Night Log 2015-10-30

SA: Marissa
SO: Fred
Others: Enrico (shadowing Fred)

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Summary
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The Springboks secured 3rd place in the Rugby World Cup! Our hearts are in it and we're proud of them.

Clear, bright first half of the night, but clouds rolled in shortly after midnight.

Data taken for:

2015-1-SCI-011 P2 RSS (Searching the Milky Way for symbiotic stars)
2014-2-MLT-001 P3 RSS (x2) (Study of the evolution of lenticular galaxies.)

Night Log 2015-10-29

SA: Marissa
SO: Fred
Others: Enrico (shadowing Fred)

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Summary
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Cloudy night. Science from midnight in highly variable seeing and scattered clouds. Got the observation for the DDT proposal that was activated today.

Data taken for:

2015-1-DDT-008 P1 RSS (The recoiled counterpart to PSR B0525-66?)
2015-1-SCI-003 P3 HRS (Searching for circumbinary planets)
2014-2-MLT-001 P3 RSS (x2) (Study of the evolution of lenticular galaxies.)

Night Log 2015-10-28

SA: Marissa
SO: Fred
Others: Enrico (in training)

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Summary
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Technical difficulties caused a late start. We decided to continue without HRS in order to try to get some science using SCAM and RSS. But in the end this partly cloudy, warm, bright night has as many rejected blocks as accepted ones.

Data taken for:

2014-2-MLT-001 P3 RSS (x2) (Study of the evolution of lenticular galaxies.)
2015-1-MLT-002 P3 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)

Night Log 2015-10-27

SA: Encarni
SO: Fred
Others: Keith, Timmy, Jonathan, Marissa and Enrico. John B. for a quick visit.

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Summary
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Clear night with mostly decent seeing. Technical problems had us closed until ~1am, and then we took science data for:

2015-2-SCI-036 P1 RSS (Spectrophotometry of Magellanic symbiotic stars)
2015-1-SCI-045 P3 RSS (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae)
2015-1-SCI-059 P4 RSS (Long term monitoring of the SMC LBV S18 and LMC sgB[e] star S134)

Night Log 2015-10-26

SA: Encarni
SO: Fred
Others:

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Summary
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Ridge cloud all night - we only managed to get some standard star observations before we were closed by the relative humidity.

Night Log 2015-10-25

SA: Encarni
SO: Fred
Others:

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Summary
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Frustrating night with very variable seeing, from really good to wow that's awful! Attempted several observations but only obtained data for:

2015-2-SCI-036 P1 RSS (Spectrophotometry of Magellanic symbiotic stars)
2015-2-SCI-040 P2 RSS (SALT ToO observation)

Night Log 2015-10-23

SA: Encarni
SO: Fred
Others:

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Summary
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Very frustrating night with lots of clouds. Closed at ~2:10 due to clouds and showers.

Science data for only one program for very poor conditions:

2015-1-SCI-059 P4 RSS (x2) (Long term monitoring of the SMC LBV S18 and LMC sgB[e] star S134)

Night Log 2015-10-22

SA: Encarni
SO: Fred
Others:

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Summary
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Clear night with really poor seeing. Humidity forced us to close just before 1:30am.

Science data for:

2015-2-SCI-040 P0 RSS (SALT ToO observation)
2015-1-COM-002 P1 RSS (Polarimetry test proposal)
2015-1-SCI-013 P1 HRS (x2) (Evolved binaries in the Magellanic Clouds )
2014-2-MLT-002 P2 RSS (Searching for new Supernova Remnants in the Small Magellanic Cloud)
2015-2-SCI-056 P3 HRS (Tracing the chemical history of our galaxy)

Night Log 2015-10-21

SA: Encarni
SO: Fred
Others:

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Summary
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A beautiful clear night with unfortunately high humidity, so we were forced to close early. Science data only for one block:

2015-2-SCI-056 P3 HRS (Tracing the chemical history of our galaxy)

Night Log 2015-10-20

SA: Alexei
SO: Veronica
Others: Encarni, Fred and Ivan

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Summary
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=> Nice and stable weather with moderate seeing.

=> Data were taken for the following programs:
2015-1-COM-002 P0 RSS (Polarimetry test proposal)
2015-1-SCI-063 P0 RSS (SALT follow-up of type Ia supernovae to study their properties at targeted redshifts)
2015-1-SCI-033 P1 RSS (Testing a new method to discover peculiar extragalactic binary stars)
2015-1-SCI-071 P2 RSS (Observing candidate Lyman Alpha Nebulae at z~2)
2015-1-SCI-013 P2 HRS (Evolved binaries in the Magellanic Clouds )
2015-1-SCI-044 P2 RSS (Mapping the velocity fields of N88)
2015-1-SCI-053 P3 RSS (x2) (Multi-wavelength classification of unidentified Blazar-like Fermi-2LAC catalogue sources)

=> Burst throughput measurements were done

Night Log 2015-10-19

SA: Alexei
SO: Veronica
Others: Ivan Katkov and Tamara for a while

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Summary
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=> Unstable night with high humidity and moderate seeing. Were closed by humidity in the middle of the night and continue observations later.

=> Data were taken for the following programs:
2014-2-MLT-002 P1 RSS (x2) (Searching for new Supernova Remnants in the Small Magellanic Cloud)
2015-1-SCI-037 P2 HRS (Exploring the limits of HRS for measuring Exoplanet Radial Velocities)
2015-1-SCI-053 P3 RSS (Multi-wavelength classification of unidentified Blazar-like Fermi-2LAC catalogue sources)
2015-1-MLT-004 P4 RSS (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)

Night Log 2015-10-18

SA: Alexei
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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=> Very unstable night with field of clouds regularly coming and thunderstorm lighting on the horizon.

=> No useful observations were done with many attempts.

Night Log 2015-10-17

SA: Alexei
SO: Veronica
Others: Ivan Katkov and Tamara for a while

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Summary
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=> Some thick clouds from the evening that altogether with moon make problems for observations. Started to be much better later, but have some technical issues at the end of the night.

=> Data were taken for the following programs:
2015-1-MLT-002 P0 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2015-1-SCI-071 P1 RSS (Observing candidate Lyman Alpha Nebulae at z~2)
2014-2-MLT-001 P2 RSS (Study of the evolution of lenticular galaxies.)
2015-1-SCI-065 P2 RSS (FP Halpha kinematics of RESOLVE galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-035 P2 RSS (x2) (Spectroscopy of ACT mm-band selected sources and clusters)
2015-1-SCI-027 P4 RSS (Kinematics of Bulge Miras)

Night Log 2015-10-16

SA: Alexei
SO: Veronica
Others: Ivan Katkov, Tamara for a while

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Summary
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=> Clear stable night with moderate seeing. Observed the whole night, but have some technical issues as well.

=> Data were taken for the following programs:
2015-1-SCI-063 P0 RSS (SALT follow-up of type Ia supernovae to study their properties at targeted redshifts)
2015-1-MLT-002 P0 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2015-1-COM-002 P0 RSS (Polarimetry test proposal)
2015-1-DDT-007 P1 RSS (AGB star in NGC6822)
2015-1-SCI-046 P1 RSS (Redshift determination of newly confirmed galaxy clusters)
2015-1-SCI-071 P1 RSS (Observing candidate Lyman Alpha Nebulae at z~2)
2015-1-SCI-052 P2 RSS (Finding the redshift and ionization of WISE-selected QSOs)

Night Log 2015-10-15

SA: Alexei
SO: Veronica
Others: Dr. Ivan Katkov

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Summary
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=> Some clouds from the evening and clear night after that. Humidity rised and closed us finally in the second half of the night.

=> Data were taken for the following programs:
2015-1-COM-002 P0 RSS (Polarimetry test proposal)
2015-1-SCI-063 P0 RSS (SALT follow-up of type Ia supernovae to study their properties at targeted redshifts)
2015-1-SCI-013 P1 HRS (x2) (Evolved binaries in the Magellanic Clouds )
2014-2-MLT-002 P1 RSS (Searching for new Supernova Remnants in the Small Magellanic Cloud)
2015-1-SCI-071 P1 RSS (Observing candidate Lyman Alpha Nebulae at z~2)
2015-1-SCI-052 P2 RSS (Finding the redshift and ionization of WISE-selected QSOs)

=> First observations of Polarimetry test proposal were done tonight

SALT Status update for October 2015

Recent Scientific Papers
========================

The 2015 calendar year will top the number of 31 refereed SALT publications from 2014.  While waiting for the final tally, here is a list of SALT papers that have appeared since our last update in July:

* Brosch et al. study an "empty ring galaxy" using RSS/Fabry-Perot observations finding a past merger of disc galaxies and current star formation in a regularly spinning gas ring.  http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015MNRAS.451.4114B

* Coe & Kirk present a catalogue of Be/X-ray binary systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud including H-alpha measurement using RSS. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015MNRAS.452..969C

* Gvaramadze et al. combine Spitzer Space Telescope and RSS data to characterize the blue Galactic supergiant MN18 and its bipolar circumstellar nebula. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015MNRAS.454..219G

* Hajduk et al. combine X-Shooter spectra with RSS data to conclude that [JD2002]11 is the ninth symbiotic star known in total, and only the 2nd known dusty symbiotic star in the Small Magellanic Cloud. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015AcA....65..139H

* Karachentsev, Kniazev & Sharina present RSS spectroscopy of a globular cluster in the center of the nearby isolated dwarf spheroidal galaxy KKs3. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015AN....336..707K

* Katkov, Kniazev & Sil'chenko show, using RSS spectra of isolated lenticular galaxies, that there is a large range in their formation epochs and that their gas is likely externally accreted by minor mergers. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015AJ....150...24K

* Macfarlane et al. present the overview and first results of the large OmegaWhite survey at ESO/VST for short-period variable stars, including follow-up spectroscopy with SALT/RSS. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015MNRAS.454..507M

* Menzies, Whitelock & Feast study AGB variables in the Local Group galaxy IC 1613 and their RSS spectra demonstrates on-going "hot bottom burning" in an Oxygen-rich Mira variable. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015MNRAS.452..910M

* Silverman et al. include RSS data in their study of high-velocity features of calcium and silicon in a large sample of Type Ia SN spectra. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015MNRAS.451.1973S

* Zinchenko et al. present oxygen abundance distributions in six late-type galaxies based on RSS spectra of regions of ionized hydrogen in these galaxies. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015A%26A...582A..35Z

Too Large A Black Hole in the news
==================================

And in another new publication, Jacco van Loon from Keele University and Anne Sansom from the University of Central Lancashire used SALT to study a significantly over-sized nuclear black hole in a modest-mass early-type galaxy.   This result was featured on CNN along with the Espresso morning TV show here in South Africa.  For more details, see:
 On ADS: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015MNRAS.453.2341V
 SALT Press Release:  http://www.salt.ac.za/news/too-large-a-black-hole/
 CNN:  http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/26/world/black-hole-is-30-times-expected-size/index.html


Record number of Blocks Observed
================================

We don't know what the final number will be yet, but this semester has seen a record number of blocks observed!   Eric Depagne and Thea Koen passed the old record of 798 blocks on 3 October.  See how they celebrated the accomplishment of passing 800 observed blocks!
SALT Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/SATelescope
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SALT_Astro/status/650423292818550786


Laser Frequency Comb at SALT
============================

We have been fortunate to be approached by researchers from the University Heriot-Watt in Edinburgh, the Department of Photonics and Quantum Science, asking SALT to provide an on-sky test for their prototype laser frequency comb. These instruments provide an incredibly precise method to calibrate spectroscopy using tens of thousands of lines with well known wavelengths.  Currently, only HARPS at ESO is equipped with such an instrument, and with such a calibrator it regularly delivers precision down to a few cm/s.

The frequency comb is expected to be installed on the telescope for a three month period and provide HRS with a high stability calibration source. It will be installed, commissioned and tested as soon as it arrives in January 2016, and will be available for HRS science during the second quarter of 2016. For more information, and if you have ideas of how to make use of the capability on HRS in this limited time period, please contact us at salthelp@salt.ac.za.


SALT polarimetry update
=======================

The RSS polarimetry beamsplitter was returned to its US manufacturer in 2013 after problems were discovered with leaking coupling fluid. An alternative coupling "gel" was used in the repair and the beamsplitter was successfully re-installed into RSS in June 2015. The recommissioning of the mechanical and electrical mechanisms and control software associated with the polarimetry mode has been ongoing over the past few months. As of October 2015, closed dome re-commissioning tests are almost complete. On-sky commissioning and calibrations are scheduled to begin in October/November 2015.  We hope some of the polarimetry modes will be ready to be advertised for the SALT 2016-1 Semester Call, but at this point we are not certain yet. We will keep users informed. For more information about RSS polarimetry, please send any queries to salthelp@salt.ac.za.


RSS Guider
===========

A new RSS guider project is progressing well with proof-of-concept hardware for the motion stage and stand-alone control system on its way and concept designs of all the major components under way. This new two-probe design will be able to deliver rotation guidance (which especially MOS mode users will appreciate) and automatic focus feedback (which the observers will greatly appreciate), while delivering significantly improved performance with much fainter stars, reaching the same V~20 mag in 15 sec sensitivity as the current FIF guider. It is expected to be ready for integration with the telescope towards the end of 2016.


Tracker Upgrade
===============

Last week, the telescope was taken offline for the installation of the new Y-drive motors. The installation went smoothly and the telescope was back online and in operation after only two nights of down time.  The final stage of the upgrade is expected to be carried out in April 2016 and will result in a much better performing and capable tracker for the telescope.   Congratulations to the TechOps team for successfully carrying out this major milestone!

Phase II updates for 2015-2

** As a reminder, the Phase II deadline is 23 October 2015 **


Tips for Creating your Phase II proposal
========================================

Tips for creating your phase II proposal:

When creating your phase II proposal for next semester, there is no need for you to retype all the maximum lunar phases you chose in your phase I proposal. You can instead use version 4.7 of the PIPT to copy the phase values, as described at the bottom of

http://astronomers.salt.ac.za/proposals/tips-and-tricks/

This new version of the PIPT is now available, and can be downloaded from

http://astronomers.salt.ac.za/software/

You don't have to use this version for submitting your proposal. However, if you are planning to use pools in your proposal, you'll at least have to update to version 4.6 of the PIPT.

If you are a Mac user and have upgraded to El Capitan already, you might notice that the PIPT GUI is rather wonky. This seems to be an issue with Java 6, and upgrading to Java 8 should solve the problem.


Fabry-Perot Status
==================

As already communicated to FP users directly, the coatings of the Medium Resolution MR etalon have unfortunately degraded resulting in significant loss of spectral resolution.  We have removed it from the telescope and are in the process of determining both costs and timescales for repairs - but we do not expect it will be returned to the telescope for several months.

On the positive side, LR is working well, and the HR etalon has been inserted and we are working to commission the dual etalon HR mode in November.  If this effects your program, please contact salthelp@salt.ac.za for more information.


New P4 Policy
=============

There is a new policy on P4 Blocks allowing any accepted program to enter P4 targets to the queue, above their time allocation. These are to be used as filler targets in case we have nothing else available at a given time.  If you are unsure what it means, first read the bits about P4 time in the Intro and Section 11.4 of the http://pysalt.salt.ac.za/proposal_calls/current/ProposalCall.html and discuss with your Liaison Astronomer. Note that using optional targets in pools is more useful in general.


Block Probability
=================

Before the 2015-2 Semester starts, there will be a new 'Block Probability' number on the Web Manager attached to each active  Phase II block.  The intention is to indicate roughly the chances of a block getting done.  The number takes into account Moon phase and Seeing constraints, the 'Observability' i.e. how tight the requested track is within its visibility window, and Competition from all other Blocks in that same window taking into account their Priorities.  Note that in case of multiple visits the number refers to the binomial probability of finishing *all* the requested visits taking into account the available tracks over the semester.

The system is live, so you can see the effects when e.g. changing seeing and lunar phase constraints.  It also means that the numbers before at least the great majority of Phase II blocks are active do not mean much since the competition calculation will be unrealistic.

Disclaimer: This is our first stab at providing this functionality and
it may still contain bugs. Please let us know if you think your nubmers
are showing anomalous behaviour.

Night Log 2015-10-14

SA: Alexei
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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=> No any observations because weather.

Night Log 2015-10-13

SA: Paul
SO: Thea
Others: Alexei, Ivan

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Summary
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- We were only able to observe the first half of the night before we were forced to closed due to high humidity. Spent the rest of the night doing engineering tests.

- We obtained data for the follow programs:

2014-2-MLT-002 P1 RSS (x2) (Searching for new Supernova Remnants in the Small Magellanic Cloud)
2015-1-SCI-065 P3 RSS (x2) (FP Halpha kinematics of RESOLVE galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-027 P4 RSS (x2) (Kinematics of Bulge Miras)

Night Log 2015-10-12

SA: Paul
SO: Thea
Others:

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Summary
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- Had another productive night with good seeing for most of the night. The seeing went up at the end of the night. Had no tech issues tonight.

- Obtained data for the following programs:

2015-1-SCI-063 P0 RSS (SALT follow-up of type Ia supernovae to study their properties at targeted redshifts)
2014-2-MLT-002 P1 RSS (x3) (Searching for new Supernova Remnants in the Small Magellanic Cloud)
2015-1-SCI-039 P1 RSS (DIBs in emission)
2015-1-SCI-071 P1 RSS (Observing candidate Lyman Alpha Nebulae at z~2)
2015-1-SCI-065 P3 RSS (FP Halpha kinematics of RESOLVE galaxies)

Night Log 2015-10-11

SA: Paul
SO: Thea
Others: Garith

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Summary
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- Had clear weather and a productive night with minimal issues.

- Obtained data for:

2015-1-SCI-063 P0 RSS (SALT follow-up of type Ia supernovae to study their properties at targeted redshifts)
2014-2-MLT-002 P1 RSS (x2) (Searching for new Supernova Remnants in the Small Magellanic Cloud)
2015-1-SCI-013 P1 HRS (Evolved binaries in the Magellanic Clouds )
2015-1-SCI-046 P2 RSS (Redshift determination of newly confirmed galaxy clusters)
2015-1-SCI-065 P2 RSS (FP Halpha kinematics of RESOLVE galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-071 P2 RSS (Observing candidate Lyman Alpha Nebulae at z~2)

Night Log 2015-10-10

SA: Paul
SO: Thea
Others: Garith

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Summary
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- Had some interesting weather conditions tonight. Wind speed was low and the humidity was highly variable. Seeing was good for most of the night.

- Got data for the following programs:
2014-2-MLT-002 P1 RSS (Searching for new Supernova Remnants in the Small Magellanic Cloud)
2015-1-DDT-007 P1 HRS (AGB star in NGC6822)
2015-1-SCI-065 P2 RSS (x2) (FP Halpha kinematics of RESOLVE galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-053 P3 RSS (Multi-wavelength classification of unidentified Blazar-like Fermi-2LAC catalogue sources)
2015-1-SCI-059 P4 RSS (Long term monitoring of the SMC LBV S18 and LMC sgB[e] star S134)

Night Log 2015-10-09

SA: Paul
SO: Thea
Others: Garith

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Summary
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- A clear night with good seeing. Could not take full advantage of the conditions due to a strong wind which affected mirror alignments. Had some technical issues as well.

- Obtained data for the following programs:
2015-1-SCI-063 P0 RSS (SALT follow-up of type Ia supernovae to study their properties at targeted redshifts)
2015-1-SCI-011 P2 RSS (Searching the Milky Way for symbiotic stars)
2015-1-SCI-065 P2 RSS (x2) (FP Halpha kinematics of RESOLVE galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-035 P2 RSS (Spectroscopy of ACT mm-band selected sources and clusters)
2015-1-SCI-021 P3 RSS (Connecting QSO absorption line systems with the associated galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-053 P3 RSS (Multi-wavelength classification of unidentified Blazar-like Fermi-2LAC catalogue sources)

Night Log 2015-10-08

SA: Paul
SO: Thea
Others: Garith, Eben and Keith

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Summary
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- The tracker is still out of commission. Did not observe tonight.

Night Log 2015-10-07

SA: Paul
SO: Thea
Others: Garith

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Summary
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- The tracker Y-drive upgrade is still in progress. Did not observe tonight.

Night Log 2015-10-06

SA: �ric
SO: Thea
Others: Paul

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Summary
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A rather productive night, despite some technical difficulties here and there during the night.
We could observe the following programs :
2014-2-MLT-002 P1 RSS (Searching for new Supernova Remnants in the Small Magellanic Cloud)
2015-1-SCI-006 P1 SCAM (Dark energy and the expansion rate of the Universe from quasar monitoring.)
2015-1-SCI-030 P2 RSS (Compact star clusters near optical centers of dwarf galaxies)
2015-1-MLT-002 P2 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2015-1-SCI-065 P2 RSS (x2) (FP Halpha kinematics of RESOLVE galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-017 P3 RSS (Observations of evolved massive stars revealed with Spitzer and WISE)
2015-1-SCI-053 P3 RSS (Multi-wavelength classification of unidentified Blazar-like Fermi-2LAC catalogue sources)
2015-1-MLT-003 P4 RSS (x2) (We aim to study a number of candidate ultracool objects, which should include new brown dwarfs.)

Night Log 2015-10-05

SA: �ric
SO: Thea
Others:

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Summary
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A very productive night. We could observe all night long, with no problem at all.
Mostly high priority programs, and we finished the night with a lower priority program.
We gathered data for:
2015-1-SCI-070 P1 HRS (x2) (High resolution spectroscopic abundance measurements of RGBs in NGC 6681 (M70))
2014-2-MLT-002 P1 RSS (x3) (Searching for new Supernova Remnants in the Small Magellanic Cloud)
2015-1-SCI-033 P1 RSS (Testing a new method to discover peculiar extragalactic binary stars)
2015-1-SCI-006 P1 RSS (Dark energy and the expansion rate of the Universe from quasar monitoring.)
2015-1-SCI-013 P2 HRS (x2) (Evolved binaries in the Magellanic Clouds )
2015-1-SCI-011 P2 RSS (Searching the Milky Way for symbiotic stars)
2015-1-MLT-003 P4 RSS (We aim to study a number of candidate ultracool objects, which should include new brown dwarfs.)

Night Log 2015-10-04

SA: �ric
SO: Thea
Others:

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Summary
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A fairly productive night.
High winds prevented us from opening at the beginning of the night, but then, all went smoothly.
We could observe three high priority programs, all dedicated to observe newly discovered supernovae.

We gathered data for :
2015-1-SCI-063 P0 RSS (x2) (SALT follow-up of type Ia supernovae to study their properties at targeted redshifts)
2015-1-MLT-002 P0 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2014-2-MLT-002 P1 RSS (Searching for new Supernova Remnants in the Small Magellanic Cloud)
2015-1-SCI-013 P2 HRS (Evolved binaries in the Magellanic Clouds )
2015-1-SCI-065 P3 RSS (x2) (FP Halpha kinematics of RESOLVE galaxies)

Night Log 2015-10-03

SA: �ric
SO: Thea
Others: Petri and Minna to celebrate the 800th block

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Summary
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A very good night. We could observe a lot of programs, and this has allowed us to pass for the first time above the 800 blocks observed in a semester (and the end of the semester is still 3 weeks away).

Have a look at our facebook/twitter webpages to see how we did celebrate that milestone!

We have obtained data for the following programs :

2014-2-MLT-002 P1 RSS (x2) (Searching for new Supernova Remnants in the Small Magellanic Cloud)
2015-1-SCI-041 P1 RSS (Superwinds in luminous starburst galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-011 P2 RSS (x2) (Searching the Milky Way for symbiotic stars)
2015-1-SCI-051 P2 RSS (Redshifts of gravitationally lensed arcs in El Gordo)
2015-1-SCI-065 P3 RSS (FP Halpha kinematics of RESOLVE galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-059 P4 RSS (Long term monitoring of the SMC LBV S18 and LMC sgB[e] star S134)
2015-1-SCI-062 P4 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2015-1-MLT-003 P4 RSS (x2) (We aim to study a number of candidate ultracool objects, which should include new brown dwarfs.)

Night Log 2015-10-02

SA: �ric
SO: Thea
Others:

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Summary
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We could observe at the beginning of the night, but then, heavy clouds came and forced us to close.

We could observe the following programs:
2015-1-SCI-046 P3 SCAM (Redshift determination of newly confirmed galaxy clusters)
2015-1-MLT-003 P4 RSS (We aim to study a number of candidate ultracool objects, which should include new brown dwarfs.)
2015-1-SCI-027 P4 RSS (Kinematics of Bulge Miras)

Night Log 2015-10-01

SA: �ric
SO: Thea
Others:

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Summary
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A relatively productive night, despite heavy clouds at the beginning of the night.
We could observe the following programs:

2015-1-SCI-037 P2 HRS (Exploring the limits of HRS for measuring Exoplanet Radial Velocities)
2015-1-MLT-004 P4 RSS (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2015-1-SCI-062 P4 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2015-1-MLT-003 P4 RSS (x3) (We aim to study a number of candidate ultracool objects, which should include new brown dwarfs.)
2015-1-SCI-027 P4 RSS (x3) (Kinematics of Bulge Miras)

Night Log 2015-09-30

SA: �ric
SO: Thea
Others:

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Summary
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Weather prevented us from opening.