Night Log 2023-10-30

SA: Danièl
SO: Veronica
Others: Wimpie

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Summary
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Another night of observations was done. The RSS detector temperature is within normal limits again. The guide probes decided to give us issues tonight.

Science data taken for:
2018-2-MLT-005 P1 RSS (Probing the winds from massive binary star supernova progenitors)
2023-1-SCI-013 P1 HRS (Spectrosocpic classification of the microlensing events candidates alerted by Gaia mission)
2023-1-COM-001 P1 HRS (x4) (HS pipeline observations @dlhwp)
2023-1-SCI-019 P3 HRS (x4) (Cosmic dance of massive triples)
2023-1-SCI-006 P4 HRS (Oscillating wildly - characterising the nature of unusually pulsating stars)
2023-2-SCI-014 P4 RSS (x2) (Building a sample of blazar candidates)
2023-1-MLT-005 P4 HRS (Study of proporties of chemically peculiar Am stars)

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Night Log 2023-10-29

SA: Danièl
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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Bad weather kept us closed for the night.

No science data taken.

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Night Log 2023-10-28

SA: undefined
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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We had time to do 3 blocks before the humidity forced us closed for the rest of the night.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-COM-001 P1 HRS (x2) (HS pipeline observations @dlhwp)
2023-1-MLT-005 P4 HRS (Study of proporties of chemically peculiar Am stars)

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Night Log 2023-10-27

SA: Danièl
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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Lost the whole night to thick clouds and high humidity.

No science data taken.

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Night Log 2023-10-26

SA: Danièl
SO: Veronica
Others: Frog

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Summary
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Another full night of observing, with few technical issues.
We had a surprise frog visitor in the control room tonight.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-COM-001 P1 HRS (x2) (HS pipeline observations @dlhwp)
2018-2-MLT-005 P2 RSS (Probing the winds from massive binary star supernova progenitors)
2023-1-SCI-008 P2 HRS (Observations of Ap stars @dlhwp)
2021-2-MLT-006 P3 HRS (Accurate parameters of stars in Tight Triple Systems)
2021-2-MLT-005 P3 HRS (Monitoring the activity of Be/X-ray binaries in the southern hemisphere)
2023-1-SCI-019 P3 HRS (x6) (Cosmic dance of massive triples)
2023-1-MLT-005 P4 HRS (x3) (Study of proporties of chemically peculiar Am stars)
2023-1-SCI-006 P4 HRS (Oscillating wildly - characterising the nature of unusually pulsating stars)

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Night Log 2023-10-25

SA: Danièl
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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We had a full night of observing and mostly a trouble-free evening.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-COM-001 P1 HRS (x2) (HS pipeline observations @dlhwp)
2021-2-MLT-005 P2 HRS (x2) (Monitoring the activity of Be/X-ray binaries in the southern hemisphere)
2023-1-SCI-008 P3 HRS (Observations of Ap stars @dlhwp)
2021-2-MLT-006 P4 HRS (x2) (Accurate parameters of stars in Tight Triple Systems)
2023-1-SCI-019 P4 HRS (x3) (Cosmic dance of massive triples)
2023-1-SCI-005 P4 HRS (x2) (Stellar Characterisation of Ariel mission targets: derivation of N and O abundances)
2023-1-SCI-006 P4 HRS (Oscillating wildly - characterising the nature of unusually pulsating stars)

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Night Log 2023-10-24

SA: Moses
SO: Veronica
Others: Danièl, Wimpie, Pran, Moses, Shamin

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Summary
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The weather conditions were decent tonight and we managed to observe many blocks of mixed priority.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-SCI-025 P1 RSS (x2) (Building a spectroscopic survey of 2 galaxy clusters, boosting MeerKAT legacy value)
2023-1-MLT-003 P1 HRS (Observations of a pos-AGB star which has completely changed its apparence over the last decades. )
2018-2-MLT-005 P2 RSS (Probing the winds from massive binary star supernova progenitors)
2023-1-SCI-012 P3 RSS (Probing the quasar outflows.)
2023-1-SCI-023 P3 HRS (Spectra of RR Lyrae stars which will be used to determine the composition of the stars. )
2020-1-MLT-008 P3 RSS (Obtaining redshifts for G4Jy sources - the brightest radio galaxies in the southern sky)
2023-1-SCI-017 P3 RSS (x2) (Revealing the nature of radio galaxies)
2023-1-MLT-007 P3 RSS (SALT+Gaia survey of helium-rich hot subdwarfs)
2021-2-MLT-005 P3 HRS (x2) (Monitoring the activity of Be/X-ray binaries in the southern hemisphere)

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Night Log 2023-10-23

SA: Moses
SO: Veronica
Others: Wimpie, Timmy

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Summary
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We managed to observe a few very high priority blocks tonight despite some interruption by the weather and some technical problems.

Science data taken for:
2022-2-ORP-005 P0 HRS (Am I hot enough? - The onset of iron absorption in atmospheres of ultra-hot Jupiters)
2023-1-MLT-008 P0 RSS (x2) (Observations of supernovae, near and far. @_sublunar_)
2020-1-MLT-008 P3 RSS (Obtaining redshifts for G4Jy sources - the brightest radio galaxies in the southern sky)

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Night Log 2023-10-22

SA: Moses
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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We only managed to observe a few blocks in between high humidity and thick cloud throughout the night.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-SCI-040 P1 HRS (Follow up spectroscopy of the first candidate for variable metal lines in a polluted white dwarf)
2023-1-SCI-034 P2 RSS (x2) ( Measuring total galaxy mass for disk-heating sample of edge-on galaxies)
2023-1-MLT-007 P3 RSS (SALT+Gaia survey of helium-rich hot subdwarfs)

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Night Log 2023-10-21

SA: Moses
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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Lost the whole night due to bad weather. RSS cryostat maintenance started.

No science data taken.

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Night Log 2023-10-20

SA: Moses
SO: Veronica
Others: Wimpie (remotely for RSS CCD Temp and NIR coms error)

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Summary
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We were only able to comple a couple of blocks before the thick clouds came over. We remain closed for the rest of the night due to thick clouds and high humidity.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-MLT-007 P3 RSS (SALT+Gaia survey of helium-rich hot subdwarfs)
2023-1-MLT-005 P4 HRS (Study of proporties of chemically peculiar Am stars)

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Night Log 2023-10-19

SA: Moses
SO: Veronica
Others: Wimpie, Johan

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Summary
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We had good seeing and clear skies tonight and managed to observe many blocks of mixed priority despite a few technical problems.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-SCI-030 P1 RSS (Looking for orbital motion in binaries)
2023-1-SCI-024 P1 RSS (Identifying and Studying Galaxy Clusters)
2023-1-COM-001 P1 HRS (x2) (HS pipeline observations @dlhwp)
2023-1-SCI-034 P2 RSS (x2) ( Measuring total galaxy mass for disk-heating sample of edge-on galaxies)
2023-1-SCI-004 P2 RSS (Planetary Nebulae as chemodynamic tracers of the dwarf galaxy NGC 6822)
2023-1-MLT-008 P2 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far. @_sublunar_)
2023-1-MLT-007 P3 RSS (SALT+Gaia survey of helium-rich hot subdwarfs)
2023-1-SCI-019 P3 HRS (Cosmic dance of massive triples)
2023-1-MLT-005 P4 HRS (Study of proporties of chemically peculiar Am stars)

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Night Log 2023-10-17

SA: Lee
SO: Thea
Others: Moses, Veronica (handover), Ant (PCON), Eben (hexapod), Paul, Wimpie, Encarni, Petri, Lisa, Brian C & SALT review panel

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Summary
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We lost a couple more hours to technical issues tonight, but the night went very smoothly after they were sorted. We had some nice clear skies with good seeing, making the most of the dark time by completing 8 high priority blocks.

Science data taken for:
2021-2-LSP-001 P0 HRS (Followup of Transients)
2023-1-MLT-008 P0 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far. @_sublunar_)
2023-1-SCI-036 P1 RSS (Studying a Variety of ACT sources with SALT)
2021-2-MLT-005 P2 HRS (x2) (Monitoring the activity of Be/X-ray binaries in the southern hemisphere)
2022-2-MLT-003 P2 RSS (Tracing the evolution of the most massive galaxies in the universe)
2023-1-MLT-006 P2 RSS (Study dwarf galaxies in voids)
2023-1-SCI-007 P3 HRS (Discovering new metal-poor stars)

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Night Log 2023-10-16

SA: Lee
SO: Thea
Others: E10 (for TPC, BCAM & PCON), Janus (for BCAM)

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Summary
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We had significant technical issues tonight across multiple systems, losing just over 2 hours in total. We lost another 2 hours to humidity at the end of the night, leaving around 4 hours of science time in which we completed half a dozen high priority blocks.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-SCI-039 P0 RSS (Extreme AGN Flare Followup)
2023-1-SCI-014 P1 RSS (Study of the galaxies that produces strong MgII absorption in the spectra of the background quasars.)
2023-1-COM-001 P1 HRS (HS pipeline observations @dlhwp)
2023-1-MLT-001 P2 RSS (Tracking Accretion Flows via BLR Emission in Changing-Look Active Galactic Nuclei)
2023-1-SCI-034 P2 RSS (x2) ( Measuring total galaxy mass for disk-heating sample of edge-on galaxies)
2021-2-MLT-005 P3 HRS (Monitoring the activity of Be/X-ray binaries in the southern hemisphere)

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Night Log 2023-10-15

SA: Lee
SO: Thea
Others: Etienne & Ant (for PCON), Eben (for BCAM check)

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Summary
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The weather was good tonight and we managed to observe a number of blocks of mixed priority. An RSS technical issue forced us to observe some lower priority blocks with HRS whilst it was being fixed.

Science data taken for:
2021-2-LSP-001 P0 RSS (Followup of Transients)
2023-1-COM-001 P1 HRS (x2) (HS pipeline observations @dlhwp)
2023-1-MLT-004 P1 RSS (Probing a disc galaxy assembly history)
2023-1-SCI-014 P2 RSS (Study of the galaxies that produces strong MgII absorption in the spectra of the background quasars.)
2023-1-MLT-006 P2 RSS (Study dwarf galaxies in voids)
2023-1-SCI-007 P3 HRS (x2) (Discovering new metal-poor stars)
2023-1-MLT-007 P3 RSS (SALT+Gaia survey of helium-rich hot subdwarfs)
2023-1-SCI-019 P4 HRS (Cosmic dance of massive triples)

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Night Log 2023-10-14

SA: Lee
SO: Thea
Others: Eben (for dome shutter)

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Summary
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The weather gods saw fit to give us a short window between thick cloud and high humidity, which perfectly aligned with a supernova P0 in the queue! We just squeezed it in. It was the only block we managed tonight. Hopefully it proves to be an interesting observation!

Science data taken for:
2023-1-MLT-008 P0 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far. @_sublunar_)

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Night Log 2023-10-13

SA: Lee
SO: Thea
Others: Eben, Johan, Timmy (for dome), Sunnyboy (GPP)

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Summary
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We observed 4 science blocks tonight in mostly poor seeing conditions. We used some poor seeing time to complete some engineering observations for the HS pipeline, and an HRS RV standard. We were closed just after midnight by the humidity.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-COM-001 P1 HRS (x2) (HS pipeline observations @dlhwp)
2023-1-SCI-040 P1 HRS (Follow up spectroscopy of the first candidate for variable metal lines in a polluted white dwarf)
2023-1-SCI-034 P2 RSS ( Measuring total galaxy mass for disk-heating sample of edge-on galaxies)
2021-2-MLT-005 P3 RSS (Monitoring the activity of Be/X-ray binaries in the southern hemisphere)
2023-1-MLT-007 P3 RSS (SALT+Gaia survey of helium-rich hot subdwarfs)

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Night Log 2023-10-12

SA: Lee
SO: Thea
Others: Waanie (for qcpcnew), E10 (for BCAM), David, Anke, Daniel

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Summary
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We only managed one block at the start of the night, before humidity closed us for the remainder.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-MLT-006 P2 RSS (Study dwarf galaxies in voids)

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Night Log 2023-10-11

SA: Lee
SO: Thea
Others:

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Summary
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Night lost to thick cloud.

No science data taken.

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Night Log 2023-10-10

SA: Antoine
SO: Thea
Others: Lee, Anka, Daniel, Ros and David

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Summary
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A full night of observing. We had some thin clouds and bad seeing during the night that forced us to observe some lower-priority targets, but the clouds did not stay for long. We managed to observe some high-priority blocks.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-MLT-008 P0 RSS (x2) (Observations of supernovae, near and far. @_sublunar_)
2023-1-COM-001 P1 HRS (HS pipeline observations @dlhwp)
2023-1-MLT-004 P1 RSS (Probing a disc galaxy assembly history)
2022-2-MLT-003 P2 RSS (Tracing the evolution of the most massive galaxies in the universe)
2023-1-SCI-034 P2 RSS (x3) ( Measuring total galaxy mass for disk-heating sample of edge-on galaxies)
2019-1-MLT-008 P2 HRS (x2) (HRS monitoring of yellow symbiotic systems)
2023-1-SCI-027 P2 RSS (Probing magnetic field strength of cataclysmic variables stars )
2023-1-MLT-007 P3 RSS (x2) (SALT+Gaia survey of helium-rich hot subdwarfs)

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Night Log 2023-10-09

SA: Antoine
SO: Thea
Others:

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Summary
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Clouds and high humidity kept us closed most of the night.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-MLT-007 P3 RSS (x2) (SALT+Gaia survey of helium-rich hot subdwarfs)
2023-1-SCI-005 P3 HRS (Stellar Characterisation of Ariel mission targets: derivation of N and O abundances)

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Night Log 2023-10-08

SA: Antoine
SO: Thea
Others: Richard

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Summary
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Clouds and high humidity kept us closed most of the night.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-SCI-019 P3 HRS (Cosmic dance of massive triples)

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Night Log 2023-10-07

SA: Antoine
SO: Thea
Others: Richard

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Summary
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Clouds and high humidity kept us closed all night.

No science data taken.

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Night Log 2023-10-06

SA: Antoine
SO: Thea
Others: Janus, Malcolm, Melanie and Sunnyboy

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Summary
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We managed to observe a few blocks before the weather became bad.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-SCI-040 P1 HRS (Follow up spectroscopy of the first candidate for variable metal lines in a polluted white dwarf)
2021-2-LSP-001 P1 RSS (Followup of Transients)
2023-1-MLT-007 P3 RSS (SALT+Gaia survey of helium-rich hot subdwarfs)

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Night Log 2023-10-05

SA: Antoine
SO: Thea
Others:

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Summary
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The night was not good, with bad seeing and the humidity forcing us to close.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-SCI-018 P4 RSS (x3) (Building a sample of blazar candidates)
2023-1-SCI-019 P4 HRS (Cosmic dance of massive triples)

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Night Log 2023-10-04

SA: Antoine
SO: Thea
Others: Timmy and Richard

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Summary
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We managed to observe a number of blocks, with some tech spoiling the observing. The whole night, we have thin clouds, and at the end, we get thick clouds.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-COM-001 P1 HRS (HS pipeline observations @dlhwp)
2019-1-MLT-008 P2 HRS (HRS monitoring of yellow symbiotic systems)
2023-1-SCI-028 P2 RSS (x2) (Spectropolarimetric study of nearby galaxies.)
2023-1-SCI-034 P2 RSS (x8) ( Measuring total galaxy mass for disk-heating sample of edge-on galaxies)
2023-1-SCI-008 P3 HRS (Observations of Ap stars @dlhwp)
2023-1-SCI-019 P3 HRS (Cosmic dance of massive triples)
2023-1-MLT-007 P3 RSS (SALT+Gaia survey of helium-rich hot subdwarfs)

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Night Log 2023-10-03

SA: Rudi
SO: Veronica
Others: Antoine, Anthony, Moses, Janus, Encarni, Deon

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Summary
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Managed to observe a number of high priority blocks with some tech and weather downtime to spoil the observing.

Science data taken for:
2021-2-LSP-001 P1 RSS (Followup of Transients)
2023-1-SCI-014 P2 RSS (Study of the galaxies that produces strong MgII absorption in the spectra of the background quasars.)
2023-1-SCI-028 P2 RSS (x4) (Spectropolarimetric study of nearby galaxies.)
2023-1-SCI-034 P2 RSS (x4) ( Measuring total galaxy mass for disk-heating sample of edge-on galaxies)

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Night Log 2023-10-02

SA: Rudi
SO: Veronica
Others: Thabelo, Anthony, Sunnyboy, Danièl, Ken

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Summary
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Managed to get some higher priority blocks done tonight through some technical issues as well as some engineering tests that we needed to do.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-MLT-008 P0 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far. @_sublunar_)
2021-2-LSP-001 P0 RSS (x2) (Followup of Transients)
2023-1-COM-001 P1 HRS (HS pipeline observations @dlhwp)
2023-1-COM-002 P1 RSS (x2) (Observing the Moon for polarimetry calibrations)
2020-1-MLT-008 P2 RSS (Obtaining redshifts for G4Jy sources - the brightest radio galaxies in the southern sky)
2023-1-SCI-028 P3 RSS (x2) (Spectropolarimetric study of nearby galaxies.)
2023-1-SCI-005 P3 HRS (Stellar Characterisation of Ariel mission targets: derivation of N and O abundances)

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Night Log 2023-10-01

SA: Rudi
SO: Veronica
Others: Deon

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Summary
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The night started off with some bad and variable seeing, but the wind changed direction and the seeing settled down. We observed mostly low priority blocks due to the bright moon.

Science data taken for:
2023-1-MLT-008 P0 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far. @_sublunar_)
2023-1-COM-001 P1 HRS (x2) (HS pipeline observations @dlhwp)
2019-1-MLT-008 P2 HRS (HRS monitoring of yellow symbiotic systems)
2018-2-MLT-005 P2 RSS (Probing the winds from massive binary star supernova progenitors)
2023-1-SCI-008 P3 HRS (Observations of Ap stars @dlhwp)
2021-2-MLT-005 P3 RSS (x4) (Monitoring the activity of Be/X-ray binaries in the southern hemisphere)
2023-1-SCI-023 P3 HRS (x2) (Spectra of RR Lyrae stars which will be used to determine the composition of the stars. )
2023-1-SCI-019 P3 HRS (x2) (Cosmic dance of massive triples)
2021-2-MLT-005 P3 HRS (x2) (Monitoring the activity of Be/X-ray binaries in the southern hemisphere)
2023-1-SCI-005 P4 HRS (Stellar Characterisation of Ariel mission targets: derivation of N and O abundances)

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Night Log 2023-09-30

SA: Rudi
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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Clouds and high humidity kept us closed all night.

No science data taken.

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