NAS Fitcheck Day -1: Back To Work

MagAO is back at LCO. Jared arrived yesterday (Day -1 on the schedule) to begin preparing for a “fitcheck” where we will bolt the NAS to the telescope and test our communications and plumbing. The NAS (=Nasmyth Assembly because it goes on a Nasmyth port of the telescope) is the big black ring that holds our cameras.

The trip to the mountain from La Serena had some excitement. An accident on the highway caused a long traffic jam, so we followed some locals and took an offroad shortcut.

We followed this truck on the "alternative" route around the traffic jam.
Looking back at the backed up highway after we'd circumvented the mess.

Everything is just how we left it, waiting for us to come back.

The NAS.
The secondary in the clean room, wrapped up to keep dust out.
A familiar view. Still gorgeous.
A nice moon after dinner.

Cleared To Ship!

After our pre-ship review, we had a few things to fix – the only difficult one was a misbehaving actuator in the ASM. These have all been dealt with, and after a final review by the director we today received permission to ship the Magellan AO system to Chile.

LCO here we come!

Some packing pictures courtesy of Carmelo Arcidiacono:

Carmelo measuring the height of the packing box, resourcefully with his inseam.
The W-Unit (WFS and VisAO Camera) in its wooden shipping crate. The gray crates behind contain the system electronics.
The NAS being lowered into its shipping crate.
The NAS safely in its box.
Time to put the lid on. How many Watts RMS?