Blog – Page 136 – Extreme Wavefront Control Lab

Comm2 Day 2: The ASM lives

Today we said goodbye to Alan. Thanks for all your help getting us up and running!

Laird shows off his Arizona pride. — Marco, Katie, Jared, Alan, Laird, Tyson, and Vanessa. (not pictured: Alfio)

Even with Alan departing, the mountain is full to the brim with personnel, and we need all the space we can muster for the President of Carnegie’s visit later this week.

Doubling up on rooms, just like the good ol' college days. — Every available dorm space has been claimed, and then some.

Today the crew installed the ASM. First they had to remove the other secondary mirror which was installed on the telescope, which took several hours. By mid-afternoon they were ready to install our secondary mirror (the ASM).

First, we moved the ASM into place, and cleared the area around the telescope.

Off to the races! — We rolled the mirror, still covered in a protective layer of plastic, into the telescope chamber. The crew had to move some scissor lifts out of the way, so we had a place to put the mirror and cart safely away from the telescope.

In order to install the secondary mirror, it must be lifted by crane out of its cart and across the telescope chamber, over to the telescope structure. This is a nerve-wracking process, so the crew proceeds slowly and systematically. Thanks for a flawless install, everyone!

Because the crew cannot easily access the telescope when it is pointed straight up (“zenith-pointing”), the whole telescope structure is tipped down (“horizon-pointing”). When the telescope is horizon-pointing, the top of the telescope structure (where the ASM is mounted), lines up with a catwalk which extends around the dome.

As the mirror was lifted from its cart, Laird held his breath. — The mirror was lifted from its cart with a crane which is attached to the telescope dome itself (yellow structure in the bottom right image). The crane can move toward or away from the dome wall, but can’t move sideways, so the entire dome is rotated to bring it over to the telescope.

After dinner, Laird and Marco connected the control and cooling lines to the ASM. We use a liquid cooling system to keep the mirror components at a safe operating temperature, so before powering on the ASM, we checked for leaks (we were A-OK). Then, Marco showed Katie how to power on and configure the ASM.

Pondering the ASM — Marco and Katie work through the ASM startup.

Amazingly, the ASM started up on the first try! We were all pleasantly surprised, since the system had been sitting in storage for several months. In fact, the time from start to finish of the entire installation and startup process was only 7hr, including a leisurely dinner break.

It's alive! — The software control for the ASM after a successful startup. The window on the right shows a real time view of the postions and currents of each actuator in the mirror. The left window shows the status (the three green boxes at the top are good!)

The ASM wake-up wasn’t the only thing going on around the mountain today.

Jared showed off his thesis project. We’ll be mounting the whole assembly tomorrow, so check back in to hear all about it!

Check out that swag. — Jared shows off his thesis project (hint: not the crate cover).

We continued to cool and test Clio:

Ice, ice, baby. — We attached a vacuum pump to one of Clio’s nitrogen reservoirs (via the clear tube coming out the top). By lowering the pressure in the reservoir, we can solidify the nitrogen. This serves dual purposes: it further cools the detector, increasing its sensitivity; it also keeps liquid nitrogen from spilling out of the reservoir when we turn Clio upside down.

And Alfio helped debug the wavefront sensor control software:

Time for reinforcements. — Alfio briefly takes over the command center.

Lest you think it’s all work and no play on the mountain, we squeezed in a few photo-ops:

Another pretty sunset from the catwalk:

Or just a bad white balance? — A yellow-green flash, perhaps?

Along with an equally pretty moonrise:

Miss Vis made an appearance:

Check out those whiskers. — Miss Vis lazes in the shade.

And I took a couple pictures of Clay and Baade by moonlight:

Is it our turn yet? — Clay by moonlight.

Just starting to slew to the next target. — And Baade too. Alpha Cen is at the very edge of the image in the upper right.

Quotes:
“Yay!” — Jared over the walkie talkie after Laird informed him the ASM was alive and well. (There was much rejoicing all around).
“You and Jared could power an approximately-infinite improbability drive.” — Vanessa’s parents after learning about the geographical coincidences mentioned in the previous blog post.

Comm2 Day 1: The ASM heads up the hill

Today was the first full day for our expanded team. After a long 2 days of travel, we got a lot of good sleeping and working accomplished. Oh, and Laird’s suitcase arrived — it’s nice to have toiletries!

anchor — The expanded team looked well-rested at lunch (Marco, Alfio, Vanessa, Katie, Laird, Jared’s sweatshirt).

Today Marco and Alfio checked that the ASM cabinet powered up and that the system looked OK.

Yesterday the spic-and-span primary mirror was re-installed in Clay, and last night our telescope was collimated:

Not our secondary! — The Clay telescope being collimated (last night at sunset)

Today we moved the ASM from the clean room up to the Auxiliary building at the top of the mountain.

Laird claims he is a better sailor than Jared. — We prepped the ASM by turning to face vertically — a stronger position while in motion (it is stored face down — a safer position in case anything strikes it), inspected the mirror surface, and tied it securely to prevent bounces or shocks. In the lower left, Laird is using his sailor skills to show Vanessa and me how to tie a bowline knot. In the lower right, I am trying to get a close-up shot of the slot, my favorite fiducial. The white arcs in the lollipop part of the slot are capacitors for the sensors.

Photo by Paula -- came out very well! -- Vanessa's camera — We paused to take a group picture while the truck was being prepared (Alfio, Vanessa, Katie, Laird, Marco)

I think we have a very similar shot from Comm1, except this time we turned it 180 to face away from the sun. — Here the ASM is being loaded on to the truck. Very carefully.

Vanessa takes amazing pictures. — Strapping the ASM down to the truck.

Slow enough for a PI to walk beside — Here the truck is driving the ASM very slowly up the mountain.

Carefully. — Finally, the ASM is rolled safely into the Aux.

Going to the telescope tomorrow — The final result.

This morning Gabriel began cooling Clio with liquid nitrogen:

Gaseous nitrogen — Liquid nitrogen being pumped from the big tank into the little tank… and then from the little tank into Clio

Vanessa got to work monitoring the instrument and updating its software. Here she is connecting the motors last night:

A happy grad student is a good grad student — Vanessa connecting some Clio motors

Gabriel from the day crew filled Clio during the day, and Vanessa and I filled it after dinner, in order to speed it on its way down to 77 Kelvin:

Until we ran out of LN. — Vanessa and I cooling down Clio.

Here is a video:

Laird, Jared, and Vanessa cleaned the optics in the W-unit and Clio dichroic with soft lens brushes today:

Don't sneeze, Vanessa — Laird and Vanessa inspect the Clio dichroic. Laird is holding a soft-bristle lens brush used to wipe off dust.

This morning Jared saw a guanaco, looking quintessentially Andes:

Cutie — A guanaco in its natural habitat (left) and zoomed-in (right)

Vanessa and Jared saw a bird in the Aux:

Mellon — A bird perched on top of the shelves by the propped-open door to the Aux.

Then this afternoon, Jared and I saw two burros, very appropriately for Palm Sunday:

Harking back to his farm boy childhood in Pullman, WA and Brookings, SD — On the left, you can see two burros in the foreground, and the 100″ telescope in the background. On the right, Jared is making big loud sounds to “get their ears up”.

Quotes:
“To the nunnery!” –Tyson, heading out after the morning meeting.
“You get them in your mouth!” –Laird, talking about moths at MMT (fortunately, not a problem here!).
“It’s ballpark super-well cooled down.” –Vanessa, reading the Clio temperature gauge.

Comm2 Day 0: Arrivals

The MagAO team got a lot bigger today. Laird, Katie, Alfio, Marco, and Vanessa arrived at LCO today. Marco took some pictures after they all met up in Santiago.

don't even ask about what happened in customs. — Laird, as is his wont, caused all sorts of trouble at the airport(s). He doesn’t have all of his luggage yet.

that's a big load of MagAO — Laird, Alfio, and Marco waiting for the ride. This time they got to ride in comfort on the LCO Express.

Katie sat in the front of the bus, so she took some pictures of the drive.

the bus looks . . . stopped . . .right? — Marco speaks Spanish well, so he always makes friends.

catch the MagAO wave — The drive takes you along the ocean for part of the way. It’s nice.

you finally made it — The bus has just pulled up to the Babcock Lodge

No rest for the weary. After dinner we charged up the mountain to get to work.

I've heard so much about you! — Vanessa was introduced to Vizzy after dinner.

a good connection — Katie is tightening some screws on Clio.

the clio girls — Katie and Vanessa got Clio started up.

the first thing he did was drop his shiny new water bottle — Laird arrives at the top. MagAO Commissioning run #2 has begun.

We also set a record today, with the arrival of Vanessa:

and probably people who have lived in Pullman, WA, too. — We’re pretty sure this is the largest number of graduates of Brookings High School (South Dakota) ever to occur at LCO. Go Bobcats!

maybe next time. — It never gets old. Yuri was right though – no green flash.

distance — A pretty mountain view just after sunset.

And finally, though we couldn’t watch it, we note the outcome of the battle of the Aux building:

and we have Kardashian sister! — Arizona 74, Harvard 51. Bear Down.

Comm2 Day -1: Welcome to the Dance, Harvard

Congratulations to the Harvard NCAA men’s basketball team, who today upset #3 New Mexico (as the #14 seed – wow!). This makes things in the Aux building at LCO a little interesting:

Let's go Cats! — Can anyone think of a basketball metaphor for "resolution vs. field of view"? In the foreground are Harvard instruments Megacam and MMIRS, and in the back is Arizona's MagAO.

#6 Arizona and #14 Harvard square off tomorrow afternoon. Bear Down!

The Clay primary mirror got a bath this morning:

slip-n-slide anyone? — The first step is to rinse with soapy water, several times, to get as much of the dust off as possible.

down the hole — Not necessarily the reason the hole is there, but it sure comes in handy. Come on a mirror lab tour with me sometime and we'll talk about how you deal with not having a hole in an off-axis GMT segment.

Here is the rinse in action:

The next stage of washing is a gentle blotting with sponges. The Aluminum is on the front, and any remaining dust particles or other bits of junk could easily scratch the surface if you wipe.

wax on, wax off — The LCO crew gently sponges off the Clay 6.5m primary mirror.

yeah, so this one time... — The bridge the crew is on moves across the mirror as they sponge.

layin' down on the job — The sponging operation, rear view. So how many sponges are in this picture?

Here’s the action version:

dreaming about cookies in the ASB, I'll bet. — I caught Vizzy napping at lunch today. Btw, I'm not too worried about Vizzy vis-a-vis Zorro - the fox is really small.

hurry! — The Magellan telescopes reflecting the last sunlight of Day -1. The next wave arives tomorrow, including the PI. If you're new here, that means we'll start using non-negative numbers.

Comm2 Day -2: El Zorrito

Today was somewhat eventful. There was some more guider housekeeping, and some work on VisAO software, and a few other odds and ends. We also saw a rare member of the LCO zoo today at lunch.