Night Log 2026-09-21

SA: Lee SO: Veronica Others: Mahike, Lisa, Malcolm, Jake, Shan, Shamiel, Dev ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We managed two more blocks tonight which would normally be disappointing, but with the recent weather it feels like a victory! A combination of cloud and humidity kept us closed most of the night, and some mirror issues meant we failed to make the most of the gaps in the weather. Good progress was made with the laser comb commissioning during the bad weather. Science data taken for: 2025-2-LSP-001 P3 HRS (Defining a new chemically peculiar star catalogue) 2024-2-MLT-001 P3 HRS (Spectroscopy of compact heirarchial triples) ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-20

SA: Lee SO: Veronica Others: Mahike, Lisa, Malcolm, Shan, Jake ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ After 10 days of bad weather we finally managed to open up for a few hours on-sky. We battled cloud on and off before high humidity closed us at midnight. Science data taken for: 2026-1-SCI-007 P2 RSS (Observations of Rare and Fast Transients and their Hosts) 2023-2-MLT-005 P3 HRS (Monitoring the activity of Be/X-ray binaries in the southern hemisphere) 2026-1-MLT-006 P4 RSS (Search for new Galactic symbiotic stars) 2023-2-MLT-005 P4 RSS (Monitoring the activity of Be/X-ray binaries in the southern hemisphere) ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-19

SA: Lee SO: Veronica Others: Mahike, Malcolm, Jake, Shan ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Another night lost to weather. No science data taken. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-18

SA: Lee SO: Veronica Others: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Night lost to weather. No science data taken. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-17

SA: Lee SO: Veronica Others: Mahike, Lisa, Malcolm, Shan, Jake ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Another night lost to stormy weather. No science data taken. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-16

SA: Lee SO: Veronica Others: Mahike ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Night lost to weather. No science data taken. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-15

SA: Danièl SO: Austun Others: Thabelo and interview candidates, Lee, ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lost the whole night to bad weather No science data taken. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-14

SA: Danièl SO: Austun Others: Lisa, Malcolm, HW team ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lost the whole night to bad weather. No science data taken. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-13

SA: Danièl SO: Austun Others: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lost the whole night to bad weather. No science data taken. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-12

SA: Danièl SO: Austun Others: Lisa, Malcolm and HW team, Bret, Lucia and UCT students ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lost the whole night to bad weather. No science data taken. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-11

SA: Danièl SO: Austun Others: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lost the whole night to bad weather. No science data taken. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-10

SA: Danièl SO: Austun Others: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lost the whole night to bad weather. No science data taken. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-09

SA: Danièl SO: Austun Others: Sam, Thabelo, Dev (for HRS guider auto-focus test), Encarni ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The night got off to a rocky start after we finished the HRS guider auto-focus test. We managed to complete 9 blocks, including two P0s. Science data taken for: 2026-1-SCI-007 P0 RSS (Observations of Rare and Fast Transients and their Hosts) 2024-2-LSP-001 P0 HRS (Followup of Transients) 2026-1-SCI-008 P1 RSS (Determining mass of 2 Brown Dwarfs orbiting WD stars using Radial Velocities) 2024-2-LSP-001 P1 RSS (x2) (Followup of Transients) 2024-2-LSP-002 P2 RSS (Pan-African AGN survey using SALT/IFS: tracing the properties of AGN and their host galaxies) 2026-1-SCI-018 P3 RSS (Measuring distances to the largest known radio galaxies to understand how black hole jets grow.) 2026-1-SCI-025 P3 RSS (We are probing the large scale outflows in bright quasars through absorption spectroscopy.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-08

SA: Rudi SO: Fred Others: Danièl, Austun, Nico, Nkateko, Lynn-Joy, Hritik ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A full night of observing in relatively good and stable conditions with minimal downtime. Mostly higher priority blocks observed. Science data taken for: 2024-2-LSP-001 P0 HRS (Followup of Transients) 2024-2-COM-002 P1 RSS (This is a commissioning proposal) 2026-1-SCI-003 P1 RSS (The rapid stages of final stellar evolution caught in the act) 2024-2-LSP-001 P2 RSS (x5) (Followup of Transients) 2026-1-SCI-012 P2 RSS (Probing circular polarisation from mCVs) 2026-1-SCI-005 P2 HRS (na) 2025-2-MLT-012 P3 HRS (Search for binary stars which may form planetary nebulae.) 2026-1-SCI-025 P3 RSS (We are probing the large scale outflows in bright quasars through absorption spectroscopy.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-07

SA: Rudi SO: Fred Others: Nkateko, Lynn-Joy, Hritik ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We battled with the clouds once again tonight but managed to get a few blocks observed for the first time in four nights. Science data taken for: 2025-2-MLT-001 P1 RSS (Toward a complete census of void galaxy properties in the Local Volume) 2025-2-MLT-007 P1 RSS (Spectroscopic monitoring of a unique red (?) supergiant in the LMC) 2024-2-LSP-001 P1 RSS (Followup of Transients) 2025-2-MLT-005 P2 RSS (IFU observations of nearby MHONGOOSE galaxies) 2026-1-SCI-014 P3 RSS (What galaxies cause odd radio circles (ORCs)?) 2025-2-MLT-008 P3 HRS (Monitoring beta Pic for exocomets.) 2026-1-MLT-001 P4 HRS (Ovservations of ssrAp stars) ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-06

SA: Rudi SO: Fred Others: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Weather prevented us from opening up tonight. No science data taken. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-05

SA: Rudi SO: Fred Others: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Another night lost to weather. No science data taken. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-04

SA: Rudi SO: Fred Others: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ High winds, clouds and high humidity kept us closed all night. No science data taken. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-03

SA: Rudi SO: Fred Others: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Weather kept us closed all night. No science data taken. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-02

SA: Rudi SO: Fred Others: Prime visitors. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We battled the clouds for most of the night, eventually losing the fight. We were forced to observe mostly lower priority blocks. Science data taken for: 2024-2-LSP-001 P1 RSS (x2) (Followup of Transients) 2025-2-MLT-004 P3 HRS (Radial Velocity Monitoring and Atmospheric Parameters Study of Yellow Symbiotic Giants) 2025-2-LSP-001 P3 HRS (Defining a new chemically peculiar star catalogue) 2025-2-MLT-008 P3 HRS (Monitoring beta Pic for exocomets.) 2026-1-SCI-009 P3 RSS (Extreme variability in the BLR of the AGN HE2129-3356) 2026-1-MLT-001 P4 HRS (x3) (Ovservations of ssrAp stars) ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-09-01

SA: Nikki SO: Veronica Others: Rudi, Fred for handover, Sibo & Jean forsoftware problems, some Prime visitors. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We had a turbulent start of the night due to technical issues, which kept us closed for an amount of time. The second half of the night things settled and we managed to observe a number of blocks of varying priority (mostly 2/3). We only lost a small amount of time to weather towards the end of the night. Science data taken for: 2024-2-LSP-002 P2 RSS (Pan-African AGN survey using SALT/IFS: tracing the properties of AGN and their host galaxies) 2026-1-SCI-006 P2 RSS (Longslit spectroscopic observations of the Cosmic Ammonite gravitational lens) 2026-1-SCI-005 P2 HRS (na) 2026-1-MLT-005 P2 RSS (Extreme variability in the BLR of the Seyfert AGN J0259-2422) 2026-1-SCI-002 P2 HRS (detached eclipsing binaries for PLATO mission) 2024-2-MLT-001 P3 HRS (Spectroscopy of compact heirarchial triples) 2026-1-SCI-027 P3 HRS (Determining the metallicity of bulge Type II Cepheids) 2025-2-LSP-001 P3 HRS (Defining a new chemically peculiar star catalogue) 2025-2-MLT-005 P3 RSS (IFU observations of nearby MHONGOOSE galaxies) 2026-1-MLT-006 P4 RSS (Search for new Galactic symbiotic stars) ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night Log 2026-08-31

SA: Nikki SO: Veronica Others: Sam & E10 for cooling issues, E10 for pdet problem, Antoine for SMI & slot mode blocks ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------ It was a clear night with stable seeing. We managed to observe several blocks of varying priority. Science data taken for: 2026-1-MLT-008 P0 RSS (Studying nearby starburst galaxies and LIRGs with the SALT IFU) 2024-2-COM-002 P1 RSS (This is a commissioning proposal) 2026-1-SCI-002 P1 HRS (detached eclipsing binaries for PLATO mission) 2026-1-SCI-015 P2 RSS (x2) (Investigation of activity among main-belt objects) 2026-1-SCI-007 P2 RSS (Observations of Rare and Fast Transients and their Hosts) 2026-1-SCI-012 P2 RSS (Probing circular polarisation from mCVs) 2026-1-SCI-006 P2 RSS (Longslit spectroscopic observations of the Cosmic Ammonite gravitational lens) 2025-2-MLT-012 P3 HRS (Search for binary stars which may form planetary nebulae.) 2026-1-SCI-027 P3 HRS (Determining the metallicity of bulge Type II Cepheids) 2023-2-MLT-005 P4 RSS (Monitoring the activity of Be/X-ray binaries in the southern hemisphere) ------------------------------------------------------------------------