A new enhancement to the Phase 2 User Interface (Phase2UI) allows Liverpool Telescope users to enter multiple extrasolar targets to their observing programmes in one go by uploading a list of target coordinates, instead of writing them all in by hand. This makes entering a large number of targets an easy task. Users define the target list as a plain text file on their computer and then simply specify the file location in the UI and upload. Automatic file validation is seamlessly carried out and dozens or hundreds of targets are entered in seconds.

This latest version (1.6.4) of the Phase2UI will automatically be installed the next time you start up the interface from the launch button on the Phase 2 page.

To use the new feature, log in to the phase2UI as usual, navigate to your observing programme and click the "Targets in programme" button to open the target data entry popup. Click on the new button "Add multiple extra-solar targets" and that will pop up the new Multiple Target Entry Tool.

You should prepare your target file on your local computer as a plain text file with one target per line, in the format Name, Right Ascension, and Declination (J2000 only), i.e. Name hh:mm:ss.sss ±DD:MM:SS.ss. These three fields should be separated by whitespace only, and there should be no spaces in the target name.

Then click "Choose and validate target file" to select the target list file on your computer, then load it. The UI automatically validates the file as it's loaded. Finally click "Go" to upload the file, and it should load in quickly.

Multiple observing groups can then be speedily constructed by cloning one group multiple times, selecting the new target each time from the drop down list in the Group Cloning Tool.

Details and screenshots of this feature can be found in the "Adding targets" section of the Phase2UI tutorial.