AstroNote 2023-121

We report on behalf of the MeerLICHT Consortium: 

"The MeerLICHT 0.65m wide-field telescope, located at the Sutherland Observatory, followed up on the 90% confidence region localilsation of LVK event S230518h between 2023-05-19T16:43 UT - 2023-05-20T03:06 UT. Seventy-four tiles of 2.7 square degrees each were covered in the MeerLICHT u,q,i bands with 60s exposures within the visibility limits. Of these, 38 tiles were covered twice. 

Typical 5-sigma AB limiting magnitudes throughout the night were q<20.8, i<19.6, u<19.1

Real-time analysis of the data reveals two extragalactic transients that have not been previously identified/reported: AT2023ixg and AT2023iyb. Their host galaxies do not have reported redshifts.

Further analysis is ongoing and follow-up observations are encouraged. 

On the night of May 18-19, the MeerLICHT telescope was closed due to high humidity. 

MeerLICHT is built and run by a consortium consisting of Radboud University, University of Cape Town, the South African Astronomical Observatory, the University of Oxford, the University of Manchester and the University of Amsterdam.