Remote observing feels weird. Not because of what goes on in the ROC, but rather because of what goes on outside the ROC. When we observe at LCO, Tucson starts to feel a little bit like a dream. When you’re on top of Cerro Manqui, the idea of grocery shopping or vacuuming or pulling up the weeds in the yard is so distant it’s almost ludicrous. There is only telescope. But, during these remote ops nights, those things aren’t far away. Dishes need to be done, cats need to be fed, the car runs out of gas, and your professors expect you to show up for class. The world doesn’t pause for observations in the way it sometimes feels like it does when we go down to Chile.
However, this means the good things in life also don’t get put on hold! These include, but are not limited to: the ability to replenish the snack pile mid-observing run, joyful toddler noises, and getting to sleep in your own bed at the end of a long night.
And, if you’re lucky like me, you get to show off your work to your parents! It would be a little bit of a journey for them to come down to Chile, but they made the trek down to Tucson this week. Among other things, they got to witness MagAO-X doing some real science in really good seeing conditions.
While we don’t have a dedicated kitchen staff making us empanadas in Tucson, being able to get a Sonoran dog and a churro right before observations is pretty sweet. So I’ll stand by what I said: remote observing feels weird–but it certainly comes with perks.