Night Log 2016-03-30

SA: Petri
SO: Thea
Others: Marissa, Etienne

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Summary
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Nearly all the night lost to high humidity, got only one short observation,
quantifying HRS instrument performance, done in the beginning:
2015-2-COM-004 P2 HRS (Commissionning data for HRS)

Night Log 2016-03-29

SA: Marissa
SO: Fred
Others: Petri, Chritian (and visitors), Thea, Enrico

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Summary
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Strong wind, high humidity and dense cloud kept us closed most of the night. It gave us the opportunity to do several closed dome calibrations.

Nevertheless, data were taken for:

2015-2-SCI-059 P2 RSS (RESOLVE survey kinematics observations)

Night Log 2016-03-28

SA: Marissa
SO: Fred
Others:

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Summary
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Clear early evening (with decent seeing) deteriorated into a partly cloudy night with average seeing.

Data taken for:

2015-2-SCI-023 P1 HRS (HRS spectroscopy of eclipsing stars in Omega Centauri)
2015-2-SCI-060 P1 RSS (Study of OVI emissions as a function of optical brightness state in two SSS.)
2015-2-SCI-008 P1 HRS (Determining the period of a multi-periodic pulsating binary system.)
2015-2-SCI-026 P2 RSS (Probing the time variability of QSO absorption line)
2015-2-COM-004 P2 HRS (Commissionning data for HRS)
2015-2-SCI-063 P3 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2015-2-SCI-059 P3 RSS (RESOLVE survey kinematics observations)
2015-2-SCI-055 P4 HRS (Probing winds from the center of the Milky Way (@astrocrawford))
2015-2-SCI-056 P4 HRS (x2) (Tracing the chemical history of our galaxy)

Night Log 2016-03-27

SA: Marissa
SO: Fred
Others:

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Summary
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Strong wind, high humidity and clouds.

No data taken.

Night Log 2016-03-26

SA: Marissa
SO: Fred
Others:

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Summary
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Cold night with high humidity and eventually rain clouds.

No data taken.

Night Log 2016-03-25

SA: Marissa
SO: Fred
Others:

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Summary
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Rained most of the day, but cleared just in time for the start of the night. Closed in the morning for high humidity.

Data taken for:

2015-2-SCI-021 P1 HRS (x2) (High resolution spectroscopic abundance measurements of RGBs in NGC 6584)
2015-2-SCI-019 P2 RSS (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae )
2015-2-COM-004 P2 HRS (Commissionning data for HRS)
2015-2-SCI-012 P3 RSS (Searching for a companion to the eclipsing binary 1SWASP J161253.63-022042.2)
2015-2-SCI-056 P4 HRS (x7) (Tracing the chemical history of our galaxy)
2015-2-SCI-043 P4 RSS (x6) (Spectroscopic observations of bright RR Lyrae variables)

Night Log 2016-03-24

SA: Marissa
SO: Fred
Others: Lucian & Keegan

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Summary
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Clear night in which we could observe a few targets before closing for high humidity.

Data taken for:

2015-2-COM-004 P2 HRS (Commissioning data for HRS)
2015-1-MLT-002 P2 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2015-2-SCI-043 P4 RSS (x4) (Spectroscopic observations of bright RR Lyrae variables)

Night Log 2016-03-23

SA: Marissa
SO: Fred
Others:

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Summary
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Full moon with thin clouds. Got the opportunity to do a few targets before we had to close for high humidity.

Data taken for:

2015-2-SCI-018 P3 HRS (Evolved binaries in the Magellanic Clouds)
2015-2-SCI-009 P3 HRS (Searching for circumbinary planets)
2015-2-SCI-043 P4 RSS (x2) (Spectroscopic observations of bright RR Lyrae variables)
2015-2-SCI-049 P4 RSS (Monitoring the X-ray bright sgB[e] stars in Magellanic Clouds)

Night Log 2016-03-22

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others: Marissa, Enrico and Tamara for a while

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Summary
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=> Stable productive night with bright Moon and good seeing.

=> 2015-2-SCI-008 P1 HRS (Determining the period of a multi-periodic pulsating binary system.)
2015-2-COM-004 P2 HRS (x5) (Commissionning data for HRS)
2015-1-MLT-004 P2 RSS (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2015-2-SCI-019 P2 RSS (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae )
2015-2-SCI-012 P3 RSS (Searching for a companion to the eclipsing binary 1SWASP J161253.63-022042.2)
2015-2-SCI-056 P4 HRS (x3) (Tracing the chemical history of our galaxy)
2015-2-SCI-043 P4 RSS (x8) (Spectroscopic observations of bright RR Lyrae variables)

Night Log 2016-03-21

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others:

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Summary
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=> Unstable night with bad seeing. Humidity grows continuously and finally we were closed by humidity after midnight.

=> A weekly set of calibrations for HRS was done

=> Some data were taken for the following programs:
2015-2-COM-004 P2 HRS (Commissionning data for HRS)
2015-2-SCI-056 P4 HRS (x4) (Tracing the chemical history of our galaxy)
2015-2-SCI-043 P4 RSS (x6) (Spectroscopic observations of bright RR Lyrae variables)
2015-2-SCI-064 P4 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2016-03-20

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others: Tamara for a while

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Summary
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=> Very unstable night with very high humidity. Technical difficulties the first 4 hours and HRS offline finally because FIF is out of action. Were closed by humidity finally.

=> Data were taken for the following programs:
2015-2-SCI-018 P3 HRS (Evolved binaries in the Magellanic Clouds)
2015-2-SCI-012 P3 RSS (Searching for a companion to the eclipsing binary 1SWASP J161253.63-022042.2)
2015-2-SCI-043 P4 RSS (x6) (Spectroscopic observations of bright RR Lyrae variables)
2015-2-SCI-064 P4 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2016-03-19

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others: Tamara for a while

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Summary
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=> Very clear and stable night with very good seeing.

=> Data were taken for the following programs:
2015-2-SCI-008 P1 HRS (Determining the period of a multi-periodic pulsating binary system.)
2015-1-MLT-002 P2 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2015-2-SCI-019 P2 RSS (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae )
2015-1-MLT-004 P2 RSS (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2015-2-SCI-029 P3 RSS (Spectroscopy of Kepler K2 White Dwarfs)
2015-2-SCI-009 P3 HRS (Searching for circumbinary planets)
2015-2-SCI-043 P4 RSS (x3) (Spectroscopic observations of bright RR Lyrae variables)
2015-2-SCI-056 P4 HRS (x2) (Tracing the chemical history of our galaxy)

Night Log 2016-03-18

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others:

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Summary
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=> The stable night with very high humidity and sub-arcsecond seeing. Finally, we were closed by humidity.

=> Data were taken for the following programs:
2015-2-SCI-021 P1 HRS (High resolution spectroscopic abundance measurements of RGBs in NGC 6584)
2015-2-SCI-030 P3 RSS (x4) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-2-SCI-001 P3 HRS (Gravitational redshifts in planetary nebulae and spectra of dwarf tidal galaxies)
2015-2-SCI-063 P3 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2015-2-SCI-043 P4 RSS (x2) (Spectroscopic observations of bright RR Lyrae variables)
2015-2-SCI-049 P4 RSS (Monitoring the X-ray bright sgB[e] stars in Magellanic Clouds)
2015-2-SCI-056 P4 HRS (Tracing the chemical history of our galaxy)

Night Log 2016-03-17

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others: Tamara for a while

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Summary
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=> Clear night with very stable and sometimes sub-arcsecond seeing.
Weather conditions started to be less stable to the end of the night.

=> Data were taken for the following programs:
2015-2-SCI-023 P1 HRS (HRS spectroscopy of eclipsing stars in Omega Centauri)
2015-2-SCI-059 P2 RSS (x3) (RESOLVE survey kinematics observations)
2015-1-MLT-002 P2 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2015-1-MLT-004 P2 RSS (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2015-2-SCI-030 P3 RSS (x2) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-2-SCI-029 P3 RSS (x2) (Spectroscopy of Kepler K2 White Dwarfs)
2015-2-SCI-028 P3 SCAM (Confirmation and redshift determination of galaxy clusters)
2015-2-SCI-043 P4 RSS (x2) (Spectroscopic observations of bright RR Lyrae variables)

Night Log 2016-03-16

SA: Alexei
SO: Fred
Others: Tamara for a while

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Summary
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=> Very stable night with very stable and often sub-arcsecond seeing

=> Data were taken for the following programs:
2015-2-SCI-008 P1 HRS (Determining the period of a multi-periodic pulsating binary system.)
2015-2-SCI-012 P2 RSS (Searching for a companion to the eclipsing binary 1SWASP J161253.63-022042.2)
2015-1-MLT-004 P2 RSS (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2015-2-SCI-009 P3 HRS (Searching for circumbinary planets)
2015-2-SCI-055 P3 HRS (Probing winds from the center of the Milky Way)
2015-2-SCI-029 P3 RSS (x2) (Spectroscopy of Kepler K2 White Dwarfs)
2015-2-SCI-059 P3 RSS (x4) (RESOLVE survey kinematics observations)
2015-2-MLT-006 P3 RSS (Characterising Strong Gravitational Lensing systems)
2015-2-SCI-018 P3 HRS (Evolved binaries in the Magellanic Clouds)
2015-2-SCI-043 P4 RSS (x2) (Spectroscopic observations of bright RR Lyrae variables)
2015-2-SCI-056 P4 HRS (Tracing the chemical history of our galaxy)

Night Log 2016-03-15

SA: Marissa
SO: Thea
Others: Alexei

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Summary
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Terrible seeing most of the night. Closed due to high humidity after 01:00.

Data taken for:

2015-2-SCI-009 P3 HRS (Searching for circumbinary planets)
2015-2-SCI-056 P4 HRS (Tracing the chemical history of our galaxy)
2015-2-SCI-043 P4 RSS (x5) (Spectroscopic observations of bright RR Lyrae variables)

Night Log 2016-03-14

SA: Marissa
SO: Thea
Others:

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Summary
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Clear night with variable seeing before midnight and sub-arcsecond thereafter, fortuitously in time for the ToO that was added earlier in the evening. The rest of the night had decent seeing and the good conditions yielded a productive night.

Data taken for:

2015-2-MLT-004 P1 RSS (Unraveling ring galaxies)
2015-2-SCI-059 P2 RSS (x4) (RESOLVE survey kinematics observations)
2015-2-SCI-007 P2 RSS (Spectroscopic classification of pulsating stars. )
2015-1-MLT-002 P2 RSS (x2) (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2015-2-SCI-019 P2 RSS (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae )
2015-2-SCI-026 P2 RSS (Probing the time variability of QSO absorption line)
2015-2-SCI-012 P2 RSS (Searching for a companion to the eclipsing binary 1SWASP J161253.63-022042.2)
2015-2-MLT-002 P3 RSS (Study of the evolution of lenticular galaxies.)
2015-2-SCI-043 P4 RSS (x2) (Spectroscopic observations of bright RR Lyrae variables)

Night Log 2016-03-13

SA: Marissa
SO: Thea
Others: Keith

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Summary
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Clear night. Closed around midnight for high humidity. Poor seeing conditions just prior to closing. Some closed-dome calibrations were completed.

Data taken for:

2015-2-SCI-041 P2 RSS (Spectroscopic classification of candidate magnetic cataclysmic variables in the CRTS)
2015-1-MLT-004 P2 RSS (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2015-2-MLT-002 P3 RSS (Study of the evolution of lenticular galaxies.)
2015-2-SCI-043 P4 RSS (x3) (Spectroscopic observations of bright RR Lyrae variables)

Night Log 2016-03-12

SA: Marissa
SO: Thea
Others:

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Summary
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A beautiful clear night with decent seeing that we put to good use. Data taken for:

2015-2-DDT-003 P0 HRS (Linking optical emission line variability to X-ray activity in Be/X-ray binaries)
2015-2-SCI-026 P1 RSS (Probing the time variability of QSO absorption line)
2015-2-MLT-004 P1 RSS (x2) (Unraveling ring galaxies)
2015-2-SCI-023 P1 HRS (HRS spectroscopy of eclipsing stars in Omega Centauri)
2015-2-SCI-060 P1 RSS (Study of OVI emissions as a function of optical brightness state in two SSS.)
2015-2-SCI-005 P1 RSS (Looking for Companions to a High-Redshift Gas-Rich Galaxy)
2015-1-MLT-004 P2 RSS (x2) (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2015-2-SCI-029 P3 RSS (Spectroscopy of Kepler K2 White Dwarfs)

Night Log 2016-03-11

SA: Marissa
SO: Thea
Others:

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Summary
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Night started with strong wind. Humidity closed us in the early evening already and we spent time on closed-dome calibrations thereafter. Data were taken for proposals that didn't require image quality higher than we could achieve (with only a coarse mirror alignment) while we were briefly open:

2015-2-SCI-043 P4 RSS (Spectroscopic observations of bright RR Lyrae variables)
2015-2-SCI-049 P4 RSS (Monitoring the X-ray bright sgB[e] stars in Magellanic Clouds)

Night Log 2016-03-10

SA: Marissa
SO: Thea
Others: Enrico

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Summary
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The night was cut short by high humidity before midnight.

Data taken for:

2015-2-MLT-001 P0 RSS (Follow-up spectroscopy of transients)
2015-2-SCI-005 P1 RSS (Looking for Companions to a High-Redshift Gas-Rich Galaxy)
2015-2-SCI-026 P1 RSS (x2) (Probing the time variability of QSO absorption line)

Night Log 2016-03-09

SA: Marissa
SO: Thea
Others:

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Summary
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Clear dark night with technical difficulties the first 3 hours, but a productive evening otherwise.

Data taken for:

2015-1-MLT-002 P0 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2015-2-SCI-005 P1 RSS (x2) (Looking for Companions to a High-Redshift Gas-Rich Galaxy)
2015-1-MLT-004 P2 RSS (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2015-2-SCI-059 P2 RSS (x2) (RESOLVE survey kinematics observations)
2015-2-SCI-012 P2 RSS (Searching for a companion to the eclipsing binary 1SWASP J161253.63-022042.2)

Night Log 2016-03-08

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others: Marissa, David, Steve C, Zwido, Enrico, Ramotholo, Thea

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- Attempted couple of programs at the start of the night, but clouds interfered. We closed early due to high humidity.
- Did not accept any observations tonight.

- This is my last night at SALT. It has been a great privilege working here. Thank you for the opportunity I was given to play on one of the largest optical telescopes in the world. I'm going to miss my trips up to Sutherland. Wishing everyone at SALT all the best for the future.

Night Log 2016-03-07

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others: Steve C

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- We were closed the whole night due to high humidity.
- No data taken.

Night Log 2016-03-06

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others: Steve C

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Summary
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- We were closed for most of the night due to rain and clouds. It cleared and we opened around 03:30. Managed to get one program in.

- Got data for:
2015-2-DDT-003 P0 HRS (Linking optical emission line variability to X-ray activity in Be/X-ray binaries)

Night Log 2016-03-05

SA: Paul
SO: Thea
Others:

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- Rain at the beginning of the night and cloudy conditions kept us from opening. No data taken tonight.

Night Log 2016-03-04

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others: Steve C

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- Good observing conditions tonight. Seeing was close to 1'' for most of the night and the weather was clear. Had a productive night with minor technical issues.

- Obtained data for the following programs:
2015-2-MLT-001 P0 SCAM (Followup spectroscopy of transients)
2015-1-COM-002 P0 RSS (Polarimetry test proposal)
2015-2-SVP-002 P0 RSS (Spectropolarimetric observations to verify that spectropolarimetry is ready for science!)
2015-2-MLT-004 P1 RSS (Unraveling ring galaxies)
2015-2-MLT-006 P1 RSS (Characterising Strong Gravitational Lensing systems)
2015-2-SCI-005 P1 RSS (x4) (Looking for Companions to a High-Redshift Gas-Rich Galaxy)
2015-2-SCI-019 P2 RSS (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae )
2015-2-SCI-030 P2 RSS (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-2-SCI-029 P3 RSS (Spectroscopy of Kepler K2 White Dwarfs)

Night Log 2016-03-03

SA: Paul
SO: Thea
Others:

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Summary
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- Had clear conditions and good seeing for most of the evening. One minor technical issue, otherwise we had a productive night.

- Obtained data for the following programs:

2015-2-DDT-003 P0 HRS (Linking optical emission line variability to X-ray activity in Be/X-ray binaries)
2015-2-SCI-005 P0 RSS (x2) (Looking for Companions to a High-Redshift Gas-Rich Galaxy)
2015-2-SVP-003 P0 RSS (Commissioning Polarimetric Observations of Supernova (PI: @astrocrawford))
2015-2-MLT-006 P1 RSS (Characterising Strong Gravitational Lensing systems)
2015-2-SCI-012 P1 RSS (Searching for a companion to the eclipsing binary 1SWASP J161253.63-022042.2)
2015-2-SCI-017 P1 SCAM (Dark energy and the expansion rate of the Universe from quasar monitoring.)
2015-1-MLT-004 P2 RSS (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2015-2-SCI-056 P4 HRS (x2) (Tracing the chemical history of our galaxy)

Night Log 2016-03-02

SA: Paul
SO: Thea
Others: Anastasia, Anthony, Steve C

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Summary
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- A clear and stable night. Was a tech issue free night till the last observation.

- Managed to obtain data for the following programs:

2015-1-MLT-002 P0 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2015-2-SVP-003 P0 RSS (Commissioning Polarimetric Observations of Supernova (PI: @astrocrawford))
2015-2-COM-003 P0 RSS (Polarimetry test proposal)
2015-2-MLT-006 P1 RSS (x2) (Characterising Strong Gravitational Lensing systems)
2015-2-SCI-049 P4 RSS (Monitoring the X-ray bright sgB[e] stars in Magellanic Clouds)
2015-2-SCI-043 P4 RSS (Spectroscopic observations of bright RR Lyrae variables)

Night Log 2016-03-01

SA: Brent
SO: Fred
Others: PTT (Paul 'Til Twilight), Steve C, Tim-Oliver and Rick

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Summary
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A relatively smooth night with good stretches of great seeing. Data taken for:

2015-2-MLT-004 P1 RSS (Unraveling ring galaxies)
2015-2-MLT-006 P1 RSS (x4) (Characterising Strong Gravitational Lensing systems)
2015-2-SCI-031 P2 RSS (Connecting QSO absorption line systems with the associated galaxies)
2015-2-SCI-019 P2 RSS (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae )
2015-2-SCI-041 P3 RSS (Spectroscopic classification of candidate magnetic cataclysmic variables in the CRTS)
2015-2-SCI-043 P4 RSS (Spectroscopic observations of bright RR Lyrae variables)
2015-2-SCI-056 P4 HRS (Tracing the chemical history of our galaxy)

Night Log 2016-02-29

SA: Brent
SO: Fred
Others: Tim-Oliver, Taka and colleagues

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Summary
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A productive night with a few weird software quirks in the morning due to leap day. Data taken for:

2015-2-SCI-030 P2 RSS (x2) (Searching for high redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS))
2015-2-SCI-019 P2 RSS (x2) (Searching for binaries in unusual central stars of planetary nebulae )
2015-2-SCI-035 P3 RSS (Identifying new ultracompact binary star systems through their spectral characteristics)
2015-2-SCI-046 P3 RSS (A spectral study on low-mass T Tauri stars in the high mass star forming regions RCW 34 and NGC 2626)
2015-2-SCI-026 P3 RSS (Probing the time variability of QSO absorption line)
2015-2-SCI-056 P4 HRS (x4) (Tracing the chemical history of our galaxy)