March 2014 – Extreme Wavefront Control Lab

2014A Day 4: Backin’ dat ASM up

First, an announcement: this is blog post #200! How long can we keep this up?

Today’s big accomplishment was driving the ASM up to the summit.

slow and steady — The ASM backs up to the Aux building.

please go slow! — This scissor lift is the scariest part of the operation.

come along with me — The ASM is cranked off the truck onto the lift.

work it girl — Victor poses with the ASM as it slides off the lift.

Best question of the day: “Is it still one piece?” — Juan Gallardo, after the ASM rolled off the lift.

We also reorganized the cables and hoses in the W-Unit.

we do this *every* *time* — A freshly organized W-Unit.

Today’s song is one of many with an astronomical theme. If you listen close lots of pop music is about astronomy in some way.

2014A Day 3: And on the third day…

Today I worked with Mauricio and Laird on evacuating the air out of Clio’s cryostat, which involved cleaning the o-ring and then hoping for a good vacuum. Laird did some fixes to the ASM, removing the alignment laser and making an alignment fiducial instead, and fixing some of the protective covering on the back to keep out the dust. Jared and Alfio worked in the morning on software and electronics for the AO system, and in the afternoon and evening they with Laird tested the cleaned VisAO optics and closed her back up.

OK so it took 2 days because we had to re-open it this morning to clean the o-ring — Mauricio helped us with vacuuming out Clio’s cryostat

The student and the professor — Jared and Laird cleaning optics yesterday. Today they finished testing their new optics and closed up VisAO.

Kapton Scotch — Laird did some surgery on the ASM and I helped a bit

Sorry Alan — I went for a walk/jog and Povilas zoomed by while I took this picture of the valley towards the ocean out there, and the lodge and bird droppings over here.

Consolation prize for me finally beating you in the NCAA March Madness bracket — My nephews are really into trucks. There are some really nice ones at LCO.

Looking for the green flash — Vizzy contemplating the sunset

Song of the day for heavy-hearted basketball fans, if you need a cry 🙁
(family-friendly version):

On a happier note, let’s close with some light-hearted fan mail from my sister:

And thanks for teaching me all those amazing things you can do! — My big sister sent MagAO a fan letter — thanks Anna! She was one of the original 4 MagAO blog subscribers on google reader

2014A Day 2: Spring Cleaning

VisAO and the WFS got a much needed spring cleaning today. We also installed some new filters.

fuss, fuss — Laird works at installing the new H-alfa filter and our new coronagraphic spots.

Jared and Alfio installed a new more powerful Y-stage motor. This motor has to lift the W-unit against gravity, and the old one was under-powered and so was failing. These motors are very powerful, even the old one, so it is very nerve racking to mess around with them. We had a stressful morning.

tuned like a trumpet — Alfio agonizes over the settings for our new motor (that’s it sitting next to him).

T.J. and Katie buttoned up Clio today.

small but powerful — This is the inside of the Clio dewar just before it was buttoned up.

tilt-a-whirl — Clio being lifted back onto its cart.

The weather has been gorgeous, and we’re seeing lots of locals out and about.

double trouble — It was a double Viscacha day.

he knows I'm going to ask for a ride. — This guy is still hanging around. He’s not scared of me, but he doesn’t really want to be friends either.

try not to eat the weather station fellas — These clowns showed up this afternoon. They always look like they’re up to no good.

Here’s the song of the day. We have spent so much time here it now feels like we’re coming home when we get off the plane in La Serena.

2014A Day 1: Light Em Up

Hello, MagAO fans! Laird and Alfio arrived today so it is officially Day 1 of our 2014A science run!

T.J. and I successfully swapped in/out/around 8 filters plus more blockers, spacers, and slits inside Clio today. This involves cracking open the dewar which is a complicated mess of screws and insulation to keep everything cold and aligned when we’re on sky. Here are some pictures of the fun:

and the electronics rack and pump — Juan and Felix helped us move Clio from the Aux to the Clean room.

My sister taught me how to fold origami boxes long ago — We took careful painstaking steps.

Whistle while you work — T.J. having fun.

Maybe a different one. — There was still a caballo hanging around.

Song of the day: Light Em Up (Bear Down)

Bonus:

Bear down.

2014A Day 0: You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet

MagAO is back! Katie, T.J., and Jared arrived at LCO last night to begin preparing for our first official science run. Our instrument was offered to the Magellan wide community, who came up with more great ideas than we have time for. We’re taking data for astronomers from all over the world. Stand by for some more great MagAO+VisAO+Clio2 science!

We don’t go on sky until April 1 (no kidding), but we have lots to do to get ready. Katie and T.J. are opening up Clio2 to install and rearrange filters. Jared, Laird, and Alfio (who are coming in the next few days), are replacing some motors in the NAS, as well as upgrading some filters in VisAO.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a horse up this far on the mountain:

Oh hai. — There were a few more around, but this guy was right next to the road when we pulled up.

We’re going to try something new on this run. We’ll have a song-of-the-day, picked by whoever writes the blog post. Here’s my choice for the begining of our 2014A semester campaign.