Operational changes to SALT for NIRWALS

K. Moses Mogotsi; E. Romero-Colmenero; Marsha J. Wolf; C. Hettlage; A. Koeslag; E. Kotze; S. Adams; S. Kabini; J. Brink

doi:10.1117/12.3020528

25 July 2024 Operational changes to SALT for NIRWALS

K. Moses Mogotsi, E. Romero-Colmenero, Marsha J. Wolf, C. Hettlage, A. Koeslag, E. Kotze, S. Adams, S. Kabini, J. Brink

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 13098, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems X; 130982H (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020528
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2024, Yokohama, Japan

Conference Poster

Abstract

The NIRWALS instrument is the first near-infrared integral field unit on the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). Various changes were made to the telescope, its software and operations to enable the efficient operation of the instrument. The target acquisition will be done in the optical, and software to support target acquisition, fiber placement and finder chart creation has been developed. Telescope offsets and exposures are defined as arrays to facilitate an operations mode where offsets are a commonplace and are performed automatically by the instrument control software. Observing blocks were defined in a way to simplify the use of the instrument for users who are inexperienced in near-infrared spectroscopy. This philosophy was carried over to the design of the instrument control software interface, which displays and handles the instrument configuration, detector configurations and offsets. Calibration procedures were developed, and the data pre-processing and data reduction software is being developed. And the data flow was designed whereby raw data taken with the detector is automatically processed, reduced, and available to users the following day after observations.

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K. Moses Mogotsi, E. Romero-Colmenero, Marsha J. Wolf, C. Hettlage, A. Koeslag, E. Kotze, S. Adams, S. Kabini, and J. Brink "Operational changes to SALT for NIRWALS", Proc. SPIE 13098, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems X, 130982H (25 July 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020528

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