MagAO-X – Page 9 – Extreme Wavefront Control Lab

Congratulations Dr. Logan Pearce!

It’s been quite a week for our intrepid veteran-turned-teacher-turned-professional-astrophysicist. The hardest part of the dissertation defense is usually scheduling it at a time all your committee members can attend, and this time was no different. In true Texan style, Logan lassoed her committee and roped them in to a defense in-person and online this June 11th, 2024.

Unfortunately, I was only able to watch the public portion of the defense from afar via Zoom. I also vicariously enjoyed Logan’s big day through the subsequent vignettes dropped context-free in our Slack’s #blog-ops channel.

(I think of these as a sort of wishful thinking. Posters wish a blog post into existence by posting things that might illustrate it. Well, who am I to deny them?)

Logan began with a title slide crammed full of the stuff she’s been working on these past five years:

doesn't someone look pleased as punch — That’s me in the picture! I’m in the “18” by “Participants” on Zoom! (Photo by Eden McEwen)

She gave an overview of MagAO-X, for which she published the first ever peer-reviewed science paper using the instrument:

who the f**k is scraeming 'PUBLISH THE INSTRUMENT PAPER' at my house. show yourself, coward. we will never publish the instrument paper. — Twinkly star goes in, scienceable star comes out. Any questions? (Photo by Eden McEwen)

Gave the people what they crave (i.e. astronomical discoveries):

the science is riiiiiiight abouuuutttt... THERE! — We got one, folks! (Actually, eight.) (Photo by Eden McEwen)

And let us know where we can find her in the near future:

Please note that despite this bold territorial claim the state of Chile, and not Michigan, rules Las Campanas Observatory. — At the Michigellan Telescopes, of course (Photo by Eden McEwen)

Because we’ve never been sticklers about anything*, the party to celebrate Logan’s defense took place before the successful conclusion of the defense. Frankly, I’m gutted to have missed it. Fortunately, former-pastry-chef-future-Dr. Jay Kueny made Logan’s favorite pineapple buns in my stead. (No doubt with Melanie’s help!)

*Except label maker use, circus activities, and other important lab rules.

enthusiasm decreases with distance from pineapple bun following an inverse-square law — I’m told it was too hot outside already in Tucson so … party in the kitchen! (Photo by Jay Kueny)

ENTHUSIASM MAXIMIZED — I’m told it was too hot outside already in Tucson so … party in the kitchen! (Photo by Jay Kueny)

I’m told a pastry chef can make a pretty darn good pineapple bun (on the first try, too!)

Meanwhile, back in linear time, Logan was locked in a room(/Zoom) with four dangerous scientists and had to escape with only her wits. The labmates / COVID bubble-mates group chat—now scattered between California, New Mexico, Tucson, and New York—waited anxiously for word that Logan had surmounted her final academic trial.

Did she beat school?

Dear readers, of course she did.

you want a hover text on a screenshot? it's barely even a photo.

The group chat accordingly recognized the ascension:

A full program of celebrations was called for, beginning with further chef magic from Jay.

I believe the expression on Josh is "agog with anticipation" — By “chef magic” I am of course referring to how Jay just happened to have non-alcoholic Grand Marnier on-hand. (Photo by Eden McEwen)

The Cardboard Crowning of newly-minted Ph.D.s is a tradition as old as the academy itself. (Don’t quote me on that.) So, naturally, Logan was not about to get away without a hat pointing out what giant nerd just got all doctorfied.

Jared's allowed to do astronomy without a funny hat because he can hold all the science ideas in with sheer force of will. — From now on, you have to wear that getup to do astronomy. It’s the rules. (Photo by Eden McEwen)

Some more glamour shots of the extremely regal crown Eden made:

it's pride month after all — Turns out cardboard is actually *meant* for hats: “Corrugated (also called pleated) paper was patented in England in 1856, and used as a liner for tall hats” — Wikipedia (Photos and regalia by Eden McEwen)

the more plots you make, the longer your cloak gets. legend has it that senior astronomers can't even move any more under the weight of their publication records. — Turns out cardboard is actually *meant* for hats: “Corrugated (also called pleated) paper was patented in England in 1856, and used as a liner for tall hats” — Wikipedia (Photos and regalia by Eden McEwen)

Celebrations for Logan continued that evening with beers at the site of her triumphs, with a special guest appearance by the Director of Steward Observatory and head of the Department of Astronomy at University of Arizona: Dr. Buell Jannuzzi.

Scientists are just big kids with expensive toys — Logan’s miniature MagAO-X crafting project (Photo by Eden McEwen)

What’s that he’s looking at? Well, there might be a blog post about that soon. Sure looks like there’s a dang viscacha in that instrument.

Song of the Day

Today’s song of the day is brought to you by the temperature delta between June in Tucson (high: 109ºF) and Michigan (high: 84ºF).

“Too Darn Hot” by Ella Fitzgerald (really, the definitive version, don’t you think?)

Bonus Hedgehog

I modeled this hedgehog in a Ph.D. tam for Logan with the intent of getting it 3D printed. Turns out 3D metal printing is, like, expensive. But it was too good to keep to myself.

Congrats to our 2024 Grads!

XWCL has a lot to be proud of this graduation season. Our best and brightest donned their funny hats and walked across their stages. What? You haven’t seen their defense blogs yet? Shhhh. The actual degree part, they’ll get there. Today is for celebrating!

First up was the Optical Science graduation.

Maggie and Co. lining up for their PhD walk!

Maggie Kautz getting hooded by Dean Koschel and Advisor Laird Close

Katie Twitchell, Valedictorian, giving the convocation address.

Next up was the ceremonies at the Steward Observatory:

We wish them the best of luck in their future work!

Congrats on the Academic pageantry, and we can’t wait to see you all defend!

Song of the Day

For the Time Being by Sammy Rae & The Friends

MagAO-X 2024Ab Day 17: An Intercontinental Tale Told in Pieces of Cheese

Chanco Cheese:

Rating: 4/10

This cheese tasted a lot better on the first day of the MagAO-X observing run. However, by day 17, the mild flavor of the Chilean Chanco cheese just did not speak to me in the same way.

Chanco Served With Jam

Rating: 7/10

My decision to combine Chanco with jam at the very last LCO breakfast of 2024 Ab turned out to be a MAJOR game-changer. The sweet and savory flavors proved to be the perfect pairing like peanut butter with jelly or Jay with disk images or Logan with hedgehog illustrations or Jared with the electronics rack or…well…you get the idea. It’s unfortunate that I made this discovery just before leaving, but perhaps the cheese + jam blend is something to look forward to during my next sojourn in Chile.

Actually butter.

We're drowning in the dairy out here. — I can’t believe it’s not cheese!

Rating: 2/10

This cheese at El Pino was rather disappointing, as it actually turned out to be butter. Jay misled me.

Dairy-free substitutes.

I interrupt my cheese-based recap to showcase some images that are lacking in lactose.

If you squint, the mountains kinda look like cheese. — A view of The Andes from La Serena en route to Santiago.

Rumor has it, the Ruby Tuesday houses some orange + melty items.

LATAM Lounge Cheese

A slice of brie nestled between a strawberry and 3 pieces of lettuce.

Rating: 7/10

The main event of our travel day was none other than the LATAM airlines lounge cheese. Points were deducted for the hefty price of admission: Cash + a crumpled up boarding pass. However, points were added back for Jared being kind enough to invite Jay and me into the lounge. My favorite cheese from this experience was the red wine rind-washed (try saying that 3 times fast) parmesan. Unfortunately, this cheese is not pictured.

LATAM “Gratinated” Ravioli

Rating: 8/10

I was extremely grat(i)ful for the opportunity to partake of this perfect, pomodoro-based pasta. The high ratio of cheesy filling to starchy exterior made this dish particularly appealing.

This dinner deserved its own bonus picture. I awarded additional points for the use of the word “gratinated” in the item description.

LATAM Flight Egg and Cheese Sandwich

Rating: 3/10

Although the cheese wasn’t awful, this sandwich left something to be desired.

Maybe the real cheese was the friends we made along the way.

After a long day + night of travel, Jay and I posed in the ATL airport train (it broke shortly after).

The best 15 minutes of the day:

The first piece of sharp cheddar I will eat when I get home.

P.S. This post was so cheesy that it was banned from the Atlanta airport’s public WiFi network.

Song of the Day:

There Are No Cats In America – An American Tale

MagAOX 2024Ab Day 16: I Still Believe

The Picard Principle states:

“It is possible to commit no mistakes, and still lose.”

That is life.

My wrap-up posts have always been somewhat triumphant. But not this time, ‘cuz that just sucked.

To be clear the MagAO-X team did what they always do, and the instrument was ready to rock like we always keep it. We’re all just bummed that we didn’t get to let it off the chain to go hunting planets and disks and other exciting things. We just sat there, sometimes actually hiding under a blanket.

A quote:

“Laird and I agree that this was the worst continuous stretch of bad seeing we have seen in all that time.”

Morons. Apropos from this run:

“Why would you say that?”

It can always get worse. One’s dome has to be open for one to measure seeing. As I type this in my room, body trying to decide what schedule we’re going to follow tonight, my window is vibrating as the wind climbs and the stars fiercely twinkle.

This is nuttin'. They're still on the plot. — Why not blow us off the mountain?

As Leden said, Jay, Josh, and I stayed an extra day to get one more Empanada Sunday.

They are better fresh. — They’re even better with seafood soup.

Since we were here, and to make sure it was a business expense, we did take the time to re-cable MagAO-X. Best 15 minutes: split over two 7.5 minute moments when the MEMS deformable mirrors came alive with no problems and we didn’t have to re-cable.

My loneliness is killing me. — If exao1 has your key, MagAO-X is all yours.

We’ll be back, probably in November. In the mean time, MagAO-X is available for any eXtreme Wavefront Control experiments you have. A few of us will stop by around September to tighten some bolts, etc.

Don’t worry. It can always get better too.

I must confess, I still believe.

MagAO-X 24Ab Day 15: Time to roll out

Last time, on extreme.ao: We were still having weather. Your AO operator valiantly tried to lock the loop on a 10th magnitude star through patchy cirrus before our observers took pity and let us switch to something brighter. But finally TO Hernán got the call, stepped outside for some professional cloud watching, and the dome closed at around 11pm. The first shift crew trickled out, the second shift trickled in, and I got caught somewhere in between taking calibrations on our internal source. I took the bright moon walk down the hill, appreciated what I could of the night and the cold before finally heading to bed at 2am.

Magellan Clay is open, but at what cost? — The patchy clouds responsible for our WFS’ variable flux.

Best dark hole of the run. — A moon bow! Just the right thickness of cloud to get a ring of scattered light from the full moon.

The take down crew (Laird, Logan and I) caught up with the returning night shifters (Jared, Joseph, Jay, and Josh) at breakfast. (Am I self-conscious about being the only violation of the first letter name crew segregation? A little.) Turns out we did reopen! Around 3am the clouds cleared enough for us to rush to the transit for Gabriele’s early morning target. Only for wind to spike and seeing go from 0.8 to 1.5as soon after. Just before sunrise, they called it, and started the decabling soon after. Gabriele, though not captured, helped out too. A champion among guest observers. You’re welcome back any time, Gabriele!

Yo who closed last night? - affectionate <3 — DM decabling in the wee hours of the morning.

Night crew, full of orange juice and toast (as per PI procedure), headed for bed while us day crew revved our way up to the mountain. We only realized how much we had to thank the decable crew for when we rolled up to the platform. They had made our jobs a walk in the park. Cables and electronics box already down on the dome floor, the cart ready to go, with the bumpers out of the way, MegaDesk completely dismantled int the control room. They won’t always tell you they love you, but there will be signs.

We still had plenty of work to do to get out of the telescope’s way by noon, when the next night’s instrument would be rolled into our place. Yesterday we met before dinner to go over the procedure, and this morning we expertly executed said procedure. Except a few bolts that felt especially sticky (*COUGH* legs side B outer bolt *COUGH COUGH*), the cart and lifting hardware behaved itself beautifully.

How many pixels would a Laird pic if a Laird pic pixels pick? — At the briefing yesterday, everyone was very briefed on the new lift position.

Do I always hold the cart handles so I never get asked to do the cart bolts? No comment. — I hold the instrument steady as the cart gets assembled.

This is a three person job. Laird to know what to unscrew, Logan to catch what falls, and me to vaguely hold a flashlight in the right direction. — Laird and Logan reattaching the hardware that keeps pur instrument safe from earthquakes.

Juan and his crew helped us go from legs to cart, cart to elevator, elevator to 40ph wind tunnel, to the final tour town the hill. Laird was there to help oversee the careful maneuvers with our precious wheel-bound table of optics. He was also there to document just HOW MUCH WIND we’re talking about.

The wind was so strong it knocked over Laird!

tbt when these mountains were brown like a week a go — Baade, snow capped mountians, an AO instrument on the move.

moments before almost disaster (the electronics rack wheels getting ruck on the ramp) ((they're tiny ok??)) — Movign the electronics rack back to the clean room.

Where were Logan and I? Frantically shuttling computer parts, cables, and all our other bits and bobs out of the telescope and down the hill. We try hard to be polite and get MagAO-X junk out of the control room ASAP. As it happens, ASAP turns out to take 3 car trips of stuff and gets us done just before lunch. And MagAO-X is back where we want it, cozy and protected from the elements in the cleanroom antechamber.

now that's a good wrap job — Everyone is back in the cleanroom, and room temperture.

AND POOF. We’re back! Actually after lunch I fell asleep for an exertion-induced nap, during which Laird, Juan and crew got us back on legs and back in action. The afternoon was full of unwrapping, dusting, power supply ~~cursing~~ musings, and positioning MagAO-X where it will live for the summer before we come back down for 24B.

Two professors power posing, you better feel reasured of the future of AO. — MagAO-X positioned in the cleanroom to maximize 1) sharable space with other isntruments and 2) sticker visibility.

What does it take to get MagAO-X cleanroom ready? A lot of organizing, reshuffling, and repeating steps we did on the telescope platform. There were a few special quirks with the new placement in the cleanroom and making sure everything got the power it needed.

A timelapse by Jay of Laird floating the table. Watch that control loop work!

Two lamps were moved, but not harmed, for the making of this new inferior workstation. — The mega desk downgrade, in which Joseph talks sense into AOC.

Some of the crew (Jared Jay Josh – J^3) will be staying an extra day to make sure everything is in good condition for our summer remote ops. As for the rest of us, this is our last night at LCO for the 24A runs! For the special occasion, we made sure that we took a last sunset as a team, with a special surprise for Jared.

I think the glasses look most natural on Jared, don't you? — The largest sunset group photo. See reflections for a captured Josh.

The glasses looked so good, how could we not take a few extra shots?

Best 15 minutes of the day? Finding out there was pizza for dinner, eating pizza, thinking fondly of the pizza, and getting a second serving of pizza. But of course, the pizza tastes better with the laughs shared at dinner with our AO family.

Song of the Day

Today’s song brought to you by the bitter sweet of leaving the mountain after a hard run.

Head in the Clouds by The Beths