Massive spectroscopic follow-up of transients from the multi-epoch nearby cluster survey

The Multi-Epoch Nearby Cluster Survey (MENeaCS) monitored 60 low redshift, 0.05<z<0.15, X-ray luminous galaxy clusters for two years, with a primary science goal of measuring the cluster type Ia supernova rate, and constraining the type Ia delay time distribution. A fraction of our spectroscopic follow-up of supernova candidates was done with Hectospec, a 300-fiber, ~1deg^2 spectrograph on the MMT. Spare fibers were utilized, typically ~65 per visit, to classify all of our transient sources, without observational preconditions or selection criteria. The total set of 470 spectra allow for an unbiased look at the transient sky with basic demographics presented here. The implications for spectroscopic follow-up in the era of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope are also discussed.