BRC Optical Ground-Based Follow-Up

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Big Picture

Optical data can be incredibly helpful in weeding out garbage from our YSO selection. Remember that Spitzer is phenomenally efficient, and with just a few seconds can reach objects at the edge of the Universe. Recall the discussion in the CG4 paper, and just at a gut level how much nicer the SEDs look if we have optical data too. Recall the stuff on the Resolution page (specifically example 4) and how much high spatial resolution matters. High spatial resolution optical imaging may allow us to determine that some of these objects are actually resolved galaxies. Once we add their photometry to the SEDs, the shape of the SEDs may allow us to determine that some of these objects are actually AGN and not YSOs.

The Las Cumbres Faulkes Telescope on Haleakala (specifially JD Armstrong) has kindly offered to help us get optical ground-based follow-up observations. We need to plan coherently (professionally!) for these observations to ensure we get the best quality data in the least amount of time possible. ("Ooops we screwed up" will not generally get you additional telescope time.)

Planning Observations

In order to plan for ground-based follow-up of our targets, we have many things to consider.

  • Are the objects visible (ever) from the observatory(ies) to which we have access? Ex 1: the CG4 object from last year is a Southern Hemisphere object, so unless you have access to a Southern Hemisphere telescope, that's not possible. Ex 2: the BRC objects are Northern Hemisphere (both of them). When are they visible from the LCOGT telescope in Hawaii? See airmasses calculation below.


Hourly almanac (airmasses) for our targets

calculated for Hawaii.

*** Hourly airmass for brc27 ***
Epoch 2000.00: RA   7 04 00.0, dec -11 22 55
Epoch 2011.87: RA   7 04 33.4, dec -11 24 01
At midnight: UT date 2011 Nov 16, Moon 0.72 illum,  31 degr from obj
 Local      UT      LMST      HA     secz   par.angl. SunAlt MoonAlt 
 18 00     4 00    21 18    -9 47   (down)   -71.1     -4.8    ... 
 19 00     5 00    22 18    -8 47   (down)   -73.4     ...     ... 
 20 00     6 00    23 18    -7 47   (down)   -73.5     ...     ... 
 21 00     7 00     0 18    -6 46   (down)   -72.2     ...     ... 
 22 00     8 00     1 18    -5 46  (v.low)   -69.9     ...     -1.6
 23 00     9 00     2 18    -4 46    4.439   -66.3     ...     11.5
  0 00    10 00     3 19    -3 46    2.261   -61.0     ...     24.8
  1 00    11 00     4 19    -2 46    1.602   -52.8     ...     38.4
  2 00    12 00     5 19    -1 46    1.318   -40.0     ...     52.1
  3 00    13 00     6 19    -0 45    1.195   -19.8     ...     65.9
  4 00    14 00     7 19     0 15    1.172     6.7     ...     79.6
  5 00    15 00     8 19     1 15    1.240    30.7     ...     84.8
  6 00    16 00     9 20     2 15    1.430    47.0     -7.7    71.6
At midnight: UT date 2011 Dec 16, Moon 0.67 illum,  51 degr from obj
 Local      UT      LMST      HA     secz   par.angl. SunAlt MoonAlt
 18 00     4 00    23 16    -7 49   (down)   -73.5     -4.0    ... 
 19 00     5 00     0 16    -6 48   (down)   -72.3    -17.1    ... 
 20 00     6 00     1 16    -5 48  (v.low)   -70.0     ...     ... 
 21 00     7 00     2 16    -4 48    4.599   -66.5     ...     ... 
 22 00     8 00     3 17    -3 48    2.297   -61.2     ...     ... 
 23 00     9 00     4 17    -2 48    1.616   -53.2     ...      2.1
  0 00    10 00     5 17    -1 48    1.324   -40.5     ...     15.7
  1 00    11 00     6 17    -0 47    1.197   -20.6     ...     29.4
  2 00    12 00     7 17     0 13    1.171     5.7     ...     42.9
  3 00    13 00     8 17     1 13    1.236    30.0     ...     56.0
  4 00    14 00     9 18     2 13    1.420    46.6     ...     67.7
  5 00    15 00    10 18     3 13    1.830    57.0     ...     74.2
  6 00    16 00    11 18     4 13    2.884    63.7    -11.5    69.5


*** Hourly airmass for brc34 ***
Epoch 2000.00: RA  21 33 30.0, dec +58 04 32
Epoch 2011.62: RA  21 33 50.9, dec +58 07 39
At midnight: UT date 2011 Aug 16, Moon 0.93 illum,  61 degr from obj
 Local      UT      LMST      HA     secz   par.angl. SunAlt MoonAlt
 19 00     5 00    16 15    -5 19    2.653   -87.8     -3.0    ... 
 20 00     6 00    17 15    -4 19    1.997  -100.9    -16.4    -1.4
 21 00     7 00    18 15    -3 18    1.639  -115.3     ...     12.4
 22 00     8 00    19 16    -2 18    1.434  -131.9     ...     26.2
 23 00     9 00    20 16    -1 18    1.322  -151.3     ...     39.8
  0 00    10 00    21 16    -0 18    1.277  -173.2     ...     52.9
  1 00    11 00    22 16     0 42    1.288   164.1     ...     64.6
  2 00    12 00    23 16     1 42    1.359   143.1     ...     71.8
  3 00    13 00     0 16     2 43    1.504   124.9     ...     69.1
  4 00    14 00     1 17     3 43    1.760   109.2     ...     59.1
  5 00    15 00     2 17     4 43    2.212    95.4    -14.8    46.5
  6 00    16 00     3 17     5 43    3.080    82.7     -1.4    33.2
At midnight: UT date 2011 Sep 16, Moon 0.86 illum,  66 degr from obj
 Local      UT      LMST      HA     secz   par.angl. SunAlt MoonAlt
 19 00     5 00    18 17    -3 17    1.631  -115.8     -9.2    ... 
 20 00     6 00    19 17    -2 16    1.430  -132.5     ...     ... 
 21 00     7 00    20 18    -1 16    1.320  -151.9     ...      6.6
 22 00     8 00    21 18    -0 16    1.276  -173.9     ...     20.0
 23 00     9 00    22 18     0 44    1.289   163.4     ...     33.6
  0 00    10 00    23 18     1 44    1.362   142.5     ...     47.4
  1 00    11 00     0 18     2 44    1.510   124.3     ...     61.3
  2 00    12 00     1 18     3 45    1.771   108.8     ...     75.2
  3 00    13 00     2 19     4 45    2.232    95.0     ...     87.5
  4 00    14 00     3 19     5 45    3.119    82.3     ...     76.4
  5 00    15 00     4 19     6 45    5.239    70.0    -17.1    62.6
  6 00    16 00     5 19     7 45   14.754    57.7     -3.1    48.8
At midnight: UT date 2011 Oct 16, Moon 0.84 illum,  79 degr from obj
 Local      UT      LMST      HA     secz   par.angl. SunAlt MoonAlt
 18 00     4 00    19 15    -2 18    1.435  -131.9     -1.2    ... 
 19 00     5 00    20 16    -1 18    1.323  -151.2    -15.2    ... 
 20 00     6 00    21 16    -0 18    1.277  -173.2     ...     ... 
 21 00     7 00    22 16     0 42    1.288   164.2     ...      4.2
 22 00     8 00    23 16     1 42    1.358   143.1     ...     17.1
 23 00     9 00     0 16     2 42    1.503   124.9     ...     30.3
  0 00    10 00     1 16     3 43    1.759   109.3     ...     43.6
  1 00    11 00     2 17     4 43    2.211    95.5     ...     57.2
  2 00    12 00     3 17     5 43    3.076    82.7     ...     70.8
  3 00    13 00     4 17     6 43    5.122    70.4     ...     84.0
  4 00    14 00     5 17     7 43   13.931    58.1     ...     81.2
  5 00    15 00     6 17     8 43   (down)    45.4     ...     67.7
  6 00    16 00     7 17     9 44   (down)    32.1     -4.8    54.1