6563/Helium I, line 6678 - 5x300 seconds;
21- Calibration spectrum in Neon.

This sequence terminated aproximately 5 minutes before the end of the astronomical night. Then came the final actions:
22- Park the telescope and close the dome, using the procedures established;
23- Backup data;
24- Switch off the science camera and the personal computers at the dome and at the control room;
25- Inspection of the dome, control room and hall to confirm that everything was in place.
At this time it was 06:00 and all of us went to sleep.
In the sunday afternoon, after lunch, we had the oportunity to visit the Solar Laboratory, in the Pyramid, where we shoot a photo side by side with a projection of the Sun.


Then we could observe the Sun in Halpha through a dedicated telescope mounted in the open air.

Nights, at this time of the year, are short and elapse very rapidly. So far, we have been lucky with the weather conditions. The major risk comes from possible strong winds, which, at this altitude, is relatively frequent.
Weather conditions seem to be changing and the wind direction is expected to rotate to northwest. The speed may increase.
We hope that it stays in the operational limits.

Alberto

Delta Scorpii 2011 - Day 4, July 01

Last night was an almost perfect night.
The wind speed did not exceed 15 km/hour and we could make the spectra of Delta Scorpii,in Helium II and Halpha, of 66 Ophiuchi, of Pi Aquarii and there were still 40 minutes for MWC342.
The equipment works now correctly. We managed to have the installation of the flats screen and of the Filly calibration lamp corrected.
The IAC80 premises are excellent.
The dome itself could easily accommodate a larger telescope. It is at least as big as the dome of the 1.5 meter telescope, Carlos Sanchez.
The control room accommodates the consoles and computers, two independent computers, a laser printer, a shelf for documentation and still has space for all of us to stay there comfortably.

Additionally there is a large working hall with a table, either to have a meal or to work, a TV set and two comfortable sofas.
And there is a kitchen with a small refrigerator.
The landscape is now magnificent, with some typical plants full of flowers.
Here is a view from outside of the Solar Pyramid.

Anatoly is working in the spectra captured so far. He is a hard worker; he does not stop all night long.
As usually the night ended at 06:00 and we went to sleep with the intention of exploring the volcanoes Siete Fuentes and Fasnia, volcanoes that one may see from the observatory and the result of eruptions which occurred in 1704 and 1705. These eruptions are called historic eruptions because there are written reports about them.
Here is Anatoly at the top of one of the volcano walls.

By 18:30 we came back to the IAC80 to start a series of flats.
There is no wind at all but the "calima" is denser than the previous day.
It will not harm our captures because we are working in bright stars and the signal will be strong enough.
Tomorrow there will be a report about tonight.

Alberto

Delta Scorpii 2011 - Day 3, June 30

Today the sky is clear of the "calima", but the wind is quite strong, with gusts.
By 18:00 hours we started with darks and flats.
The wind was blowing at speeds above 35 km per hour.
This is a limitation for the IAC80.
The operation is unrestricted with wind speeds up to 35 km/hour, but is limited with wind speeds above this value. The operation is allowed only in azimuths 40 degrees or more away from the wind direction.
This limitation did not permit the capture of spectra on Delta Scorpii.
So we captured spectra of the secondary targets, 66 Ophiuchi and Pi Aquarii.
By 02:00, the wind speed dropped to approximately 30 km/hour and, very rapidly, we selected Delta Scorpii and got 40 minutes of captures in the Helium II.
Then, almost simultaneously, the wind speed increased above the 35 km/hour and the time limit for Delta Scorpii was reached.
Here is, just as an example, a spectrum of Delta Scorpii in the Halpha.

The night ended by 06:00, as usual.
After a short sleep and a lunch at El Portillo, we came back to the IAC80, where we met the Director of Teide Observatory, Miguel Serra and Johan Knapen.

They made us welcome.
All the staff here is extremely cooperative and any request regarding the equipment, or changes like the installation of the Filly lamp or the correction of the screen for the flats are quickly done to our satisfaction.
This afternoon the wind speed is clearly lower than yesterday and we hope to have a perfect night.

Alberto

Delta Scorpii 2011 - Day 2, June 29

One may think that a campaign like this one is just some kind of fun.
Well, it is fun.
It is because we have a genuine pleasure in it.
But it is hard work as well.
This day 2 of the campaign started at 18:00 and ended at 06:00.
Here is the team, Alberto, Thierry, Anatoly and J. Ribeiro in the control room.

This means 12 hours of work, to sleep a few hours, out of the normal schedule.
But, today we had good news. The maintenance staff has been working and solved the problem of the auto guiding.
The system is now perfectly operational and saved us hours of manual guiding.
These were great news.
We first started with the flats and darks related to the previous night; then, at the beginning of the astronomical night, we started with the star Delta Scorpii spectra in the Helium II range, followed by the calibration spectra, using a Filly lamp which had been attached to the telescope.
We found out that the signal was too weak and had to use a second lamp to increase the signal strength.
After this we changed the domain to Halfa, still in Delta Scorpii, and made the correspondent neon spectra, for calibration.
The difference here is that the neon lamp is integrated in the spectroscope.
Then we changed to 66 Ophiuchi, followed by Pi Aquarii and there was still time for the star MWC342, in Cygnus.
This is a very peculiar star, with almost no continuum, but with a very strong Halfa emission line.
This was a suggestion of Anatoly Miroshnichenko.
The flats and darks will be done tomorrow, by 18:00, before the astronomical night.
As I said, the autoguiding is now operational.
So I had the time to go out to the open air and to make some photos.
Here are two of them. One, taken from a table outside the telescope building and showing Spica, left of the Teide, and Saturn on the right, almost setting down.

The other shows the IAC80, with a beautiful Milky Way and Scorpio in the background.

The "calima" seems to be disappearing, but the wind is stronger and may impose limitations for the next night.

Alberto

Delta Scorpii 2011 - Day 1 - A long day's night

After the preparations and after finding out that the focus of the auto guiding camera could not be achieved, we decided to continue under manual guiding.
Also, all the extensions between the adapter and the spectrograph were removed and the spectroscope was attached directly to the accessories box.

With all the tests and attempts to find the solution for the auto guiding, part of the night was past and the time for Delta Scorpii was limited.
When the telescope is tracking any object, the computer provides information of the time limit for that object, due to the telescope limits.
The intention is to capture spectra in Halfa and in HeliumII, what means two series of captures, but there was time for one domain.
So we only captured the spectra in Halfa.
But there was time for two of our secondary targets: - 66 Ophiuchi and Pi Aquarii.
66 Ophiuchi lost its disk and Pi Aquarii had lost it 30 years ago, but is showing signals of having a not very important one again.
The night ended by 05:00 AM.
The flats and darks related with these captures shall be obtained the 29th afternoon, past 18:00 hours.
The decision now is to continue the mission with manual guiding.
The sky is clear of clouds but there is the locally called "calima" which limits the visibility, mainly at low altitude.
The "calima" is a kind of haze mostly caused by powders in the atmosphere, carried from the Sahara desert by the winds.
If the visibility is reduced, the seeing is better when the "calima" is around.

The next night, if there are no technical problems, we hope to obtain spectra of Delta Scorpii, in Halpha and Helium II and again of two secondary stars.

Alberto

Delta Scorpii 2011 - Day 1, June 28

Today, 28 of June, was a long work day.
The day started at 09:30 hours and the morning has been dedicated to make all the modifications needed and to install all the equipments required for this mission.
One of the problems was that the spectroscope, camera, computers for the control of the spectrograph were not IAC property. We carried that equipment ourselves.
So, the maintenance personnel first removed the unnecessary equipments. Then they installed all the equipments necessary and adequate to our mission. That included an adapter for 2 inches, a piece that has been machined by the IAC.

We needed to have a computer at the dome and another at the control room, so to control the spectroscope and the science camera remotely. At the dome, the computer was fixed at the telescope and both connected by a net cable.
A lamp of argon was installed in front of the telescope and fixed to it. Its objective is to get calibration spectra.
Also we needed to install a white piece of cloth for the flats. It was installed on the dome and a halogen projector fixed to the telescope structure and pointing at it.
Then the spectroscope, the camera, etc.
Next all the connections and the electric feeding were established.
Then all the cables were organized and fixed at safe positions.

Several problems arose during these works; the most important was one of our computers with a blue screen just after start. It reported a problem with a particular file and concerning the antivirus. The antivirus was uninstalled and this problem was fixed.
Then there were problems to establish communication between the computer in the control room and the one in the dome. Also this problem was solved and, by 14:00 hours, having started at 09:30, the setup seemed ready for the checks in the afternoon.
We, Alberto, Anatoly and José Ribeiro, followed all these preparations and where necessary, provided information about our equipments and about our needs.
I cannot end this report without talking about the maintenance crew. They were extremely professional, carrying out their job under well established routines and always complying with our requests.
We saw no rush, no precipitations, but like if a checklist was being followed.
This was a busy morning and a great lesson for us.
We learned how many small things can be well done and how a complex system can be correctly and safely managed and organized.

After this long morning, we had lunch and, by 19:30 were back at the IAC80 for a demonstration of how to use the telescope, what procedures, what limitations, etc.
At this time, Thierry Garrel arrived and joined us.
We found out that the cameras needed to be slightly rotated in order to get horizontal spectra.
After that there was a problem with the focus. It was first achieved the focus of the camera which would provide the auto guiding.
Later, after focusing the science camera, the focus of the first was lost and could not be achieved.
A solution was tried, which consisted in the removal of a piece with a prism through which we could eventually get the calibration spectra and the flats, and of an extension, buying a few centimeters of in focus, but yet not enough for the auto guiding.
The technical crew is still working in the problem.
We still have a long night ahead and we will continue with the experiences and tests and hope to have everything fully operational for tomorrow.

Alberto

Delta Scorpii 2011 - Day 0, June 27

After the preliminaries and preparations which took time and efforts, we, José Ribeiro and me, arrived at Tenerife.
Anatoly Miroshnichenko was waiting for us at Tenerife North airport and we shared the car up to the Observatory.

Now we wait for the arrival of Thierry Garrel who is expected tomorrow, 28.
Yesterday, after dinner, the 3 of us, Anatoly, Alberto and José Ribeiro, had a kind of chatting, in the open air, looking at the sky and at our target star in particular.
Today, 27, we all made a tour to the northeast of the island, coming back http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifthrough the mountains, from San Andrés to La Laguna and then to the Observatory.
At a certain point we stopped to watch an atmospheric phenomenon. A strong updraft of saturated air moved up the mountains, covering the tops with clouds. After passing the top, this air which is colder and denser, descended rapidly downhill, like a river of clouds which, in a short while dissipated.
See a short video at: http://youtu.be/YpBAAbQ-Zhw
By 21:00 hours we met IAC Technical Director, who was realigning the telescope, due to a recent realuminization of the mirror.


Tomorrow we will check the installation of the spectroscope, of the computers, test everything and, hopefully, have the first night of work in this campaign.
We will continue to report what is going on.

Alberto

Objectives of the Campaign

Delta Scorpii is a binary, probably multiple, system. Its orbit is extremely eccentric (e~0.94) and its period is 10.6y. During the last periastron one of the stars initiated a decretion disc becoming a Be star. The objectives of this campaign are:

-determination of the exact date of the periastron

-study the possible interactions due to the stars' proximity

-get a better knowledge of the companion star

The campaign was launched during the ProAm spectroscopic stage at the OHP in Aug, 2010. I used the synergies of my group ConVento (see above), to initiate a campaign for the spectroscopic coverage of delta Scorpii periastron at Tenerife. IAC assigned us a 10 day run at the IAC80 telescope, centred in the periastron most probable date, from 28th June to 7th July. The PI is Anatoly Miroshnichenko and will be present at the OT together with another 6 amateur and professional astronomers. Tanks to this, a more intensive coverage during the event will take place. Of course, all spectra presented at BeSS database will be very important during the whole campaign, and del Sco must be observed as soon as possible in 2011. Photometric observations are needed as well. The campaign page can be found here.

THE DELTA SCORPII CAMPAIGN

In 2009 we became part of the PROAM campaign for the periastron of WR140, a campaign that had the duration of 4 months at the Telescope MONS, in the Teide observatory, Tenerife.
This campaign was followed by a workshop at Convento da Arrábida, Portugal.
During this workshop the group "ConVento" was created and its main purpose is to facilitate and promote the PROAM collaborations.
That is how this campaign at the telescope IAC80, in the Teide observatory, is initiated, by initiative and under control of José Ribeiro.
The telescope IAC80 is property of the IAC - Instituto de Astrofísica das Canárias and the Institute awarded the group with 10 nights and the main objective is to determine the exact time of the periastron of the binary system Delta Scorpii.
These are the participants, by alphabetical order:
. Alberto Fernando;
. Anatoly Miroshnichenko;
. Joahn Knapen;
. José Ribeiro;
. Thierry Garrel
This campaign starts the 28th of June and ends the 8th July.
We intend to make daily reports during the campaign.

Alberto