Abstract
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.
Highlights
The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is one of five 10-m class segmented mirror telescopes and the only one situated in the southern hemisphere
There are improvements being made to the throughput of the main work-horse SALT science instrument, the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS), which should greatly improve its performance, in the blue (320 - 400nm)
SALTICAM employs frame transfer (FT) CCDs, which allows for fast acquisition and imaging
Summary
The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is one of five 10-m class segmented mirror telescopes and the only one situated in the southern hemisphere. There are still some remaining issues to resolve, notably implementation of a mirror edge sensing system to allow active control of the primary mirror array This is currently under development and the first batch of new inductive edge sensors will be installed early in 2014, while the final ones will be installed late in 2015. There are improvements being made to the throughput of the main work-horse SALT science instrument, the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS), which should greatly improve its performance, in the blue (320 - 400nm) This is being achieved by fabrication of new collimator optics and opto-mechanics, designed to avoid the optical fluid contamination problems that have led to the current throughput under-performance. Just such observations have already been carried out with SALT and some examples are discussed in this paper
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