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A search for RR Lyrae stars (RRLS) in ∼ 840 deg 2 of the sky in right ascension 150 • − 210 • and declination −10 • − +10 • yielded 1013 type ab and 359 type c RRLS. This sample is used to study the density profile of the Galactic halo, halo substructures, and the Oosterhoff type of the halo over distances (d ⊙ ) from ∼ 5 to ∼ 80 kpc. The halo is flattened towards the Galactic plane, and its density profile steepens in slope at galactocentric distances greater than ∼ 25kpc. The RRLS in the stellar stream from the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy match well the model of Law & Majewski for the stars that were stripped 1.3 to 3.2 Gyr ago, but not for the ones stripped 3.2 to 5.0 Gyr ago. Over densities are found at the locations of the Virgo Overdensity and the Virgo Stellar Stream. Within 1 • of 1220-1, which Jerjen et al. identify as a halo substructure at d ⊙ ∼ 24 kpc, there are 4 RRLS that are possibly members. Away from substructures, the RRLS are a mixture of Oosterhoff types I and II, but mostly OoI (∼ 73%). The accretion of galaxies resembling in RRLS content the most massive Milky Way satellites (LMC, SMC, For, Sgr) may explain this preponderance of OoI. Six new RRLS and 3 new anomalous Cepheids were found in the Sextans dSph galaxy.

The La Silla-QUEST Low Redshift Supernova Survey is a part of the La Silla-QUEST Southern Hemisphere Variability Survey. The survey uses the 10 deg 2 QUEST camera installed at the prime focus of the 1.0-m Schmidt Telescope of the European Southern Observatory at La Silla, Chile, and utilizes essentially all of the observing time of the telescope. The QUEST camera was installed on the ESO Schmidt telescope in 2009 after completing a 5 year variability survey in the northern hemisphere using the 1.2-m Oschin Schmidt telescope at Palomar. La Silla-QUEST started science operations in 2009 September. The low redshift supernova survey commenced in 2011 December and is planned to continue for the next 4 years. In this article we describe the instrumentation, software, operation, and performance characteristics of the survey.

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