Saturday, February 21, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-20
SO: Fred
Others: Thabelo and Dev
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Summary
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We observed a good mix of priority blocks with good and stable seeing conditions.
Science data taken for:
2025-2-MLT-011 P0 RSS (Obtaining dynamical information and constraining galaxy cluster merger geometries and timescales)
2024-2-MLT-006 P1 HRS (HRS observations of a high mass binary system.)
2025-2-MLT-006 P1 RSS (Study of galaxy properties of galaxy group HIPASS 1059-09)
2025-2-MLT-009 P1 RSS (x2) (Spectroscopy of ultra-diffuse galaxies)
2025-2-SCI-039 P2 RSS (Optical and near-infrared IFU observations of nearby starbursts and LIRGs)
2025-2-SCI-025 P3 RSS (x2) (RSS spectropolarimetry of Herbig Be stars at H? to trace accretion geometry.)
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Friday, February 20, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-19
SO: Fred
Others: Dev and Rudi for TimDIMM and Thabelo for PFGS
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Summary
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We observed a good mix of priority blocks, but humidity forced us to close before twilight.
Science data taken for:
2025-2-MLT-011 P0 RSS (Obtaining dynamical information and constraining galaxy cluster merger geometries and timescales)
2025-1-MLT-001 P0 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2025-2-LSP-002 P1 NIR (x2) (Reverberation mapping of high-z quasars )
2024-2-LSP-002 P1 RSS (Pan-African AGN survey using SALT/IFS: tracing the properties of AGN and their host galaxies)
2025-2-SCI-025 P2 RSS (x5) (RSS spectropolarimetry of Herbig Be stars at H? to trace accretion geometry.)
2025-2-SCI-030 P3 RSS (Study of radio source with signatures of jet precession)
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Thursday, February 19, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-18
SO: Fred
Others: Dev and Thabelo
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Summary
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A full night of observing in relatively good seeing conditions to start off our week. we observed a good number of high-priority blocks.
Science data taken for:
2025-2-MLT-006 P1 RSS (Study of galaxy properties of galaxy group HIPASS 1059-09)
2025-2-SCI-023 P1 RSS (Measuring the orbit and disc of a neutron star X-ray binary)
2024-2-LSP-002 P1 RSS (Pan-African AGN survey using SALT/IFS: tracing the properties of AGN and their host galaxies)
2021-2-MLT-004 P1 RSS (Spectropolarimetric Monitoring of eta Car)
2025-2-LSP-002 P1 NIR (x2) (Reverberation mapping of high-z quasars )
2025-2-SCI-014 P1 RSS (x2) (We are probing the large scale outflows in bright quasars through absorption spectroscopy.)
2025-2-MLT-005 P2 RSS (IFU observations of nearby MHONGOOSE galaxies)
2025-2-SCI-025 P2 RSS (RSS spectropolarimetry of Herbig Be stars at H? to trace accretion geometry.)
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Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-17
SO: Veronica
Others: Fred, Antoine, Thor, Lizette
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Summary
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The thunderstorms from earlier in the day eventually cleared out and left us with just over half the night to observe with clear skies and good seeing. We completed 6 high priority dark moon blocks.
Science data taken for:
2024-2-LSP-001 P0 RSS (Followup of Transients)
2025-2-MLT-006 P1 RSS (Study of galaxy properties of galaxy group HIPASS 1059-09)
2025-2-MLT-009 P1 RSS (x2) (Spectroscopy of ultra-diffuse galaxies)
2021-2-MLT-004 P1 RSS (Spectropolarimetric Monitoring of eta Car)
2025-2-SCI-023 P1 RSS (Measuring the orbit and disc of a neutron star X-ray binary)
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Tuesday, February 17, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-16
SO: Veronica
Others:
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Summary
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Night lost to weather.
No science data taken.
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Monday, February 16, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-15
SO: Veronica
Others:
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Summary
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We finally got a full night on sky! The seeing was not great again though, and especially bad after midnight. This restricted us to low priority blocks for a while, but we still managed several higher priority blocks in patches of better seeing.
Science data taken for:
2021-2-MLT-004 P1 RSS (Spectropolarimetric Monitoring of eta Car)
2025-1-COM-001 P1 HRS (HRS HS Commissioning )
2025-2-SCI-014 P1 RSS (We are probing the large scale outflows in bright quasars through absorption spectroscopy.)
2024-2-MLT-006 P2 HRS (HRS observations of a high mass binary system.)
2024-1-MLT-001 P2 RSS (Study of the outer parts of lenticular galaxies.)
2025-1-MLT-001 P2 RSS (x2) (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2025-2-SCI-004 P3 HRS (observations of ssrAp stars)
2025-2-SCI-006 P3 HRS (x2) (Measuring Lithium abundances in UMa candidate stars)
2025-2-SCI-003 P3 HRS (x3) (Cosmic dance of massive triple)
2023-2-MLT-005 P4 HRS (Monitoring the activity of Be/X-ray binaries in the southern hemisphere)
2025-2-LSP-001 P4 HRS (Defining a new chemically peculiar star catalogue)
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Sunday, February 15, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-14
SO: Veronica
Others:
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Summary
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The weather made life difficult for us tonight. A strong easterly wind brought very poor seeing for the first half of the night, during which we were limited to mostly P4 blocks. Humidity, cloud and wind closed us around 3 hours before twilight.
Science data taken for:
2021-2-MLT-004 P1 RSS (Spectropolarimetric Monitoring of eta Car)
2023-2-MLT-005 P4 HRS (x2) (Monitoring the activity of Be/X-ray binaries in the southern hemisphere)
2025-2-MLT-007 P4 RSS (Spectroscopic monitoring of a unique red (?) supergiant in the LMC)
2025-2-LSP-001 P4 HRS (x2) (Defining a new chemically peculiar star catalogue)
2025-2-SCI-022 P4 RSS (Artificial intelligence identification of extragalactic sources)
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Saturday, February 14, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-13
SO: Veronica
Others:
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Summary
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We completed 4 blocks before humidity and cloud closed us just before midnight.
Science data taken for:
2025-2-MLT-011 P0 RSS (Obtaining dynamical information and constraining galaxy cluster merger geometries and timescales)
2021-2-MLT-004 P1 RSS (Spectropolarimetric Monitoring of eta Car)
2025-2-SCI-016 P2 RSS (Observing rare and fast transients.)
2025-2-SCI-003 P3 HRS (Cosmic dance of massive triple)
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Friday, February 13, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-12
SO: Veronica
Others: Lisa, Rudi, Tim
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Summary
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Night lost to humidity.
No science data taken.
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Thursday, February 12, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-11
SO: Veronica
Others:
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Summary
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Night lost to weather.
No science data taken.
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Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-10
SO: Austun
Others:
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Summary
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=> Have some technical problems from the evening. Where closed by humidity after midnight. Observed one P0 block anyway.
Science data taken for:
2024-2-LSP-001 P0 RSS (Followup of Transients)
2025-2-SCI-025 P2 RSS (RSS spectropolarimetry of Herbig Be stars at H? to trace accretion geometry.)
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Tuesday, February 10, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-09
SO: Austun
Others:
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Summary
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=> The whole night was lost due to bad weather. No any science data were taken.
No science data taken.
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Monday, February 9, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-08
SO: Austun
Others:
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Summary
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=> All night was lost due to bad weather
No science data taken.
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Sunday, February 8, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-07
SO: Austun
Others:
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Summary
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=> Unstable night with rising humidity. Were closed by humidity at about midnight.
Science data taken for:
2021-2-MLT-004 P1 RSS (Spectropolarimetric Monitoring of eta Car)
2025-1-COM-001 P1 HRS (HRS HS Commissioning )
2025-2-LSP-003 P3 RSS (x2) (Investigating the polarised nature of TeV-emitting blazars)
2023-2-LSP-001 P3 RSS (Spectra of ultrashort period main sequence binary stars)
2025-2-SCI-020 P3 RSS (Uncovering the nature of new X-ray objects discovered in the Magellanic system with eROSITA)
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Saturday, February 7, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-06
SO: Austun
Others:
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Summary
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=> Unstable night with with variable situation with clouds and humidity. Anywhere, two P0 blocks were observed as well as many other blocks of different priorities.
Science data taken for:
2024-2-LSP-001 P0 HRS (Followup of Transients)
2024-2-LSP-001 P0 RSS (Followup of Transients)
2021-2-MLT-004 P1 RSS (x2) (Spectropolarimetric Monitoring of eta Car)
2025-1-MLT-003 P1 HRS (Unraveling the enigmatic variability of AE Cir system with SALT)
2025-2-LSP-003 P2 RSS (Investigating the polarised nature of TeV-emitting blazars)
2023-2-LSP-001 P3 RSS (x2) (Spectra of ultrashort period main sequence binary stars)
2024-2-MLT-001 P3 HRS (Spectroscopy of compact heirarchial triples)
2025-2-SCI-031 P3 RSS (Redshifts of candidate TeV blazars)
2025-2-MLT-001 P4 RSS (Toward a complete census of void galaxy properties in the Local Volume)
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Friday, February 6, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-05
SO: Austun
Others:
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Summary
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=> Unstable weather with growing humidity. Were closed by humidity one hour before midnight. Only three blocks were observed, but one of the priority P0.
Science data taken for:
2024-2-LSP-001 P0 RSS (Followup of Transients)
2024-2-MLT-006 P2 HRS (HRS observations of a high mass binary system.)
2024-1-MLT-010 P3 HRS (Stellar Characterisation of Ariel mission targets: derivation of N and O abundances)
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Thursday, February 5, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-04
SO: Austun
Others:
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Summary
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=> Night was lost due to bad weather. No any science data were taken.
No science data taken.
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Wednesday, February 4, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-03
SO: techops
Others: JC is the operator, Brian, Austun and Alexei (handover)
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Summary
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Clouds and humidity kept us closed tonight
No science data taken.
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Tuesday, February 3, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-02
SO: techops
Others: JC is the operator, E10 and Michael for basically everything!
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Summary
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We had a rather eventful evening, with detector failures, problems with the dome control software, and a close call as humidity levels approached the operational limits.
Science data taken for:
2025-2-MLT-010 P1 HRS (SA-China Exoplanet Collaboration PASTA)
2025-1-MLT-001 P2 RSS (x2) (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2025-2-LSP-001 P4 HRS (Defining a new chemically peculiar star catalogue)
2025-2-SCI-004 P4 HRS (x2) (observations of ssrAp stars)
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Monday, February 2, 2026
Night Log 2026-02-01
SO: techops
Others: JC is the SO, E10 (SDC)
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Summary
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We had another full night with some technical issues sprinkled in.
Science data taken for:
2025-1-COM-001 P1 HRS (HRS HS Commissioning )
2024-1-MLT-010 P3 HRS (Stellar Characterisation of Ariel mission targets: derivation of N and O abundances)
2025-2-SCI-003 P3 HRS (Cosmic dance of massive triple)
2025-2-SCI-009 P3 HRS (High resolution spectrocopy of Type II Cepheids)
2025-2-SCI-004 P3 HRS (x2) (observations of ssrAp stars)
2024-1-LSP-001 P3 NIR (x2) (Study of star formation quenching in post-starburst galaxies)
2025-2-SCI-018 P3 NIR (Near-infrared (and one optical) spectra of AGN)
2025-2-LSP-001 P4 HRS (x2) (Defining a new chemically peculiar star catalogue)
2020-1-MLT-008 P4 RSS (Obtaining redshifts for G4Jy sources - the brightest radio galaxies in the southern sky)
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Sunday, February 1, 2026
Night Log 2026-01-31
SO: techops
Others: E10 (tracker), Sunnyboy (NIRWALS), JC is the SO
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Summary
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We had some technical gremlins which made the night interesting, we managed to complete 12 blocks, among them a P0.
Science data taken for:
2024-2-LSP-001 P0 HRS (Followup of Transients)
2024-2-COM-002 P1 RSS (x2) (This is a commissioning proposal)
2025-1-MLT-001 P2 RSS (Observations of supernovae, near and far.)
2025-2-MLT-013 P3 RSS (Searching for double hydrogen-deficient stars)
2025-2-SCI-005 P4 HRS (Observing, how disc-atmosphere inhomogeneities are rotating around the forming star)
2020-1-MLT-008 P4 RSS (Obtaining redshifts for G4Jy sources - the brightest radio galaxies in the southern sky)
2025-2-LSP-001 P4 HRS (x4) (Defining a new chemically peculiar star catalogue)
2023-2-MLT-005 P4 RSS (x2) (Monitoring the activity of Be/X-ray binaries in the southern hemisphere)
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