The observing night started with myself (and Josh to supervise me…) aligning the instrument rather early before observations began. Since I am less familiar with the startup and aligning process, this was a good time to get some practice in.
Once aligned, we began the night with our collaborator from MIT joining us, Jensen Lawrence. For these observations, the AO operators had to remain actively involved because we used a technique in which we switched between a science target and a reference star of similar brightness. This target and reference switching allows for post processing PSF subtraction.
Throughout the night, we had some special guest appearances. First and foremost, Steward observatories very own Director Buell Jannuzi stopped by to see how remote observations were going. Shortly after, MagAO-X alumni, Maggie Kautz showed up and Josh proceeded to give her an overview of the current state of the instrument and the science being done.
Around 10:00PM Tucson time, the second shift relieved the first shift of their duty. Shout out to Katie for making a Costco run to load up with some snacks.
The special guests didn’t stop for the night either. Our favorite little culpeo made an appearance. Jared seemed to make friends very quickly.
Color of the Day:
Average color of a culpeo shakes out to be roughly the same as “Nuthatch”.
Song of the day: