Blog – Page 133 – Extreme Wavefront Control Lab

2014B Day 40: Switched back over

Yesterday was day 40 and we switched back over to a day schedule, but the blog server was down so here I am posting now. Thanks to the 4th-floor at CAAO for getting us running again!

A few final pix from our last night on-sky — night 39:

Only 1 AU away! — Sunrise on our last night observing — the run ended when the AO loop opened due to confusion with a nearby G2V star. You can see the sunlight coming around the baffles — I snapped this pic just before the loop opened. And then got a couple pictures of the final dome closing on MagAO 2014B.

Pretty — Fog in the morning after our last night.

Or hello — Jared waves goodbye from the Clay catwalk

Day 40 was a short day for me. Laird had gone to bed at midnight on our last observing night, so we saw him at breakfast as he was just getting up but we were just going to bed. He pulled the ASM with the crew in the morning. Then Jared got up after a few hours sleep to help uncable the NAS, which they pulled next. Finally I got up in the afternoon after several hours sleep, to find that Laird Jared and the crew had already pulled Clio too! They were very fast this time!

I think we broke our Sagan Fellow — Such tired

Lovely. Didn't need a flashlight! — I went for a walk after dinner down to the original scopes, and saw the moon rise over the Clay & Baade.

Cuz we're switched back over. — Sunset on Day 40 — not the start of the night, but the end of the day.

She's a bit skittish. — A vizcacha sighting at the clean room! I dub her Vizita.

The staff here have taken such good care of us this run. They sent up my yogurt for breakfast that I had at 7:30pm, and a plate of delicious food for dinner every night. On Day 40, they were concerned that I didn’t go to lunch or dinner but also didn’t ask for una plata at night, so they sent Jared with some pizza. Thanks! It was delicious. My usual observing dinner:

Gracias! — Dinner while observing — Una plata de la cena por favor.

We made it 40 days. I hope I can still swim when I get back!

2014B Day 39: Last Night… Farewell AOistas

“Ultima noche nadie se enoja”… Old Chilean saying, “on the last day (night) nobody gets mad”, so finally the last night for this run is here Katie and Jared can’t wait for it to be over, just a few minutes ago they both say “last target of the night !”… I know the feeling, so my hat’s off to you guys, the run must have has broken some kind of record, so this is what you deserve once you get down:

While listening to:

Cheers, nos vemos en Junio !

2014B Day 38: One More Night

We only have 1 more night of observing left. Can you believe it? And after all that, the last two nights are mine and Katie’s to do with as we please. We have a nice informal queue worked out between us. It goes something like: seeing 0.5″ or better, we do the impossible stuff, better than 0.7″ we do the hard stuff, and after that the stuff we won’t do any other time. Tonight was a just go for the impossible kind of night – half arcsecond seeing, no winds, and not a cloud in the sky.

about time — Cerro Manqui delivered tonight. I think we deserved it.

I hope our favorite mountain peak has one more of those in store for us tonight. There’s plenty of impossible in the sky.

maybe she reads the blog — The ASB vizzy has been around a little more reliably the last week.

had to go off road for this — This Viscacha struck a nice pose for me on my way up tonight. I knew it would be good after this.

We’ll be in Tucson by the next time empanada Sunday comes around. I still had one leftover last night.

2014B Day 37: “Engineering Issues”

So it’s my time to write?

Last night for me on the mountain, and to date the finest AO shift. The team is smoothing the instrument quite a lot, and on my call I’d say the biggest issue was helping Laird when he had “engineering issues” with the washing machine (the shame!).

You guys still have a couple of nights, but I’d say every year you manage to resist these long runs a bit better (I still remember one of your first runs, crazy eyed, talking about La Serena like it was Havana or something). I guess the awesome AO data you get to grab helps.

Well, in any case we’ll miss you. It’s always nice when you observe with the same people for a while, and the observing process gets easier and runs smooth. Next time we’ll have the DIMM working, promise. Oh, in return of a “Loop is open..” ringtone!

I leave you with a xkcd that reminded me of AO somehow, and a full album. Have you heard of the annoying TO with the weird music taste? That’s me!

PS: Sweet Dreams (see what I did there?)

2014B Day 36: AO Team

Finally, after working for two years at Las Campanas, I could collaborate with the AO Team, which went as a rather smoothly work. Also the collaboration from Katie and Jared is amazing. They have been here for 36 days, and it appears just as if they had been a couple of weeks. What I’m trying to convey is the mood on the control room, their sense of humour, and the way they interact towards the VA’s using AO. The always strive to respond all the questions than may arise, and to solve the problems. Regardless that the VA’s have not read the AO manual…..
I look forward to work with them again, I could bring this next time ….