Jared Males – Page 46 – Extreme Wavefront Control Lab

NAS Fitcheck Day 4: Head in the clouds

This morning we woke up to this:

Wonderland — This light dusting was the most we got, though it spit throughout the day as the clouds rolled through.

We’re here for a reason – to find out what doesn’t work so we can fix it before the real deal happens in November. Today’s discovery was that the planned route for our cable wrap through the Nasymyth platform deck won’t work. Our instrument has to rotate to track the sky through the night, which means our power, data, and cooling lines all have to rotate with it. So we need a cable wrap to manage them as they get longer and shorter. Tyson and Jason are busy sketching out plan B.

Does anyone here speak Canadian? — Tyson on the catwalk under the Nasmyth platform, looking for a good place to cut a hole.

Speaking of cables, the staff has been running new network fiber for us. Our system moves lots of 1s and 0s every second, so we have our own networks to handle it all.

Under the Clay — Emilio working in the tunnel under Clay.

The observatory was inside a cloud for most of the day. We frequently couldn’t see the next building over.

Now you see it . . . — The Baade from just down the boardwalk.

Tonight’s quote: “Ok, whoosh is maybe a strong term. More like swish.” (Laird Close, discussing rotator speeds and decapitation)

Keeping warm. — Lunch was a good cold and foggy selection.

Somebody clean this thing — Before my mom starts complaining, here's me. The bird poop is still there.

Not warmer though. — It was starting to clear by dinner. Alan got a nice sunset shot.

My favorite view. — One of the last wisps of clouds.

Days without a motherboard failure: 3

NAS Fitcheck Day 3: Cold, Pressurized, and Telecentric

The weather has taken a turn for the worse at LCO. It is currently 1.8C and blowing at 32.7 mph. And getting colder.

Speaking of cold, we installed the new liquid cooling system in the W-Unit today.

Here, hold this. — Jared and Laird installing the brass cold-plates on our CCDs.

This again? — Jason getting ready to install the shutter. Jason first assembled the shutter heatsink and mounting system nearly 2 years ago.

My Precious. — Jared checking the shutter mounting. It is a tight fit, and we don't want any metal-metal contact because the shutter vibrates. A lot.

News team, assemble! — The team at work on the NAS, under appropriate supervision.

A real Viscacha nest. — The finished product.

Hold your breath. — The test gauge for the CCD cooling system.

The other big accomplishment in world of the NAS today was Laird installing the Telecentric Lens. This almost flat lens lets us work off-axis, away from the guide star.

See the tele center? — View past the cube, through the new telecentric lens. That's L1 there.

A happy AO operator . . . — After installing new glass, we checked the system. Everything looks great - the wavefront is flat and our i' PSF is 3.2 pixels. Click for more pixels.

We also got some time in the dome, and did a little work on the Clay telescope. The vane-end trays are installed, and the leak preventing solenoid valve was plumbed and tested.

High up. — Jason and Juan working on the solenoid.

Don't drop anything. — Installing the vane end trays.

This hawk was hanging out over the observatory at lunch today.

Hawkish — A hawk over Magellan. Click for full wingspan.

Tonight’s pretty pictures are from Alan Uomoto, who spent some time messing with his camera’s settings today.

Pretty, unless you're an astronomer. — The beginning of the weather. Note the top of the fog in the valley below. Click for bigger.

Magellan casts a wide shadow. — A panoramic view of the hotel and Las Campanas itself. Click for more awesome.

Days without a motherboard failure: 2

NAS Fitcheck Day 2: Plumbing

Today our big plumbing efforts started in earnest. The cooling system that Jason assembled in Tucson was unpacked today, and the complete circuit was put together. It is currently holding pressure (20#), and we’ll see if it holds all night.

Victor has his own name for this stuff. — Jason Lewis applies thread sealant to a fitting.

The key to this design is what gets dripped on the least . . . — Laird, Jason, and Alan discuss routing of glycol, and Tyson is installing some fittings.

Bubbles. — Jason and Tyson conducting a soap bubble test.

Still no big animals. The Viscacha was on its perch this morning. Povilas saw a fox (a.k.a. Zorro) recently, so we are on the lookout. I hear they used to be very common here.

My morning walk — I missed sunset tonight, but this was the mountain top after breakfast.

Or should I say GSMT? — That's Las Campanas behind the hotel. They have finished blasting now, and you can really tell how flat it is. The future home of the GMT.

Days without a motherboard failure: 1

NAS Fitcheck Day 1: All Back Together

The VisAO electronics box is completely back together and running, so you can stop worrying and get back to working on your 22 milli-arcsecond science case.

back in the saddle — The VisAO box fully assembled.

In addition to rebuilding the computer, I took the opportunity to organize cables and make everything look tidy. I also turned on the W-Unit and tested everything out. It all still works. The only real excitement today happened when I turned on the old vizcacha computer to check a few files from the unpacking run, and a capacitor exploded. It turns out that’s why that model of motherboard was on the scrap heap here – they make loud noises and give off smoke.

Laird, Alan, and Jason arrived today. That means a lot more work will be getting done, and hopefully more pictures will get taken. I’ve so far seen neither hide nor hair of our larger 4 legged friends, so you’ll have to settle for another sunset.

still not getting old — That's the 100 inch telescope in the fg.

same sunset, same day — Same sunset, but looking more towards the south.

NAS Fitcheck Day 0: Empanada Sunday

Lunch on Sunday is always empanadas here at LCO, and it’s cold enough that a big bowl of hot soup hits the spot.

Today was spent rebuilding VisAO after the cooling box interference and the motherboard fiasco from unpacking. It’s almost back together (and I have 2 spare motherboards just in case). But sadly that meant it was time to say goodbye to vizcacha, the stand-in VisAO computer. As if to mark the occasion, our old friend the cleanroom Viscacha said hello this morning.

He has a moustache. — He still seems pretty skeptical of me.

Here’s the VisAO cooling box, modified so it can stay installed on the handling cart. It used to be a rectangle.

That should do it. — The VisAO cooling box, with modification to fit on the handling cart.

Tonight’s pretty picture:

By the light that never warms . . . — The moon at sunset from outside the cleanroom.

The grown ups arrive tomorrow, so I guess that means we’ll start using positive numbers.