La Palma 2008 international time - BAL QSOs

The observing plans for each of the 5 projects envisaged, and records of observations and data reduction carried out so far, are on separate pages:

• 1. - Distance of outflows from nucleus, L_k
• 2. - Physical conditions in BAL outflows
• 3. - Importance of radiative acceleration (search for line-locking)
• 4. - Variation of absorber depth with time
• 5. - Why are radio-loud BALs rare?

The ITP sample (samp1) of SDSS DR4 QSOs is tabulated here. The table shows which telescopes were used to observe each QSO.

Note that this sample differs from the samples selected for observation with radio telescopes (and TNG?).

Projects / Time awarded

i.e. we got what we asked for, apart from one dark (D) ISIS night and 5 of the grey/bright (G/B) ISIS nights, which mainly reduces the amount of time available for projects 1 and 3.

Column 5 shows the time actually obtained on sky, i.e. 23/33 nights (3 of these in poor seeing). The remainder were lost to bad weather.

The 33 nights break down by telescope and phase of moon as follows:

Observing schedule / Weather reports

Nights  Moon  Tel  Instr      Observers          Project*  Sky before /         Seeing
                           Visiting    Local               after 01:00          arcsec

  FJ on-island Jan 6 - 8?

Jan  6  D     WHT  ISIS    fj          wji, sb      2      Clear / some cloud   1 - 2.5
Jan  7  D     WHT  ISIS    fj          crb, sb      2      Clear / clear        mostly ~ 0.5

  FMM on-island Jan 19 - 21

Jan 17  B     Merc MEROPE              crb, sb      4      Clear / clear        1 - 2 
Jan 18  B     Merc MEROPE              crb          4      Cloudy / cloudy      --
Jan 19  B     Merc MEROPE  fmm         crb          4      Clear                2.5 - 3.5
Jan 20  B     Merc MEROPE  fmm                      4      Cloudy 70% night     2

Jan 25  B     TNG  NICS                crb, sb      5      Cloudy 60% night     1.5 - 1.7
Jan 26  B     TNG  NICS                crb          5      Cloudy all night
Jan 27  B     TNG  NICS                sb           5      Cloudy all night

  JIG on-island Feb 11 - 17

Feb 12  G     WHT  ISIS    jig                      1      Cloudy all night

Feb 14  G/B   NOT  ALFOSC  jig                      4      Bad weather all night
Feb 15  G/B   NOT  ALFOSC  jig                      4      Bad weather all night
Feb 16  G/B   NOT  ALFOSC  jig                      4      Bad weather all night

Mar  3  D     INT  IDS                 crb, sb      4      Cloudy most of night
Mar  4  D     INT  IDS                 crb, sb      4      Clear                1.0 - 2.0

  JIG on-island Mar 14 - 17

Mar 14  G     TNG  NICS    jig         crb          5      Clear most of night  ~0.8
Mar 15  B     TNG  NICS    jig                      5      Some cirrus

  JH on-island Apr 7 - 17

  FJ on-island Apr 10 - Jun 15

  JD on-island Apr 10 - 22

Apr 12  G     TNG  NICS    fj, jh, jd  crb          5      Night lost to derotator failure
Apr 13  G     TNG  NICS    fj, jh, jd  crb          5      Night lost to derotator failure
                                                           (see Apr 23, 30)

Apr 14  B     WHT  ISIS    fj, jh, jd  crb          1      Clear                1.5
Apr 15  B     WHT  ISIS    fj, jh, jd  crb          1      Some cirrus          1.5

  FMM on-island Apr 24 - 28

Apr 23  B     TNG  NICS    fj, fmm                  5      Clear                2.5
  (payback for Apr 12)                                     (3 h lost to tech problems)

Apr 24  B     WHT  ISIS    fmm, fj     crb          3      Clear                1.5 - 3
Apr 25  B     WHT  ISIS    fj          crb          3      Clear                2 - 3.5
Apr 26  G     WHT  ISIS    fj          crb          3      Clear / cloudy       2
                                                           (Poor seeing meant that few objects
                                                           could be observed with useful S:N)

Apr 25  B     INT  IDS     fmm         sb           4      Some cirrus / cloudy 2 - 5
Apr 26  G     INT  IDS     fmm         sb           4      Clear / cloudy       2
Apr 27  G     INT  IDS     fmm, fj                  4      Clear (some dust)    2.2 - 2.5

Apr 30  G     TNG  NICS                             5      ------- Cancelled -------
  (postponed to Jun 25 or 26, because of further technical problems)

  KHM on-island Jun 1 - 6

Jun  2  D     WHT  ISIS    fj, khm     crb          2      Clear                0.8 - 2 (variable)
Jun  3  D     WHT  ISIS    fj, khm     crb          2      Clear                0.5

Jun  5  D     NOT  ALFOSC  khm         fj           4      Clear                0.8 - 1.2

Jun  5  D     INT  IDS                 crb, sb      4      Clear                1.5

Jun 10  G     INT  IDS     fj          crb          4      Clear                0.7 (at WHT DIMM)
Jun 11  G     INT  IDS     fj          crb          4      Clear                0.7 (at WHT DIMM)      

Jun 25  G     TNG  NICS                service      5      Clear                1.5, variable (at WHT)
Jun 26  G     TNG  NICS                service      5      Clear                1.5, variable (at WHT)
   (we have the first ~ 5 hours on each of the above 2 nights, payback
   for Apr 30, observed in service by Walter Boschin)

* Project numbers (1 - 5) as listed in the section above.

wji = Ian Skillen (ING), who will stand in for me to provide ISIS support Jan 6.
sb = Sarah Barker (ING), who will assist with some of the runs, as part of her 1-year undergraduate training here.
jd = Jay Dunn, visiting from Virginia Tech.

See the table at the top of the page fro a comparison between the numbers of nights awarded, and the number of clear nights observed.

Proposers

Chris Benn (crb@ing.iac.es)

Version: 2008 Nov 4