Night Log 2014-09-29

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others: Martin, Keith, Eric, Ockert, Francois

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Summary
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- again, opened for a short while before we had to close due to high humidity.

Night Log 2014-09-28

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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- was open for a short while at the beginning of the night, but we were forced to close due to high humidity and ridge cloud.

Night Log 2014-09-27

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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- did not open due to rain, cloud and high humidity.

Night Log 2014-09-26

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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- not a succesful night of observing.
- we started late due to technical issues and struggled to get good mirror alignments. by the time we were ready to get observations underway we had to close due to high humidity.

- managed to get one target observed and did some engineering work as well.
- obtained data for:
2014-1-POL-001 P1 HRS (Searching for circumbinary planets)

Night Log 2014-09-25

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others: Ockert, Francois, Eric, Luke

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Summary
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- spent time on engineering tests for the edge sensors as well as other engineering observations.
- had photometric conditions with good to fair seeing.
- HRS was back online tonight.

- obtained data for the following programs:
2014-1-RSA_HET_OTH-001 P0 SCAM (SPIRITS Optical Follow-up)
2014-1-POL-001 P1 HRS (x2) (Searching for circumbinary planets)

Night Log 2014-09-24

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others: Francois, Ockert, Johnathan

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Summary
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- the red arm of HRS is not operational yet, therefore, all the HRS data taken tonight is blue detector only.

- had clear and photometric conditions for the whole evening. the seeing was variable and ranged from 1.1'' to 2.5''. had various small technical issues.

- obtained data for the following programs:

2014-1-RSA_HET_UKSC_OTH-001 P0 SCAM (Observe the accretion disc as a white dwarf, neutron star or black hole gobbles up a companion.)
2014-1-POL-001 P2 HRS (Searching for circumbinary planets)
2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2014-09-23

SA: Petri
SO: Thea
Others: Paul, Eric, Luke, Steve P., Abi Saha

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Summary
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Lost the night to thunderstorms and clouds

Night Log 2014-09-22

SA: Petri
SO: Thea
Others: Eric, Lisa, John, Ockert, Keith

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Summary
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Night started out with thick cirrus so did edge sensing engineering first.
Mostly HRS science in second half of the night when sky improved,
some Salticam work in addition and a little time lost to technical issues.
Data for:
2014-1-DC-006 P0 HRS (Classification of possible supernovae)
2014-1-HET_OTH-002 P2 HRS (x4) (To determine if C enhanced Metal-poor stars without heavy element enhancement is due to binarity.)
2014-2-SCI-039 P3 SCAM (Imaging distant galaxy cluster candidates detected by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope)

Night Log 2014-09-21

SA: Petri
SO: Thea
Others: Etienne, Lisa, John

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Summary
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Dark clear stable night again, but seeing poorer. No technical issues
until mid-night, but lost HRS capabilities after that. Engineering and
Salticam stuff after some tech.downtime. Note all HRS PIs:
data only from Blue arm. HRS and Salticam science for:

2014-1-HET_OTH-002 P2 HRS (To determine if C enhanced Metal-poor stars without heavy element enhancement is due to binarity.)
2014-1-RSA_OTH-020 P2 SCAM (Rapid photometry of magnetic Cataclysmic Variables)
2014-1-AMNH-003 P3 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-2-SCI-039 (SCAM) (Imaging of massive distant galaxy clusters)

Night Log 2014-09-20

SA: Petri
SO: Thea
Others: Lisa, John, Etienne, Timmy, Janus on phone

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Summary
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A great clear dark stable good-seeing night. Unfortunately lost most of
the night to tech.problems. The Blue side of HRS is on-line now, sort of
at least .. PIs getting HRS data please not that only Blue is working.
In addition to some engineering time, science data for:
2014-1-DC-006 P0 HRS (Classification of possible supernovae)
2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (x3) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2014-09-19

SA: Petri
SO: Thea
Others:

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Summary
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A clear dark night with poor seeing. Humidity went too high by 1am,
engineering tests and Salticam science done until that. Data for:
2014-1-AMNH-004 P1 SCAM (Identification of the ring nebula PL1547-5612.)
2014-1-RSA_OTH-020 P2 SCAM (Probing Accretion in Magnetic CVs Through High Time Speed Photometry)
2014-1-AMNH-003 P2 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2014-09-18

SA: Petri
SO: Thea
Others: Eric, Ockert, Lisa, John

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Summary
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A very cold night, snow in the afternoon. Telescope finally on-line with Salticam and BVIT available. However, we were closed all night due to clouds and humidity.

Night Log 2014-09-17

SA: Petri
SO: Thea
Others: Eric, Ockert, Lisa, John, Martin

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Summary
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Telescope still off-line. But tonight could not have opened anyway due to clouds and humidity, rain later.

Night Log 2014-09-16

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Petri

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Summary
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Telescope offline tonight. No observations made.

Night Log 2014-09-15

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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Telescope offline tonight. No observations.

Night Log 2014-09-14

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Janus, Lisa, John, Darragh

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Summary
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Heavy clouds at start that cleared to a relatively good night. Spent most of this time doing tests for SCAM focus issues we've been having. Also took some science data with SCAM at end of night.

Night Log 2014-09-13

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Darragh, Lisa, John

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Summary
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Mostly clear night with only SCAM available.

Data taken for:

2014-1-AMNH-004 P2 SCAM (Identification of the ring nebula PL1547-5612.)
2014-1-AMNH-003 P3 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (x4) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2014-09-12

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others:

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Summary
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SCAM only available tonight. Mostly clear with some scattered clouds later in the night.

Data taken for:

2014-1-AMNH-004 P2 SCAM (Identification of the ring nebula PL1547-5612.)
2014-1-AMNH-003 P2 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)
2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (x3) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2014-09-11

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Eben, Ockert, Jonathan, Janus, Eric, Lisa, John, Etienne

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Summary
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Mechanical problem with dome shutter tonight that will be fixed tomorrow. No observations tonight.

Night Log 2014-09-10

SA: Brent
SO: Veronica
Others: Janus, Lisa, John, Ockert, Eric

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Summary
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A clear night albeit with only SCAM operational limiting the amount of observations possible.

2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (x2) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2014-09-09

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: Hitesh

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Summary
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Telescope unavailable for on-sky observations due to RSS take-down, which went swimmingly well - see awesome previous blog post from Lisa.

The telescope was used instead for some engineering tests on the new edge sensor system.

RSS Safely On The Ground!

Big day today as the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS) made its way down from the tracker to the spectrometer room!  Over the next several weeks, the instrument will undergo a general service that will include an "oil change" for the collimator optics...  The three collimator lens groups (the doublet, triplet & field lens) contain a coupling fluid that is severely compromising the throughput of the spectrograph.  This fluid will be removed & replaced & the collimator optics thoroughly cleaned.  A number of throughput tests will be conducted along the way to quantify the effects of these interventions before the instrument can be re-installed.

Eben & his team of Pete, Timmy, Etienne & Jono (left to right below) did a superb job of rigging RSS up to the dome crane & then safely detaching the instrument from the tracker.

With an anxious crowd looking on, Vic drove the dome crane & gently lowered the precious cargo.

It's a Loooong way down!

Here RSS is about to be lowered through the hatch in the observing floor to the support frame waiting on the ground floor.

With the spectrograph securely bolted to the support frame, the rigging could be detached.

Next it was wheeled into the spectrometer room where all the action will happen over the coming weeks.

Safe & sound, now for Keith & co to connect up all the life-support systems & get the whole lot working again.  Tomorrow we'll start with the functional testing & the laser throughput tests before the removal of the optics can start!

Time for a braai to soothe our nerves & celebrate a great day ;)  Happy Birthday Ted - hope you like the spectrograph we got for you!

Night Log 2014-09-08

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: Keith briefly, Paul over the phone.

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Summary
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Clear night with decent seeing during most of it. RSS and HRS offline tonight, so took some engineering tests when not busy taking data for:

2014-1-AMNH-005 P4 SCAM (x7) (Studying the long-term behavior of classical novae after their eruptions)

Night Log 2014-09-07

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: David dB. Keith to help with the glycol

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Summary
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Clear night with mostly good seeing but requiring lots of mirror alignments for some mysterious reason, so could not take full advantage of the skies. Took some final pre-RSS take-down engineering tests, and science data for:

2014-1-UW-005 P1 HRS (Tracers of accretion flows in PMS Binaries)
2014-1-RSA_OTH-012 P2 RSS (x2) (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2014-1-RSA_POL-001 P3 RSS (Searching the galaxy for new symbiotic stars)
2014-1-IUCAA_RSA_OTH-001 P3 RSS (Star formation histories of Pseudobulges.)
2014-1-UKSC-003 P3 RSS (Optical spectroscopy of star forming regions in N81, N88 and N113)

Night Log 2014-09-06

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: Rick, Wilfried, David dB. Luke, Eric, Janus and Keith via phone

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Summary
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A fairly productive night which started fairly cloudy with sub-arcsecond seeing, but it cleared up and the seeing worsened to ~1.5"-2".

Took data for a few more engineering tests and science data for:

2014-1-DC-001 P1 HRS (Gravitational redshifts in planetary nebulae and white dwarfs and spectra of dwarf galaxies)
2014-1-POL-001 P1 HRS (x2) (Searching for circumbinary planets)
2014-1-RSA_OTH-012 P2 RSS (x2) (Deriving the mass of the central super-massive black hole in the core of active galaxies)
2014-1-RSA_POL-001 P3 RSS (x2) (Searching the galaxy for new symbiotic stars)
2014-1-IUCAA_RSA_OTH-001 P3 RSS (Star formation histories of Pseudobulges.)
2014-1-UKSC-003 P3 RSS (Optical spectroscopy of star forming regions in N81, N88 and N113)

Night Log 2014-09-05

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: Keith for a couple of call-outs.

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Summary
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Cirrussy night that cleared later, but with a few technical issues.

Took some engineering data and science data for:

2014-1-RSA_OTH-019 P1 RSS (x2) (Observing Pluto -- rotationally resolved spectra.)
2014-1-RSA_OTH-002 P1 RSS (Investigating the history of star formation in colliding galaxies.)
2014-1-IUCAA_RSA_OTH-001 P2 RSS (Star formation histories of Pseudobulges.)
2014-1-IUCAA_UKSC_RSA-001 P3 RSS (Studying X-ray binaries in supernovae)

SALT Status update for Sept 2014

======================
Recent Science Results
======================

de Martino et al. measure the properties of the peculiar low mass
X-ray binary XSS J12270-4859
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014arXiv1408.6138D

Onofrio and Wegner use RSS spectroscopy of white dwarfs to set
the first upper bound of astrophysical origin on the coupling
between the Higgs field and the Kreschmann curvature invariant.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014ApJ...791..125O

Miszalski, Mikolajewska, and Udalski report on the discovery of a
new Small Magellanic Cloud symbiotic star, OGLE-SMC-LPV-00861:
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.444L..11M

Karachentsev et al. used RSS to measure Ha velocity of the nearby
gas-poor dwarf transition galaxy KK258 = ESO468-020
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.443.1281K

Gvaramadze et al. used SALT RSS observations for spectral studies
of first discovery of a Wolf-Rayet (WR) star in the Large
Magellanic Cloud via detection of a circular shell with the
Spitzer Space Telescope
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.442..929G
        
Oszkiewicz et al. used SALT spectroscopic to test methods for
photometric selection of V-type asteroids:
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014arXiv1408.4288O


==============================
SALT HRS Telegram on V1369 Cen
==============================

Simultaneous observations with SALT HRS and HST STIS spectroscopy
were carried out as part of a campaign to observe the classical
nova V1369 Cen.  Preliminary results were presented in the
following Astronomer's Telegram:
http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=6413

An example of the reduced blue HRS spectrum produced via the new
experimental HRS pipeline (see below for more details) are
available here:
http://saltastro.blogspot.com/2014/08/blue-spectroscopy-of-v1369-cen.html

================
New SALT Website
================

We are pleased to announce that the SALT web site has been given
an overhaul and that it is now officially available for everyone
to see. Some highlights include a new design, addition of
interactive elements including recent observations, and an
updated site for astronomers.  Please check out the new websites
here:

- New web site: http://www.salt.ac.za
- New web site for Astronomers: http://astronomers.salt.ac.za

The new website was set up through the hard work of Briehan
Lombaard, Paul Kotze, and Christian Hettlage at SAAO/SALT along
with contributions from many others.  The graphic design work was
done by Joni-Leigh Doran. Besides web design, she also does fine
art and illustrations. You can check out her work on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/DesignerJoni

===============
RSS Maintenance
===============

RSS will be taken down Tuesday, Sept 9 for a major optical
cleaning procedure with the goal to significantly improve the
performances of the instrument.  With the instrument off the
telescope, throughput measurements of the major optical
assemblies will be performed as well.  The total downtime is
currently expected to be between 4 and 6 weeks.

=======================
HRS Quick Look Software
=======================

A command line script for extracting a single order to allow
estimates of the quality of data has been running at the
telescope and we have made it available to the general community
to help with assessing the quality of their observations.  It can
be downloaded from here:
http://pysalt.salt.ac.za/versions/quickhrs_beta.tar.gz

Please see the README for more details on usage. The only
requirements are some additional python libraries that can be
installed via pip or other standard installation packages.

A prototype of a science reduction pipeline will be available
soon.  The code will be uploaded to the following repository soon
if you would like a preview or to help contribute:
https://github.com/saltastro/pyhrs


================
BVIT back on Sky
================

Following upgrades of the BVIT computer by the Berkeley group led
by Barry Welsh and ably supported by SALT Tech Ops and Marissa
Kotze, the instrument is back on sky. Some on-sky tests confirmed
to was all working nominally. Several observing programs
utilizing it are planned over the coming months and possibly into
semester 2014-2.

=======
RSS NIR
=======

There has been good progress on the RSS near IR arm development,
particularly with the detector optimization work. The science
grade Hawaii 2RG array is expected to be installed in the
cryostat in the coming months following tests and control
parameter tweaking on the bare MUX device, currently
installed. The pre-dewar cooling design work is near completion
and RFPs are about to be released. The instrument is on track for
delivery later in 2015, in time for installation following the
tracker upgrade completion at the end of 2015.

====
SAMS
====

After a significant delay in the first phase of the edge sensor
project, necessitated by the need for more thorough testing than
originally anticipated, plus some design minor modifications, the
first set of sensors are about to be installed on the central 7
segments (the so-called sub array). This will be followed by a
commissioning period on the telescope, expected to be completed
in a couple of months, depending on how co-operative the weather
is during that time. Apart from several nights of engineering
time required during this period, the SAMS commissioning is
expected to have little impact on normal nighttime science
activities. The vast majority of the remaining 480 sensors (plus
spares) will be delivered over the next year or so.

============================
SALT Science Conference 2015
============================

A heads-up for the next SALT Science meeting: this will be held
in the week of 1-5 June 2015 at the STIAS conference venue in
Stellenbosch, some 40 km from Cape Town. This will follow the
SALT Board meeting held the previous week in Cape Town. More
details on this will be released over the coming months.

Night Log 2014-09-04

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: David dB

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Summary
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Gray night with mediocre seeing and not very good transparency.
Science data for:

2014-1-DC-001 P2 RSS (Gravitational redshifts in planetary nebulae and white dwarfs and spectra of dwarf galaxies)
2014-1-IUCAA_RSA_OTH-001 P2 RSS (x2) (Star formation histories of Pseudobulges.)
2014-1-UW-004 P2 RSS (Determining galaxy group member redshifts )
2014-1-AMNH-004 P2 SCAM (Identification of the ring nebula PL1547-5612.)
2014-1-RSA_POL-001 P3 RSS (Searching the galaxy for new symbiotic stars)

Night Log 2014-09-03

SA: Encarni
SO: Thea
Others: David dB for a while.

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Summary
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Productive night with patches of clouds passing by.
Science data for:

2014-1-UNC-001 P1 RSS (Emission line kinematics of RESOLVE galaxies for tracing dark matter)
2014-1-RU_RSA-001 P2 RSS (RINGS: The RSS Imaging spectroscopy Nearby Galaxy Survey)
2014-1-AMNH-004 P2 SCAM (Identification of the ring nebula PL1547-5612.)
2014-1-IUCAA_RSA_OTH-001 P2 RSS (x2) (Star formation histories of Pseudobulges.)
2014-1-RSA_POL-001 P3 RSS (Searching the galaxy for new symbiotic stars)
2014-1-RSA_RU_UC_UKSC_OTH-001 P3 RSS (SALT Study of Strong Gravitational Lenses Discovered by the Herschel Space Observatory)

Night Log 2014-09-02

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others: Encarni

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Summary
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- Another long and productive night without any technical issues. The seeing was not as good as last night, but we managed to get good science data.

- Data taken for:

2014-1-POL-005 P0 RSS (x3) (Spectroscopic characterization of asteroid surfaces)
2014-1-RU_RSA-001 P2 RSS (RINGS: The RSS Imaging spectroscopy Nearby Galaxy Survey)
2014-1-UNC-001 P2 RSS (x2) (Emission line kinematics of RESOLVE galaxies for tracing dark matter)
2014-1-RSA_RU_UC_UKSC_OTH-001 P2 RSS (SALT Study of Strong Gravitational Lenses Discovered by the Herschel Space Observatory)
2014-1-RSA_OTH-020 P3 SCAM (Rapid photometry of magnetic Cataclysmic Variables)
2014-1-RSA_OTH-005 P4 RSS (Spectral study of the evolution of lenticular galaxies.)

Night Log 2014-09-01

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others: Martin at the start of the evening

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Summary
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- We had a very productive night in very good observing conditions. The seeing was ~1.2'' for most of the night. We took advantage of the good seeing to perform important engineering observations as well.

- We obtained data for the following programs:

2014-1-DC-006 P0 RSS (Classification of possible supernovae)
2014-1-POL-005 P0 RSS (x4) (Spectroscopic characterization of asteroid surfaces)
2014-1-RU_RSA-001 P1 RSS (RINGS: The RSS Imaging spectroscopy Nearby Galaxy Survey)
2014-1-AMNH-004 P1 SCAM (Identification of the ring nebula PL1547-5612.)
2014-1-RSA_OTH-010 P1 RSS (Investigating the history of a core-less ring galaxy)
2014-1-IUCAA_UW-001 P1 RSS (Probing the absorption line variability in quasar outflows)
2014-1-IUCAA_UKSC_RSA-001 P2 RSS (Studying X-ray binaries in supernovae)

Night Log 2014-08-31

SA: Paul
SO: Veronica
Others: Hitesh

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Summary
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- We had technical issues at the start of the night, only started with observations just before midnight.
- The weather was clear with photometric conditions and good seeing.

- Data taken for:

2014-1-RSA_OTH-003 P1 RSS (Investigating the activity in the not-red-and-dead brightest cluster galaxies)
2014-1-HET_RU_RSA_OTH-001 P1 RSS ( Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of Distant Star Forming Galaxies)
2014-1-UW-001 P1 RSS (Measuring the metal content of GRB host galaxies)
2014-1-IUCAA_UW-001 P1 RSS (x2) (Probing the absorption line variability in quasar outflows)
2014-1-RSA_OTH-005 P4 RSS (Spectral study of the evolution of lenticular galaxies.)