Thursday, April 30, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-29

SA: Marissa
SO: Fred
Others: Enrico

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Summary
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High humidity from the start. Attempted one observation before reaching the humidity limit, but had to abort it and close. Later heavy cloud cover set in as well. Some calibrations could be done. Fortunately the weather prediction looks better for tomorrow night!

No science data taken.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-28

SA: Luke
SO: Veronica
Others: Marissa and Enrico Kotze for handover, Paul Rabe remotely

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Summary
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A few short but high priority blocks from both 2014-2 and 2015-1 taken early in the night, along with a P4, before being forced closed with cloud. Tried to re-open before morning twilight, but unsuccessful, again due to returning cloud.

Data taken for:

2014-2-SCI-070 P1 RSS (Spectroscopic follow-up of type Ia supernovae discovered by DES to analyse their spectral properties)
2014-2-SCI-028 P2 HRS (To determine if C enhanced Metal-poor stars without heavy element enhancement is due to binarity.)
2015-1-SCI-022 P2 HRS (Spectroscopy of the evolved binary star DY Cen)
2014-1-MLT-007 P4 RSS (Long term monitoring of circumstellar disk in Be X-ray binaries)

Monday, April 27, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-26

SA: Luke
SO: Veronica
Others: Petri in the afternoon with Fabry Perot input

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Summary
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A slow start to the night with thick cloud patches, coming better in the second half. Some minor technical glitches. Good seeing and some dark time. HRS and RSS lamp calibrations. Seven blocks observed successfully. Extensive RSS spectrophotometric standards and sky flats. Tried an important Fabry-Perot Medium Resolution etalon observation and a time critical P0.

Data taken for:

2014-2-MLT-005 P0 RSS (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2014-2-SCI-021 P1 RSS (Kinematics of exotic S0 galaxies with Fabry-Perot imaging spectroscopy)
2014-2-SCI-048 P1 HRS (Studying the O Star HD 164740)
2014-2-SCI-053 P2 HRS (Metal abundance of extremely metal poor candidates with high S/N and high resolution spectra.)
2014-1-MLT-001 P3 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2014-2-SCI-060 P3 RSS (x2) (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae)

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-25

SA: Luke
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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A late start to the night due to thick cloud. Four blocks observed (3x P2, 1x P3), along with some dark time engineering tests. Full suite of Radial Velocity standards observed for HRS. Two programs (Tofflemire and Dutta) completed.

2014-2-SCI-053 P2 HRS (Metal abundance of extremely metal poor candidates with high S/N and high resolution spectra.)
2014-2-SCI-017 P2 RSS (Optical preparatory survey for Cold HI 21-cm Absorption Line Survey (CHITALS))
2014-2-SCI-058 P2 HRS (Accretion in Young Binary Star Systems)
2014-2-SCI-027 P3 RSS (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-24

SA: Luke
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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A great full night of observing with excellent conditions and a well-behaved telescope. Many high priority/time critical programs observed, many other programs finished or almost finished ready for the end of the semester. 3x Time Critical P0s, 1x Time Critical P1, 1x Time Critical P2, 1x P2, 4x P3, 1x P4 programs observed. Full compliment of lamp calibrations for all programs, and some outstanding uncharged RSS calibrations ticked off too.

Data taken for:

2014-2-SCI-058 P0 HRS (Accretion in Young Binary Star Systems)
2014-2-SCI-071 P0 RSS (x2) (Measuring ages of asteroids)
2014-2-COM-001 P1 HRS (Looking for optical pulsations from pulsars)
2014-2-SCI-069 P2 SCAM (Rapid photomerty of mCVs with SCAM in slotmode)
2014-2-SCI-060 P3 RSS (x2) (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae)
2014-2-SCI-038 P3 RSS (Identifying and characterising the optical counterparts of CHANDRA point sources)
2014-2-SCI-045 P3 HRS (Chemical composition determination of LBVs in the Southern Hemisphere.)
2014-2-MLT-003 P4 RSS (Study, and detailed classification, of a number of proposed very cool astronomical objects)

Friday, April 24, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-23

SA: Luke
SO: Veronica
Others: Paul, Johan, Hitesh for TCS issues, Deon, Janus and Deneys remotely

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Summary
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Closed at midnight with high humidity, but some high priority science done beforehand (including a target-of-opportunity supernova) and some observation programs completed before the end of the semester.

2014-2-SCI-070 P0 HRS (Spectroscopic follow-up of type Ia supernovae discovered by DES to analyse their spectral properties)
2014-2-SCI-071 P0 RSS (Measuring ages of asteroids)
2014-2-SCI-077 P2 HRS (Constraining the orbital ephemeris and the Be disk status of the X-ray Binary GX304-1)
2014-2-SCI-030 P2 RSS (Identifying new ultracompact binary star systems through their spectral characteristics)
2014-1-MLT-007 P4 RSS (Long term monitoring of circumstellar disk in Be X-ray binaries)

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-22

SA: Luke
SO: Veronica
Others: Hitesh for SAMS/standby, Petri remotely for advice

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Summary
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Some important P0 observations taken with fairly good seeing before closing due to humidity later in the night, as well as a P2 observation and Lick standards.

2014-2-SCI-064 P0 RSS (x2) (Rapid response spectroscopy of newly discovered Near Earth Asteroids.)
2014-2-DDT-006 P0 RSS (Identification of a Nova/Symbiotic star candidate OGLE-2015-NOVA-01)
2014-1-MLT-001 P2 RSS (x2) (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-21

SA: Encarni
SO: Fred
Others: Luke

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Summary
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A cloudy start to the night that cleared nicely at ~21:30 and stayed clear with relatively good seeing for the rest of the night.

Science data for:

2014-2-SCI-071 P0 RSS (x3) (Measuring ages of asteroids)
2014-2-SCI-038 P2 RSS (Identifying and characterising the optical counterparts of CHANDRA point sources)
2014-2-MLT-001 P2 RSS (x2) (Study of the evolution of lenticular galaxies.)
2014-2-SCI-017 P2 RSS (Optical preparatory survey for Cold HI 21-cm Absorption Line Survey (CHITALS))
2014-2-SCI-060 P3 RSS (x2) (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae)

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-20

SA: Encarni
SO: Fred
Others: Mark, Mark, Rory and Peter for a visit. Thabelo to check fire alarm cabinet

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Summary
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Another damp night in the Karoo desert, this time with not very good seeing either. Closed at ~00:34.

Tonight's science winners are:

2014-2-SCI-071 P0 RSS (x2) (Measuring ages of asteroids)
2014-2-MLT-005 P0 RSS (x2) (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2014-2-SCI-023 P1 RSS (Time variabilility of the broad absorption line QSOs.)
2014-1-MLT-002 P3 RSS (Determining the fraction of Luminous Red Galaxies in merging pairs)

Monday, April 20, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-19

SA: Encarni
SO: Fred
Others:

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Summary
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The humidity behaved nicely tonight, but the clouds did not. They forced us to reject a few blocks, and to close at ~23:30.

Science data for:
2014-2-SCI-031 P1 RSS (Redshift determination of newly confirmed galaxy clusters)
2014-2-SCI-060 P3 RSS (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae)
2014-1-MLT-002 P3 RSS (Determining the fraction of Luminous Red Galaxies in merging pairs)

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-18

SA: Encarni
SO: Fred
Others:

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Summary
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We fought a heroic battle against the humidty tonight, but had to surrender just before midnight. Undaunted, we opened up again at ~4am with the humidity close on our heels and threatening to close us again, but this time, we won! :)

Tonight's science data winners are:

2014-2-SCI-014 P1 RSS (Investigating the activity in the not-red-and-dead brightest cluster galaxies)
2014-2-COM-001 P1 HRS (Looking for optical pulsations from pulsars)
2014-1-MLT-001 P2 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2014-2-SCI-023 P2 RSS (Time variabilility of the broad absorption line QSOs.)
2014-2-MLT-001 P3 RSS (x2) (Study of the evolution of lenticular galaxies.)
2014-2-SCI-003 P3 RSS (Target of opportunity for variable AGN)

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-17

SA: Encarni
SO: Fred
Others:

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Perfect start to the night, with no Moon, clear skies and sub-arcsecond seeing. Unfortunately, the humidity caught up with us again and forced us to close at ~22:30. Took some calibration data for our Fabry-Perot system and science data for:

2014-2-SCI-070 P0 RSS (Spectroscopic follow-up of type Ia supernovae discovered by DES to analyse their spectral properties)
2014-2-SCI-063 P1 RSS (Searching for high-redshift radio-loud quasars)
2014-2-SCI-016 P2 HRS (Investigating the birth and evolution of X-ray binaries through their radial motion.)

Friday, April 17, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-16

SA: Encarni
SO: Fred
Others:

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Another really humid night, but this time we managed to get one science block before closing. And the winner is:

2014-1-MLT-002 P3 RSS (Determining the fraction of Luminous Red Galaxies in merging pairs)

Congratulations!

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-15

SA: Encarni
SO: Fred
Others:

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Summary
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A clear night with high humidity. Did not really get to open.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-14

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Encarni, Fred

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Cold and humid night. One P1 block completed for 2014-2-SCI-063 before closing up due to humidity.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-13

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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Another productive night albeit with one track lost to payload comms error.


Data taken for:

2014-2-SCI-058 P0 HRS (Accretion in Young Binary Star Systems)
2014-2-SCI-017 P2 RSS (Optical preparatory survey for Cold HI 21-cm Absorption Line Survey (CHITALS))
2014-2-SCI-030 P2 RSS (Identifying new ultracompact binary star systems through their spectral characteristics)
2014-2-SCI-037 P2 RSS (x2) (Study of the extraplanar diffuse ionized gas properties of galaxies NGC 253 and NGC 3044)
2014-2-SCI-034 P2 RSS (Classification of possible supernovae)
2014-2-MLT-001 P3 RSS (x2) (Study of the evolution of lenticular galaxies.)
2014-2-SCI-065 P3 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-2-SCI-016 P3 HRS (Investigating the birth and evolution of X-ray binaries through their radial motion

Monday, April 13, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-12

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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A productive clear night with excellent seeing for the entire night.

Data taken for:

2014-1-MLT-001 P0 RSS (x2) (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2014-2-SCI-020 P1 RSS (HRS observations of planetary nebulae and spectra of dwarf tidal galaxies.)
2014-2-SCI-040 P1 RSS (Superwinds in luminous starburst galaxies)
2014-1-MLT-002 P2 RSS (Determining the fraction of Luminous Red Galaxies in merging pairs)
2014-2-SCI-060 P3 RSS (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae)
2014-2-SCI-066 P3 RSS (x2) (Finding the redshift and ionization of WISE-selected QSOs)
2014-2-SCI-038 P3 RSS (Identifying and characterising the optical counterparts of CHANDRA point sources)
2014-1-MLT-007 P4 RSS (Long term monitoring of circumstellar disk in Be X-ray binaries)

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-11

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Laure

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Summary
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A few thick clouds at the start of the night clearing to a productive night.

Data taken for:

2014-2-SCI-058 P0 HRS (Accretion in Young Binary Star Systems)
2014-1-MLT-001 P2 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2014-1-MLT-002 P2 RSS (Determining the fraction of Luminous Red Galaxies in merging pairs)
2014-2-SCI-073 P2 RSS (Monitoring of the SMC LBV S18)
2014-2-SCI-065 P3 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-2-SCI-043 P3 HRS ( Hunting for heavy-metal stars in the hot-star zoo. )
2014-2-SCI-060 P3 RSS (x2) (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae)
2014-2-SCI-055 P3 RSS (Multi-wavelength classification of unidentified Blazar-like Fermi 2LAC catalogue sources)
2014-1-MLT-007 P4 RSS (Long term monitoring of circumstellar disk in Be X-ray binaries)

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-10

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Stormy weather tonight. Did not open.

Friday, April 10, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-09

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Luke, Keith

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Summary
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Another productive mostly clear night.

Data taken for:

2014-2-SCI-070 P0 HRS (Spectroscopic follow-up of type Ia supernovae discovered by DES to analyse their spectral properties)
2014-2-SCI-028 P1 HRS (To determine if C enhanced Metal-poor stars without heavy element enhancement is due to binarity.)
2014-1-MLT-003 P2 SCAM (Observe the accretion disc as a white dwarf, neutron star or black hole gobbles up a companion.)
2014-2-SCI-073 P2 RSS (Monitoring of the SMC LBV S18)
2014-2-SCI-053 P2 HRS (Metal abundance of extremely metal poor candidates with high S/N and high resolution spectra.)
2014-1-MLT-001 P3 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2014-2-SCI-065 P3 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-2-SCI-066 P3 RSS (Finding the redshift and ionization of WISE-selected QSOs)
2014-2-SCI-027 P3 RSS (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2014-2-SCI-023 P3 RSS (Time variabilility of the broad absorption line QSOs.)

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-08

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Luke

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A very productive full clear grey night. Seeing was mostly > 2.5 arcsec until end of night when wind direction changed, resulting in 1.1 arcsec seeing!

Data taken for:

2014-2-MLT-005 P0 RSS (x2) (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2014-2-SCI-070 P0 RSS (Spectroscopic follow-up of type Ia supernovae discovered by DES to analyse their spectral properties)
2014-2-SCI-028 P1 HRS (To determine if C enhanced Metal-poor stars without heavy element enhancement is due to binarity.)
2014-2-SCI-003 P2 RSS (Target of opportunity for variable AGN)
2014-2-SCI-073 P2 RSS (Monitoring of the SMC LBV S18)
2014-2-SCI-053 P2 HRS (Metal abundance of extremely metal poor candidates with high S/N and high resolution spectra.)
2014-2-SCI-016 P3 HRS (Investigating the birth and evolution of X-ray binaries through their radial motion.)
2014-2-SCI-047 P3 RSS (Study of the properties of thin and thick disks of galaxy IC2531)
2014-2-SCI-060 P3 RSS (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae)
2014-2-SCI-069 P3 SCAM (Rapid photomerty of mCVs with SCAM in slotmode)
2014-2-SCI-065 P3 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-2-SCI-038 P3 SCAM (Identifying and characterising the optical counterparts of CHANDRA point sources)

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-07

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others:

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Summary
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Closed most of the night until early hours when we opened and managed to observe two blocks.

Data taken for:

2014-2-SCI-072 P3 RSS (x2) (Identifying new narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies from a sample of ROSAT candidates)

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-06

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others: Etienne, Thabelo, Johan

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Summary
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No observations tonight. Did not open due to high humidity.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-05

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others:

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Summary
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Cloudy and humid night. Closed around 22:10 due to high humidity.

Data taken for:

2014-2-SCI-073 P2 RSS (Monitoring of the SMC LBV S18)
2014-2-SCI-076 P4 SCAM (x5) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-04

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others: Thabelo, Johan, Pierre

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Payload out of commission tonight and then heavy ridge cloud settled in. No observations tonight.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-03

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others: Thabelo, Deon and Keith on phone

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Despite some technical problems we managed to get data for

2014-2-SCI-070 P0 RSS (Spectroscopic follow-up of type Ia supernovae discovered by DES to analyse their spectral properties)
2014-2-SCI-073 P2 RSS (Monitoring of the SMC LBV S18)

before closing up due to high humidity around 21:15.

Friday, April 3, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-02

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others:

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Lots of clouds tonight. Managed to take data for:

2014-2-SCI-058 P2 HRS (Accretion in Young Binary Star Systems)
2014-2-SCI-060 P3 RSS (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae)
2014-1-MLT-007 P4 RSS (Long term monitoring of circumstellar disk in Be X-ray binaries)
2014-2-SCI-076 P4 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Night Log 2015-04-01

SA: Brent
SO: Thea
Others:

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A lot of cloud tonight. Managed to get some science data for 2014-2-SCI-069 and 2014-1-MLT-007.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Night Log 2015-03-31

SA: �ric
SO: Thea
Others: Brent

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A night where clouds prevented us from observing for a fraction of the night, but we could gather data for:

2014-2-SCI-007 P3 RSS (Identifying the age of the Argus moving group using the lithium depletion boundary)
2014-1-MLT-007 P4 RSS (x3) (Long term monitoring of circumstellar disk in Be X-ray binaries)
2014-2-MLT-003 P4 RSS (x3) (Study, and detailed classification, of a number of proposed very cool astronomical objects)