Announcements
Sep 23 - Oct 6 UT, 2022
This 14 night GRACES run was the first of two for the semester. The weather for this run was largely very good with one full night and a couple partial nights lost to high humidity. There were no faults. We completed 4 Band 1 and 2 programs including 2 DD programs, 1 FT, and 1 Q program, and made significant progress on several other B1-3 programs.
Science highlights:
- Wolf-Rayet Stars and Black Hole Progenitors – Determining Factors other than Mass
- The Second RR Lyrae in a Binary System
- The Brightest Extremely Metal-poor Stars in the Northern Sky
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 39.0h | |
| All bands = | 58.9h |
Time loss due to faults: None
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber modes.
Jun 15-23 UT, 2022
This 9 night GRACES run was the second of two for the semester. The weather for this run was largely very good. We lost one night of the run due to detector cooling issues which was quickly remedied in time for the final two nights of the run. This single night loss did not affect the run. We were able to complete all B1/2 programs with accessible targets and even completed 2 of 3 Band 3 programs to at least 80%. There were no other faults with GRACES.
Science highlights:
- Probing the extreme outskirt of Ursa Minor dwarf galaxy
- Unraveling the accreted origin of a stellar overdensity
- Chemical analysis of early-type stars with planets
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 23.7h | |
| All bands = | 38.4h |
Time loss due to faults: 1 nt
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber modes.
Mar 9-22 UT, 2022
This 14 night GRACES run was the first of two for the semester. The weather for this period was mixed bag, with a few nights of unusable conditions. We were able to make very good progress on a B1 LLP program along with some progress on several other B1/2 programs. A couple B3 programs were also started. There were no faults or other issues with GRACES.
Science highlights:
- Diversity of Exoplanet atmospheres
- Nature of the C-11 Stellar Stream
- Origin of a Stellar Overdensity.
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 40.62h | |
| All bands = | 43.7h |
Time loss due to faults: 0.0h
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber modes.
Jan 12-19 UT, 2022
This 8 night run was the second and final GRACES run for the semester. Unfortunately, before the run started, Gemini-N experienced a major fault in the M2 X/Y positioner. Without control of this stage, observations were affected by significant coma. It was determined that in true IQ70 conditions, at elevations > 55deg, the average achieved IQ was IQ85. It was worse at lower elevations. Since GRACES has a 1.2" diameter fiber, we went ahead with the run. All B1/B2 programs with accessible targets (given this elevation constraint) which had requested IQ70 conditions were converted to IQ85 by compensating with improved CC requirements or increased exposure times. Given this, the GRACES run went quite well. There were no issues with GRACES itself and we were able to complete 3 B1/2 programs. The weather for this period was generally good and we were able to observe most of the B1 and 2 accessible targets.
Science highlights:
- The Brightest Ultra Metal-poor Star
- The Chemo-dynamical Structure of the Ancient Galactic Halo
- Chemical analysis of early-type stars with planets
- Detailed Chemical Abundance Analysis of Dynamically Associated Metal-Poor Stars
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 28.0h | |
| All bands = | 43.6h |
Time loss due to faults: 0.13h (We do not include any time losses here due to the telescope M2 X/Y positioner fault)
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber modes.
July 30 - Aug 6 UT, 2021
This 8 night run spanned both the end of 21A and start of 21B. Therefore, B2 and 3 programs from 21A were observed in the first couple nights, and B1 21A programs were continued into the August portion. 21B programs were observed throughout the run. One night was affected by high humidity, another had high and variable seeing, and one night had time loss due to a fault on the GN telescope. Otherwise, conditions were generally good and there were no faults with GRACES. We confirmed that the issue with scattered light seen in long exposures in the previous run was fixed. We were able complete two B2 and one B1 21A program and make some progress on several 21B programs.
Science highlights:
- Exploring the Diversity of Exoplanet Atmospheres at High Spectral Resolution
- Probing the 3D Properties and the Variability of an Ultra Hot Jupiter's Atmosphere
Total time spent on GRACES programs (21A & B):
| Band 1/2 = | 21.2h | |
| All bands = | 24.5h |
Time loss due to faults: 0h
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber modes.
July 7 - 15 UT, 2021
This was scheduled to be a 9 night run. Unfortunately, the first 3 nights were lost to a fault on the Gemini-N telescope. Two additional nights were impacted by poor weather/thick clouds, although we were able to observe a couple Band 3 programs on these nights. The final half night was also lost to high winds. We were able to make some progress on the B1-2 GRACES queue in the final 4 nights of the run, and one LP program was completed. There was one issue with scattered light visible in long exposures. This will be investigated ahead of the next GRACES run.
Science highlights:
- The chemical composition of NGC 7092: a 400 Myr old benchmark for gyrochronology
- Characterizing the Candidate Tidal Tails of the Ursa Major Association
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 11.6h | |
| All bands = | 17.3h |
Time loss due to faults: 0h
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber modes.
May 4 - 13 UT, 2021
This 10 night run had 29.8 hrs lost to weather. However, we were able to complete one FT program, nearly complete an LP program, and made progress on several other B1-3 programs. There were no faults or other issues.
Science highlights:
- Diversity of Exoplanet Atmospheres
- Chemical-abundance Pattern of a Long-vanished Dwarf Galaxy
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 27.3h | |
| All bands = | 32.2h |
Time loss due to faults: 0h
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber modes.
Mar 9 - 19 UT, 2021
This 11 night run had 8 nights completely lost to weather. The weather finally cleared for the final 3 nights, and some progress was made on Band 1 and 2 programs. A total of 17.3 hours of B1/2 observations were taken. One B2 FT program was completed and good progress was made on two Band 1 programs. There were no faults or other issues.
Science highlights:
- Ancient Stars in the Galactic Disk
- The Chemo-dynamical Structure of the Ancient Galactic Halo
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 17.3h | |
| All bands = | 17.3h |
Time loss due to faults: 0h
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber modes.
Dec 18 - 23, 2020 & Jan 5 - 11 UT, 2021
The 2nd long GRACES run ended up split into 2 blocks with a total of 13 nights. 6 of those nights were lost to poor weather. During the remaining nights, we completed one LP program and made good progress on two Band 2 programs (including an FT program). All programs reached at least 50% completion. During this run we were notified that the Espadons focus mechanism was acting up and to avoid focus sequences during the night. We therefore obtained focus measurements during the daytime for both fiber modes. On only one occasion did we experience trouble changing the focus during the night when switching from 1 to 2-f modes, but as the focus values were very similar for the 2 modes, this did not adversely affect the 2-f data.
Science highlights:
- Exploring the Diversity of Exoplanet Atmospheres at High Spectral Resolution
- Chemical analyses of newly discovered bright stars in the Milky Way ultra faint galaxies
- Testing claimed variability of the key magnetic O-type star NGC 1624-2 with the B dwarf ALS 18661
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 25.9h | |
| All bands = | 26.4h |
Time loss due to faults: 0.1h
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber modes.
Sep 22 - Oct 12 UT, 2020
This first long 21 night GRACES run went well. The weather was variable ranging from very good conditions to thick clouds and fog. The only program that suffered had time crtiical windows that kept falling on the poor weather nights. However, this program has more windows during the next GRACES run. We otherwise completed two Band 1 programs and made very good progress on a third. One B2 and one B3 program were also started. There was a little time loss due to a dropped connection one night and a computer crash on another.
Science highlights:
- Deep High-resolution Spectroscopy of the Planetary Nebulae NGC 6886 and NGC 6790
- The puzzling Triangulum-Andromeda stellar overdensity
- Chemistry of new metal-poor stars found in the Pristine Survey
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 44.7h | |
| All bands = | 48.0h |
Time loss due to faults: 0.85h
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber modes.
Jul 15 - 22 UT, 2020
This was the 2nd scheduled GRACES run of the semester but the only actual run to occur given the earlier COVID-19 shutdown. Although the run was for 8 nights, 3.5 nights were lost to thick cloud and high humidity. We lost an additional portion of a night to a fault in which the Hartmann mask was left in the beam after a VNC session crashed while the focus script was running. Despite this, we completed two Band 1 programs and got another 3 Band 1-2 programs completed to the 50-75% level.
Science highlights:
- RR Lyrae variable with possible circumstellar debris
- Chemical signature of planet formation in planet-hosting binary systems
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 17.1h | |
| All bands = | 17.1h |
Time loss due to faults: 2.5h
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber modes.
Apr 15 - 22 UT, 2020
Unfortunately this entire run was lost due to the unplanned shutdown for COVID-19.
Jan 16 - 22 UT, 2020
The second GRACES run of the semester went well after thick clouds and fog cleared. We lost the first 2 nights of the run entirely, along with some additional time on subsequent nights to fog and poor seeing. However, we were still able to complete 4 additional Band 1 and 2 programs, one of which was time critical for the final night of the run. A total of 20.8 hrs of Band 1-3 programs were observed during this run including Queue, Fast Turnaround, and LP programs. There were no faults and GRACES performed well.
Science highlights:
- Metal enrichment and ionization in the early universe
- Investigation of Pop III ultra metal-poor stars
- The primordial disk (mis)alignment of a multi-transiting system
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 19.12h | |
| All bands = | 20.81h |
Time loss due to faults: 0h
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber modes.
Nov 6 - 13 UT (shifted to 7-14 UT), 2019
The first GRACES run of the semester went well. The first night was lost to a shutter issue on Espadons which was cleared the following day. The run was subsequently extended by a night thanks to CFHT so no time was lost. Of the 8 nights of the run, only a half night was lost to weather. There were no faults and GRACES performed well. We completed two Band 1 and two Band 2 programs, and made significant progress on 3 other Band 1 programs and a Band 2 program. We observed a total of 50.93 hours of Band 1 and 2 Queue, Fast turnaround, and LP programs.
Science highlights:
- Chemical signature of planet formation in binaries
- Metals in z~6 proximate DLA
- Deceleration in a quasar outflow
- Characterization of a substellar companion to young white dwarf
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 50.93h | |
| All bands = | 50.93h |
Time loss due to faults: 0h
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber modes.
June 21 - 28 UT, 2019
The 2nd and final GRACES run this semester had to contend with poor weather and, on a couple nights, a warmer than optimal detector temperature. Of the 8 nights of the run, 2 were completely lost to weather, and another 3 suffered from thick clouds, poor seeing, and/or bouts of fog. In addition, during this period, there was trouble keeping Espadons cooled to its optimal operating temperature. On one night in the middle of the run, we were able to take GRACES data all night, but at 15C warmer than optimal. As this higher temperature meant higher dark current, we had intended to take dark frames during the day, but the temperature cooled down before we had a chance. Since most targets already had a very high S/N, this was not too much of an issue. We did have 2 nights with both good weather and a cool instrument during which we were able to take good GRACES data all night. We still managed to observe a total of 29.1 hrs of Band-1/2 programs, completing (or very nearly completing) 3 Band-1 programs including a long LP program, and making progress on another 3 Band-1/2 programs including one long monitoring Band-2 observation during 1 of 2 timing windows. There was 1 additional fault (other than the warmer temperature on a couple nights) with 1.25hr time loss due to an issue with the focus procedure/script. Otherwise GRACES performed well.
Science highlights:
- Chemistry of metal poor stars
- Variable diffuse interstellar bands
- Characterizing the atmosphere of a hot Jupiter
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 29.1h | |
| All bands = | 29.1h |
Time loss due to faults: 1.25h
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber modes.
Mar 26 - Apr 1 UT, 2019
The first GRACES run of the semester went well. Of the 7 nights of the run, 1.5 were lost to weather, and 2 suffered from very poor seeing. There were fortunately GRACES programs that could tolerate the poor IQ. We observed 28.9 hrs of Band 1/2 programs, completing 2 FT programs and a Band 2 queue program. We made significant progress on a long LP program and on a couple other Band 1 queue programs. GRACES performed well and there were no faults.
Science highlights:
- Composition and structure of galaxies using lensed quasars
- Chemical signatures of planet formation
- Constraining a precessing disk around a WD
- Li abundance in eclipsing binaries
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 28.9h | |
| All bands = | 28.9h |
Time loss due to faults: 0h
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber modes.
Jan 16 - 23 UT, 2019
The GRACES repair post-lightning strike took place in December and went very well. The 2 damaged encoder motors and Galil were successfully replaced and GRACES re-aligned. Many thanks to the CFHT engineers who worked on this! We were therefore able to make use of both 1-fiber and 2-fiber modes. The Espadons focus mechanism was also repaired ahead of this run. Conditions during this run were generally good, with mostly CC50 conditions and a range of IQ 20-Any seeing, and just a very small amount of time loss to fog and high humidity. We were able to complete a fairly large LP program and two band 1 programs. There were no faults and no time loss other than to weather. There is one notable change in the data. The orders have shifted on the CCD about 15 pixels towards the blue side. DRAGRACES is being modified to deal with this shift (look out for a new version coming out very soon). It does not at this time look like there are any problems running Opera on these data.
Science highlights:
- Chemistry of metal-poor stars
- Chemical signatures of planet formation in planet-hosting binary systems
- Doppler tomographic observations of A star transiting planets
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 29.9h | |
| All bands = | 32.3h |
Time loss due to faults: 0h
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber modes.
Aug 25 - 6, 9-10 UT, 2018
The original GRACES run was supposed to be Aug 25 - Sept 6 UT, with the first 3 nights as a PV run and the final 4 nights overlapping with a KASI run. However, the weekend before the run started, a lightning strike at the summit fried all of GRACES encoders. In addition, work to assess the damage was delayed by Hurricane Lane. At least 5 nights would have been lost to weather regardless of the instrument issue. After the hurricane, CFHT engineers were able to assess the damage to GRACES and then get it set up for us in 2-fiber mode at a single best focus. Fortunately, all but a single 1-f program were able to convert to 2-f mode. We were able to observe with GRACES Sep 1 - Sep 6 UT and again Sep 9-10 UT. Although the run length was much reduced, we made great progress on the Band 1 GRACES queue. We managed to complete or very nearly complete four Band 1 programs (including 1 KASI B1) and one Band 2 program while also making progress on two other Band 1 programs. In total we spent 39.5 hours on Band1/2 programs. There was one fault (excluding the encoder issue) that occurred several times, costing a total 1.11h time loss. At certain elevations there was difficulty inserting the GRACES cassette. This turned out to have been improper installation of the GRACES cassette, not providing enough slack in the fiber. The fiber /cassette were checked and confirmed to be ok, daycrew were shown the proper installation procedure.
Science highlights:
- Formation history of a massive star cluster
- Precise stellar parameters of solar twins
- Chemical abundance ratios of candidate ultra metal-poor stars
- Tomographic mapping of a luminous red nova progenitor
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 39.5h | |
| All bands = | 39.5h |
Time loss due to faults: 1.11h (excluding the encoders issue)
Spectral mode used: 2-fiber mode.
June 14 - 20 UT, 2018
Of the 7 nights this run, 2.5 were lost to high humidity while the remainder had largely good seeing and clear skies. Due to poor weather throughout much of the semester there was some competition with regular Band 1 queue. Nevertheless, we were able to complete two Band 1 GRACES programs and took some data for a Band 3 program as well. The one fault during the run was with the Espadons focus mechanism. We were able to do a full focus run at the start of the run but were unable to refocus for the remaining nights. We do not expect this to be too much of a problem since the focus depends largely on temperature and the temperature in the coude room is fairly stable. There was no time loss other than to weather. In total, we observed 8.8 hours of Band 1 programs and another 1.6 hours of Band3.
Science highlights:
- Extremely metal poor stars
- Testing an eccentric ring model for circumstellar absorption
- Influence of metallicity on formation of rocky planets
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 8.8h | |
| All bands = | 10.4h |
Time loss due to faults: 0.0h
Spectral mode used: 2-fiber mode.
Apr 20 - 27 UT, 2018
The 2nd GRACES run this semester included 2 nights of classical time and 6 nights of GRACES queue. We were fortunate to have possibly 2 of the best weather nights on MK this semester so far. Although the other 6 nights suffered from cloudy skies, we were able to observe with GRACES on all but 2 nights of the run. In total, we observed 19.4 hours of Band 1 and 2 programs and another 6.5 hours of the classical program. One Band 1 and one Band 2 program were completed while good progress was made on another 3 programs. There were no faults and no time loss other than to the weather.
Science highlights:
- Chemodynamics of a metal-poor galaxy
- Chemical signatures of mass-transfer in blue straggler stars
- Doppler tomographic measurements of transiting planets
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 19.4h | |
| All bands = | 26.1h |
Time loss due to faults: 0.0h
Spectral mode used: Both 1- and 2-fiber modes.
Feb 21 - 27, 2018
Unfortunately this entire run was lost to weather. A winter storm prevented us from opening the dome on all but the final night of the run, and the final night was beset with thick cloud.
Nov 9 - 20, 2017
Five of the 12 nights of this run were completely lost to weather - due to either high winds or precipitation. All 4 of the KASI overlap nights were lost to high winds. Therefore, their high priority Band 1 program could not be executed. In addition, 2 further nights had weather conditions too poor for any of the GRACES programs. The three Band 3 GRACES programs requested similar conditions (IQ85/CC7) as a couple higher priority Band 2 programs so were never executed. Overall we completed 9.7 hrs of Band 1 and 2 programs. One Band 1 program was completed and good progress was made on one Band 2 program. Besides the effect of weather, the low completion rate can be traced to a number of high priority non-GRACES queue programs that were time critical during this period, a high priority Band 1 GRACES program that required the best possible conditions (not experienced during this run), and to the fact that one high priority Band 1 program (and an associated Band 2 program) were the only ones that used 1-fiber mode. We change the fiber mode no more than once in a night to ensure that we can get calibrations in each fiber mode close in time to the science (and only 1 set of calibrations can be taken in the morning and afternoons due to time constraints), so once the fiber mode was changed for that program, no others could be observed. This only affected the very end of the night. We had one instance of an observer taking data in the wrong fiber mode leading to about a half hour of time loss. There were no other issues or faults and GRACES ran flawlessly.
Science highlights:
- Stability and precision of GRACES in terms of exoplanet studies
- Structure of the ISM
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 9.7h | |
| All bands = | 9.7h |
Time loss due to faults: 0.55h
Spectral mode used: Both 1- and 2-fiber modes.
Sept 12 -25, 2017
This GRACES run occurred during mostly good to excellent weather conditions with several nights of IQ20 conditions. During the run, we completed one Band 1, one Band 2, and a half-night classical program, and made good progress on several others including one that required the best possible conditions (IQ20/WV50/CC50). Overall, we observed 36.4 hrs of Band 1 and 2 programs. A number of the 17B GRACES programs were not accessible during this run. We encountered a connection dropped fault on one night of the run, which led to a small amount of time loss, but otherwise GRACES ran flawlessly.
Science highlights:
- Exo-planets (chemical abundance) and brown dwarfs
- Star formation in clusters
- Structure of the ISM
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 36.4h | |
| All bands = | 36.4h |
Time loss due to faults: 0.5h
Spectral mode used: Both 1- and 2-fiber modes.
Jun 7 - 18, 2017
This run started with some engineering work to find the GRACES hot spot on the new Hamamatsu GMOS detectors, which are used during the acquisition to center the targets in the fiber. This took a few hours in cirrus conditions and a final check on a photometric night to identify the optimal location within about a pixel.
The GRACES run went well. We completed two of three Band 1 programs, one of two Band 2 programs, and one of three Band 3 programs. The incomplete Band 1 program was a classical KASI run program which managed to reach 66% completion despite poor weather during the 3 night KASI-GRACES overlap period. The incomplete Band 2 program reached 84% completion. Overall we completed 88% of the Band 1-2 observations and observed another 9 hrs of Band 3 programs. There was one fault which incurred 38min timeloss. This was due to a bug in our S/W which was issuing a start exposure command before a focus change had been completed. This has been fixed.
During this run, we implemented a change to our focus procedure. We had previously found a tight relation between the camera temperature and focus and now use this during the night to adjust the focus. At the start of each new sequence, the S/W will check the temperature, calculate the focus, determine if a focus change is necessary, and if so, apply the new focus. We will continue to do a full focus run in the afternoon ahead of each night, but we will not take full focus sequences during night any longer. We are also now receiving 2 Amp data from Espadons so are in the process of modifying our quicklook and full data reduction S/W to handle this change.
The GRACES run went well. We completed two of three Band 1 programs, one of two Band 2 programs, and one of three Band 3 programs. The incomplete Band 1 program was a classical KASI run program which managed to reach 66% completion despite poor weather during the 3 night KASI-GRACES overlap period. The incomplete Band 2 program reached 84% completion. Overall we completed 88% of the Band 1-2 observations and observed another 9 hrs of Band 3 programs. There was one fault which incurred 38min timeloss. This was due to a bug in our S/W which was issuing a start exposure command before a focus change had been completed. This has been fixed.
During this run, we implemented a change to our focus procedure. We had previously found a tight relation between the camera temperature and focus and now use this during the night to adjust the focus. At the start of each new sequence, the S/W will check the temperature, calculate the focus, determine if a focus change is necessary, and if so, apply the new focus. We will continue to do a full focus run in the afternoon ahead of each night, but we will not take full focus sequences during night any longer. We are also now receiving 2 Amp data from Espadons so are in the process of modifying our quicklook and full data reduction S/W to handle this change.
Science highlights:
- Binary stars (symbiotic stars, merger candidates, central stars of PN)
- Exo-planets (atmospheres, chemical abundance of hosts, white dwarf surface composition to study planetary material)
- Quasars (outflows)
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = 23.9h | ||
| All bands = 33.0h |
Time loss due to faults: 0.63h
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber.
Dec 23 - Jan 3, 2017
Over the 12 night run, GRACES was used on all but 2 nights during which the observatory was closed for weather. Conditions during most nights of the run were generally good with CC70 and IQ85 or better. However, the weather preceding this run had been terrible with the observatory closed for about 3 weeks, putting a lot of pressure on the Band 1 queue. Therefore during this GRACES run, the single remaining Band 1 program was prioritized. Band 2 GRACES programs were executed as they fit amongst the Band 1 regular queue. We were able to make progress on the Band 1 program and completed another two Band 2 programs. Overall we observed 28.4 hrs of Bands 1 and 2 and 29.0 hrs total. We had only a single fault during this run: a problem with the GRACES connection, but this was likely a residual from an earlier power outage. Since this occurred at the end of the night after all GRACES science was taken, no time was lost.
Science highlights:
- Exo-planets (chemical abundances in the atmospheres of the planet, timescales of planet formation)
- Spectroscopic binary stars (central stars of planetary nebulae)
- Stellar abundances
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 28.4h | |
| All bands = | 29.0h |
Time loss due to faults: 0.0h
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber.
Nov 19-29, 2016
The entire 11 night run was plagued with cloudy conditions, ranging from thin cirrus to thick clouds. However, we were able to use GRACES on all but one night, thanks in part to several programs that could tolerate thick clouds. We were able to complete three Band 1 programs and made some progress on another eight Band 1-3 programs. Overall, we observed 22.3 hrs of Bands 1-2 and 31.7 hrs of Band 3 programs.
Science highlights:
- Transiting Exo-planets (chemical abundances in the atmospheres of the planet, 2 programs!)
- Spectroscopic binary stars (central stars of planetary nebulae and FS CMa stars)
- Stellar structures and distinct stellar populations
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 22.3h | |
| All bands = | 54.0h |
Time loss due to faults: 0.75h
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber.
Aug 30 - Sep 12, 2016
The start of run changed from the original schedule due to a drive shaft bearing failure in the Gemini dome shutter. This resulted in Gemini entering an unplanned shutdown which ended on August 29th. As a result, the GRACES run started on August 30th. Unfortunately, this was a period of bad weather on the summit and no GRACES data was taken until September 7th.
Some minor changes were made to the observing scripts to improve ease of use including automating the changes needed to switch between 1 and 2 fiber modes. In addition, data are now uploaded to the Gemini data archive the mornings after the observations are taken.
Science highlights:
- Exo-planets (chemical abundances of host star)
- Stellar evolution (planetary nebulae, abundances, binarity)
- Evolution of galaxies (chemical evolution, stellar streams)
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 20.6h | |
| All bands = | 29.6h |
Time loss due to faults: 0.0h
However, we did have one instance of data being taken in one-fiber mode rather than the requested two-fiber mode.
Spectral mode used: Both 1 and 2-fiber.
May 31 - Jun 7, 2016
The entire run consisted of good to excellent weather with several nights of IQ20 conditions. During the run, we reach 100% completion of all Band 1 and Band 2 programs, including two Band 1 fast turnaround programs. An additional 13.24 hours of band 3 programs were observed.
We implemented several features to the observing scripts to improve ease of use including automatically assigning the OBSID and OBSTYPE to the files which has eliminated some of the mistakes that we had with filenames during the last few runs. We also modified the observing scripts to automatically restart the connection for exposures longer than the 30 minute timeout.
Science highlights:
- Exo-planets (hosted by compact binary, chemical abundance)
- Stellar evolution (supernova abundance, planetary nebulae, white dwarf)
- Evolution of galaxies (chemical evolution)
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 20.36h | |
| All bands = | 33.6h |
Time loss due to faults: 0.0h
Spectral mode used: 1-fiber, except for one 2-fiber mode FT program.
Mar 29 - Apr 7, 2016
The first night was lost due to high winds at the summit, but the remaining nights encountered good to excellent weather and a good number of observations were taken. This run included 4 nights of Korean time, when all the GRACES Korean programs were observed and completed.
The time loss due to faults was small. All the faults led to follow-up actions. Also, the observing procedure was yet again simplified to prevent typos in the UT date and the program ID.
Science highlights:
- Exo-planets (radial velocity, chemical abundance of the host star)
- Stellar evolution (pair-instability supernova, planetary nebulae)
- Galactic archeology with metal-poor stars
- Evolution of galaxies (circumgalactic medium, chemical evolution)
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 52.06h | |
| All bands = | 58.01h |
Time loss due to faults: 0.2h
Spectral mode used: 1-fiber mode only from March 29 to Apr 4, then 2-fiber mode only during the Korean time.
Feb 3 - 9, 2016
Generally good weather, except for some fog during one of the nights. The GRACES programs had to share the time with high priority non-GRACES programs. Of course, Band 1 and 2 GRACES programs were favorized.
The time loss due to faults was small, and mostly procedural. The observing command was simplified to lower the number of inputs. More information is now fetched automatically in the system by the control scripts.
Science highlights:
- Exo-planets (formation, chemical abundance of the host star)
- Stellar evolution (planetary nebulae)
- Quasar (outflow)
- Evolution of galaxies (chemical evolution)
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | 21.30h | |
| All bands = | 26.14h |
Time loss due to faults: 0.3h
Spectral mode used: 1-fiber mode only.
Template:
Month day - day, year
Brief summary of the run.
Brief summary of faults and upgrades.
Science highlights:
Total time spent on GRACES programs:
| Band 1/2 = | xxh | |
| All bands = | xxh |
Time loss due to faults: xxh
Spectral mode used: 1-fiber and/or 2-fiber mode.