Type |
Conference Paper |
Names |
E. Romero-Colmenero, D. Buckley, A. Kniazev, P. Vaisanen, N. Loaring, M. Still, Y. Hashimoto, S. Potter, D. O'Donoghue, K. Nordsieck, E. Burgh, T. Williams, R. Sanchez, N. Rangwala |
Proceedings Title |
ASP Conference Series |
Conference Name |
The Central Engine of Active Galactic Nuclei; Proceedings of the Conference Held 16-21 October, 2006 at Xi'an Jioatong University, Xi'an, China. |
Place |
San Francisco, CA |
Publisher |
Astronomical Society of the Pacific |
Volume |
373 |
Pages |
717 |
Series |
ASP Conference Series |
Date |
October 1, 2007 |
URL |
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007ASPC..373..717R |
Library Catalog |
NASA ADS |
Abstract |
The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) was completed in 2005 and
began initial scientific operations in August of that year. Built in
just under 6 years and on budget (US 19.7M), SALT has been a good
example of a successfully managed telescope project where systems
engineering disciplines were applied to good effect. First Light was
announced on 1 September 2005 following the installation of the last of
the primary mirror segments and the commissioning of the UV-visible
imager, SALTICAM, the first science instrument. This was followed by the
first scientific observations and the beginning of the commissioning
phase for the active optics. The second of the first generation
instruments, the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS), was installed in
October 2005 and is currently being commissioned. SALT is still
undergoing engineering and performance testing, although 70% of nights
are now being used for scientific observations. We present SALT's unique
capabilities, which are ideally suited to the field of AGN research. |