Blog – Extreme Wavefront Control Lab

SPIE 2026 Wrapped: A Campaign in Copenhagen

*This blog post provides a belated summary of the various exploits of MagAO-X team members at the 2026 SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.*

Day 0

We began our conference journey with the registration of participants and their respective guests (human and otherwise). In fact, there were so many MagAO-X affiliates in attendance that they would not have all fit into one photo.

Our featured guests in attendance included the Danish stoat accompanied by one Dr. Jared Males.

People (and stoat) have all been issued their SPIE access cards.

Day 1

The day started off on a high note with a review talk from Dr. Laird Close on MagAO-X’s famed H-alpha imaging mode.

This is the most famous artist rendering of a MagAO-X discovery.

Elena then gave an excellent talk on the first on-sky demo of the FAST SCC.

It’s so fast that I couldn’t even get a picture in time.

Daily Poster Roundup

Today’s poster session featured friend of MagAO-X, Dr. Jaren Ashcraft (well…half of him to be specific), Elena featured again (but this time w/ the PIAACMC), Dhwanil with coronagraphy + wavefront sensing, and Eden with blue Beta Pic b.

The powers of Leiden and Arizona combine

We end the day with a beautiful sunset…

Day 2

On the 2nd day of SPIE, the conference gave to me…

Haffert 2019…

MagAO-X data…

Yankie chocolate bar…

Eugenia’s award-winning poster…

Dr. Hom’s Roman CGI talk…

And some brooken coffee machines.

Meanwhile…

In a deep, dark lair (that was definitely not a Danish hotel), a daring villain was devising a dastardly deed.

With the utmost care, he cracked open a safe and withdrew a wheel of Gouda cheese (but left the passport).

Assisted by an unnamed accomplice, this person of interest cubed the cheese in preparation for a bread and cheese platter that would later be offered to SPIE conference attendees.

(To be continued)

Face redacted due to the sensitive nature of the ongoing investigation

Daily Poster Roundup

Adam in front of the accordion (his poster is the first one on the left)

Dr. Maggie Kautz has graduated from ground- to space-based telescopes.

Day 3

We have reached the third day of the conference and energy is running high.

Dr. Sebastiaan Haffert told us all about quantum-optimal coronagraphs.

Dr. Lauren Schatz guided us through the history + awe-inspiring power of laser guide stars.

Bonus points for the rabbit + laser beam logo.

Katie gave an excellent talk on correcting dispersion within MagAO-X.

It was then time for the lunch break, where the results of yesterday’s cheesetivities were revealed:

The cheese received rave reviews:

And now back to our regularly scheduled SPIE programming.

Laird gave a secret talk on his homemade telescope for measuring sky brightness in the near IR:

This Zemax model brings back fond memories of my lens design course..

Poster Roundup

Dr. Jay Kueny’s loud and proud ffortissimo poster

Eugenia’s award-winning poster viewed up close.

Jialin presenting her data reduction pipeline (NALEd it!)

Sebastiaan presenting Sebastiaan’s poster.

The day ended with a green flash.

Day 4

Surprise, it’s a twin! Dr. Matthijs Mars presented his digital twin of MagAO-X.

Unfortunately, I could not find a picture of Dr. Rico Landman presenting his work on the unmodulated pyramid wavefront sensor. However, you can reference this highly academic source for details.

Various MagAO-X members also explored the SPIE exhibition hall and took selfies in front of various optics.

SPIE wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but a good bit of it was.

Poster Roundup

Everyone say “DECam medium band filter!”

Dr. Kyle van Gorkom delivering a poster on SCOOB.

Day 5

We are nearing the end of our journey through the astronomical instrumentation universe. But stick around dear reader because we’re not done yet!

Eden kicked things off for the MagAO-X group with a sparkling presentation on pyramid wavefront sensor optical gain:

Parker gave us good vibes with his talk on vibration control using accelerometers:

Here is a summary of the evening shenanigans:

This is the only hidden caption that I wrote. Congratulations if you found it! You may come to my office to redeem your prize (it may or may not be CheezIts from a snack drawer). — The dynamic duo of Jay and Parker

Day 6: The Final Day

On the final day, Manny showcased the progress that the MAPS team has made on the MMT adaptive secondary mirror used for exoplanet characterization.

I once thought that the Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) still had multiple mirrors. It in fact has only one monolithic primary mirror.

Jay showed us windsoCC:

The latest pipeline devised by Jay is used for modelling ‘butterflies’ or wind-driven halos.

Matthijs LOWFS’d in a non-linear fashion:

And Sebastiaan gave one of the final talks of the conference on a fan-favorite: wavefront sensing and control:

With hearts full and passports smelling of dairy, we conclude the SPIE Copenhagen conference.

See you in two years for the next edition!

Song of the Day Week

SPIE 2026 Prelude: The Leiden Affair

There was sporadic talk of a pre-SPIE summit of Leiden and Arizonan and New Yorkian and Albuquerqueño MagAO-X users, but it seemed a distant dream until Asst. Prof. Sebastiaan Haffert said those four words we all long to hear:

Ultimately the visiting delegation was comprised of myself, Dr. Lauren Schatz (Space Force), Eden McEwen (UArizona), and Josh Liberman (UArizona). Lauren was there to give a talk. The rest of us were there to collaborate. (Josh was there for cheese research as well.)

After an inauspicious start in JFK Terminal 1 and a connection in still-heatwave-addled CPH airport, I made it to Amsterdam. From there, it was just a 25 minute train ride to Leiden. The convenience was sickening.

Reader, I live in New York City and I have no airport a 25 minute train ride away.

Dr. Schatz arrived shortly after and we had a nice juice (not pictured) with Dr. Haffert (not pictured until later). Then we had a nice dinner by a canal.

Then the jet lag hit.

I’m not sure if it’s age or simple weakness of will, but jet lag hit us both like a ton of bricks. For my part, I woke up at 3 A.M. with all the lights on in my hotel room and my laptop still open, having just time-warped a solid six hours from bedtime. Worse, this happened the next two nights as well.

The next day we met up with the Leiden crew, many of whom have bloggéd in the past (see posts by Adam Taras, Elena Tonucci, Dr. Matthijs Mars). The Gorlaeus building at Leiden University is so spacious and light-filled that Sebastiaan admitted he sometimes wears sunglasses inside. My current workplace is pretty nice, as office buildings go, but even we can’t claim to have a cat planter.

I think this is the front because of the ears and whiskers but who can really say

Sebastiaan gave us a tour of his lab spaces, including his remote MagAO-X MegaDesk and the adorably named BabyCAT coronagraph testbed and demonstration for public outreach.

We even got a tour of the lab that will integrate METIS for the ELT and saw the cryostat it’s going in. Truly, science is everywhere in Leiden.

We got dinner with Adam… and apparently failed to notice María Eugenia Redondo González (another previous blog contributor) at the next table. To be fair, she didn’t notice us either—but then, she probably wasn’t expecting us to pop up so far from Chile.

You will have to imagine María Eugenia behind Adam somewhere.

Leiden is disgustingly cute (as usual).

if you don't appreciate her at her 'overcast and rainy'...

...then you don't deserve her at her 'perfect summer night'

Josh’s cheese research bore fruit (or at least bore cheese).

Sebastiaan invited us over for a backyard party à la Jared. No grilled burgers, but there was a surprise guest: the No. 1 Cheese of 2026.

A lovely time was had by all, and I only asked Sebastiaan when he would be putting in a swimming pool once.

future's so bright I shoulda worn shades

Song of the Day

“Swimmers” — Zero 7

In Residence

Part I: At The Grand Canyon

Drs Males and Morzinski (and a little squirrel) just had the amazing honor of being personally shown around the Grand Canyon by the Grand Canyon Conservancy’s Astronomer in Residence.

you could FEEL the anticipation — An absolutely packed theater at the Grand Canyon Visitor Center.

Said resident astronomer is none other than MagAO-X’s own Dr! Logan Pearce. After a pleasant road trip (via Nothern New Mexico) we arrived at the Grand Canyon visitor’s center just in time to catch one of her public talks:

"everybody calls me doctor, it's so weird." — It was really quite like the act everybody had been waiting for finally took the stage!

Logan covered a wide range of astronomy, and the audience’s rapt attention was broken only by their laughs at all the astronomy humor. (well, and a briefly fussy baby)

the squirrel made it through 2 slides then pooped her pants. It happens. — Of course PDS 70 made an appearance. +1.

big owie if you don't listen at this place. a forever owie. — We toured the rim trail and visited several of Logan’s favorite spots.

like a terminator it had identified the stroller

One of the fun facts we learned from the AIR is that the #1 treated injury at the Grand Canyon is squirrel bites.

the horizon is crooked b/c I was blocking the sun with one hand

The other fun fact is that there are no dinosaur bones in the Grand Canyon because the rocks are too old!

good times! — Katie, Jared, (squirrel for scale), Todd, Alycia, Logan, and Justin

On our 2nd day we had another fun MagAO-X experience as MagAO-X superstar Dr. Alycia Weinberger and fam joined us. I think Logan even managed to keep it a secret until they were in line at the gate (when I texted Alycia to hurry up!) We had a great time catching up and had a wonderful sunset dinner outside of the Yavapai Tavern.

does she get to keep the sign? — Logan residing

Logan will be in residence through the end of July. Here’s the schedule of night-sky events which include her talks: https://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/upcoming-night-sky-events.htm

now that we just about have MagAO-X's jitter problems solved, I'll work on this. — This is actually from a few days before, but the post-sunset planet show was really amazing for a few days there.

Part II: At LCO

It was implied but never stated: MagAO-X is off the telescope and set up in the clean room for remote ops. Thus endeth our first Nasmyth-West residency on the Clay telescope.

Gary was framed — LCO and the Grand Canyon aren’t actually all that different in terms of scenery.

Not much to say other than “big success”. The jury is still out on whether it was actually better for our quality of life — no one cooks for you when you are just working late on campus, and other people expect you to be awake during the day.

except for whatever is currently broken. — Ready.

Song of the day:

The cover band at the Yavapai Tavern played this while we were there. It reminded me of the time I saw John Denver live — and he refused to play this song. Actually shouted “no” back at the crowd. I guess he was sick of it.

Congratulations to Dr. Kueny; the new Disk Doctor in town

Here ye here ye! Thee Jay Kenneth Kueny has hence been dubbed doctor of thee optical sciences. He has wrestled the snakes and been announced victorious. Foremost amongst our graduates, expert in discs, shepherd of DMs, detective to driven halos, he has more than earned his place among our doctored elite.

I Would Expect Nothing Less Of Our Styling Jay Kueny Than A Retro Title Slide — IWENLOOSJKTARTS

We were treated to an expertly crafted overview of adaptive optics, our instrument, and the structure of disks. Jay gave a masterclass in the highlights of his large repertoire of work, giving us the novel and compelling in his quest for some of the most impressive disk pics. We know Jay works hard, but damn he worked hard! And his committee seemed to think he was up to snuff too.

Have You Ever Seen A Disk So Pretty? — HYESADSP?

Watch Out, The King Of Acronyms Is In The Building — HYESADSP?

One test passed, and then another: a celebratory fizzy drink uncorked flawlessly.

Fruit Gushers, Fruit Tarts, and Fizzy Fruit Juice, Oh My! — FG,FT,FFJ,OM

Of course, the food supplied was borderline divine. Mel, Jay’s partner and friend of XWCL, brought Time Market level chocolate cookies and the largest focaccia sandwich I have ever seen, divided up into edible chunks. Katie made delicious mini tarts, covered in a fruit salad perfect for the summer season as well as providing the modern man’s fruit salad, a bounty of fruit gushers. The 8th floor of Meinel has never seen such a defense feast.

This Might Just Be The Best Sandwich I Have Ever Eaten — TMJBTBSIHEE

The Moment Where The Advisor Gets Nostalgic — TMJBTBSIHEE

One would be putting lightly to say this man got tested. Dr. Kueny has triumphed in some of the hardest arenas our field has to offer. He has added to MagAO-X’s optical benches, code base, and scientific legacy. Astronomy is lucky to have a researcher like him apply himself to the field.

Rest assured the slack announcement had the required number of emojis, which means at least twenty — RATSAHTRNOEWMALT

He called it the Jay test so MagAO-X knows he always has his eyes on it — RATSAHTRNOEWMALT

So raise a glass to Dr. Kuney! Expert of extended objects! Distinguished of palate! Chief of interpersonal pranks!

Fortunately he will be staying at Steward for a postdoctorate position, so there won’t be far to miss him. We’re so thrilled to see what he’ll get up to next.

Look It Is Not Every Day You Get A Group Of People This Fun And Kind And Dedicated To Discovering Exoplanets, And Dr. Kueny Is A Non Negligible Part Of That — LIINEDYGAGOPTFAKADTDEADKISNNPOT

There’s something bittersweet in having one of the faces you’ve known longest leave the research group. I’ve got to see Jay being a triumph of a graduate student since before I was even a graduate student. Jay brings a joy and humor and mischievousness to our group as if he wasn’t suffering from the long hours and scientific challenges like the rest of us. You could call him a model researcher, but he’s also just a incredible guy. Cheers to you Dr. Jay!

Dinner Parties at Jay and Mels — AOSSCO22

Song of the Day

A long time ago Jay and Maggie and I got to catch a Death Cab for Cutie concert, immortalized in her graduation post, but we also caught a Postal Service concert the same night. (The band just happened to also be in town.) So this song is from them and for all the heights Jay has reached.

Such Great Heights by The Postal Service

MagAO-X 2026A Day 32: UUUUU_

hi there! — The poop-covered mirror selfie, with MagAO-X driving by.

As Katie reports, we had a smooth and efficient MagAO-X removal — even though Sebastiaan and Parker collected the very last photons of the run. Everything went great, that is, until we turned the computers back on in the cleanroom. At this point we found that the data storage system on the Instrument Control Computer (ICC) had essentially melted down, apparently it got car sick. We need that working to be able to test cabling results, so instead of getting all the way to a working lab setup in 1 day (our standard) we had to pause for a night of RAID rebuilding.

Are you guys done yet? — Lots of good friends hanging around.

So this morning we finished restoring the ICC data array, moved the important bits back onto it from our (just barely finished in time) fresh backup, and got to work. Parker and Katie cabled the DMs, and we had only one problem which was an actually failed “samtec” insert (the cheapest and easiest to replace piece of our DM systems). After replacing that we had the loop closed and got to work.

In addition to the IR camera packup, we also removed the experimental baffle tubes so we can make “professional” versions, and knocked out a few other odds-and-ends tasks to clean up.

The horses loved it. — The sunset from the gym. The green flash was amazing!

shy, started turning when it saw my camera — There was a herd of horses (and at least one mule) to negotiate with on the run. Parker almost didn’t make it.

After a dinner break, and some nice sunset jogging, we ended the night with some ADC experiments. It’s a long story, but something changed a few years ago. Katie has tried a bunch of things, which mostly just confused everyone. After a consultation with Laird, and digging through his small warehouse of optics down here, we installed a wedge to de-wedge another wedge, with encouraging results. As always, the permanent answer involves $, really $$$, but now we know what to do.

Look, it was Laird's idea so we took data in his preferred format — Those are some straight speckles. IYKYK.

With apologies, the color of the day is inspired by a real problem: the foxes are starting to become, let’s say, noticeable for the wrong reasons.

I’ll bet it’s been a while since this has been on the blog. My advice: crank it and dance like you’re 18 mos old:

she actually tries to do the horsey dance, not quite there though.