Gaussianity of the AAOmega cameras 
Tuesday, August 15, 2006, 11:17 AM - Science, Observing
In the AAOmega run of March 2006, we took some standard stars. They were reduced with drcontrol by changing the type from MFFLX to MFOBJECT. In a discussion with Rob Sharp (AAO) he mentioned that it was a good idea to test the Gaussianity of the standard stars throughout the frames. The reason is that the software uses a constant value for the FWHM of the Gaussian throughout the spectral image. This could have major impact on the relative flux calibration. (Absolute flux calibration with a fibre instrument is quite near to impossible.) The results are in the two figures.




The blue camera is quite constant at a FWHM = 3.05 pix and doesn't vary more than 1% between observations. The red arm, on the other hand, varies a lot more! It varies between a FWHM of 3.5 pix (towards the blue end) down to 3.1 pix and ~2% between observations. The measurements were done with some scripts I wrote in IDL. The FWHM and central pixel of the Gaussian are derived from the sum of 51 columns around the indicated points.
AAOmega spectrum of J114334.98-014433.7 (aka S11_5236 aka S11_13368) 
Friday, July 7, 2006, 11:57 AM - Science, Observing, Thesis
As part of my thesis I am looking for line emitting objects. During follow up observations of low redshift (z ~ 0.24 - 1.2) emission line galaxies at the AAT with AAOmega, we also included the confirmed Lyman alpha emitter J114334.98-014433.7 (aka S11_5236 aka S11_13368; Westra et al. 2005). Below is the spectrum of this object. The exposure time is ~4 hours. The line can be clearly seen.



The spectrum was first presented at the ASA 2006.