Home of MagAO and MagAO-X.
Looks like we might actually be doing this … if World War 3 doesn’t break out first. Please enjoy this video of today’s activities from clips taken by me and Alex Hedglen.
Since rights-holders can be so mean about these things, no audio track is included. However, I recommend playing the song of the day at the same time to get the full effect.
There are also a few pictures to share.
Also works great with this one.
With cautious optimism, we are approaching the second ever MagAO-X ship date. It’s hard to believe that it has been 2.5 years since we last did this! The system has grown in complexity in the interim, gaining a spectrograph named VIS-X (P.I. Sebastiaan Haffert) as well as many new controllable degrees of freedom. (Always need more of those.)
We haven’t been sitting on our thumbs for the past two years. Our instrument has been moonlighting as a testbed for the phasing of the Giant Magellan Telescope, among other things. I’ll have to update our publications page in my copious free time.
Yesterday was the last day of lab operation of the instrument and the beginning of packing. I got some final tests of the computer system finished, the optics were covered for shipment, the glycol was purged from the cooling system, and we de-cabled the instrument from its electronics rack (which is traveling in its own crate).
In April of 2019, we were placing the 2040-actuator Boston Micromachines deformable mirror in MagAO-X for the first time, and Jared affectionately referred to the cables as “the octopus”. Well, the octopus has been firmly suctioned to the side of the electronics rack since we unpacked post-2019B, and it was time to detach it.
This delicate work involved many layers of protective equipment: masks, currently a requirement for existing in the world; bootie shoe covers, a requirement for entering the lab; hairnets and gowns, a requirement for entering the cleanroom tent; and electrostatic discharge protection, a requirement for handling the delicate MEMS deformable mirror cabling.
Our electronics rack has been growing new cables and hoses and equipment for 2.5 years without its doors and side panels in place. So, when we tried to put those on, we found they didn’t fit. Much like me after a period of pandemic isolation, its clothes didn’t fit right any more.
Rather than buying it a new outfit, we made some alterations. We sculpted the styrofoam insulation, adding pockets where needed. (Everyone loves clothes with pockets.)
This time, fortunately, the metal tape we used did not taste blood.
By this time next week, we may still need to hedge our predictions for the 2022A run… but we’ll know for certain whether MagAO-X itself is going to Chile!
Your song of the day is “Future Starts Slow” by The Kills.
There’s one upside to an atrocious windowless office in Steward: it makes your Christmas lights look nicer.
The Xmas Wavefront Control Lab celebrates in style, with only the finest Dollar Tree Christmas decor. They weren’t selling stockings this year, so it’s good that Jhen Lumbres bought a bunch back in 2019.
I would also like to announce the mission patch sticker for 2021 (really putting the miss in mission):
As the saying goes: if you’re not queasy, you must not be paying attention!
If you’re lucky enough to have a 2020 mission sticker, you can make them do this:
Note: Anyone spreading rumors that this will require a 2022 swing-and-a-miss-ion sticker design to complete the ‘ronamoon should be kicked in the knees.
Today’s S.o.t.D. was chosen by Logan Pearce, nine time winner of the official Star Trek fan club “dankest memes” competition.
XWCL member Logan Pearce, connoisseur of fine brews and science communication, is an organizer of the local Space Drafts (Astronomy on Tap Tucson) event. The special edition Space Drafts talks on the soon-to-be-launched (really) JWST mission drew attendees from around Tucson, including reporters from local news channel KGUN.
Anyone who stayed up late on Tuesday to watch the news saw Logan Pearce’s television debut:
The segment was reused in the morning news, too, judging from this email from beloved departmental program coordinator Michelle Cournoyer:
Good Morning Logan,
While I was getting ready for work this morning, I saw you on the Channel 9 news, very excited about Space Drafts and the JWST upcoming launch. Very cool! I hope you’ll remember the little people,like me, now that you’re a celebrity 🙂
Mama Michelle
Our Dutch postdoc Sebastiaan Haffert has taught us many important terms (like “We at Toilet Duck recommend Toilet Duck!”), but the one most relevant today is zweetkamertje. As explained by Atlas Obscura, this is the “sweating room” where Ph.D. candidates in Leiden await the results of their doctoral exams.
This draft is being written (in part) during the sweating period of Kyle Van Gorkom’s Ph.D. defense.
But let’s back up a bit: Today, a pandemic-appropriate number of masked people filed in to Meinel 812 (and a much larger people joined online) to see Kyle Van Gorkom defend his Ph.D. research in adaptive optics. The view was excellent, but Jhen and Daewook had eyes only for Kyle.
Mr. Van Gorkom (as he was then known) regaled us with tales of deformable mirror characterization and modeling. Battles won, vibrational modes damped, etc. (We will not talk about the IrisAO.)
The room was then closed for the committee to thoroughly examine him. We waited. Some of us blogged. Then, after some ritual hazing questioning, he was presented to us: Dr. Kyle Van Gorkom, Ph.D.!
A toast was called for.
And, after some initial difficulties, a toast was had! Congratulations, Dr. Kyle Van Gorkom!