MagAO-Classic posts

Meanwhile, back in Tucson… We interrupt the NAS Fitcheck program to bring you this update on the Clio2 infrared camera. After the Pre-Ship Review for Clio2 in Amsterdam in July, we have been completing preparations to receive diffraction-limited near-IR to thermal-IR photons from MagAO. Yesterday and today we installed the new J-band filter, and the cold ...

The weather has taken a turn for the worse at LCO. It is currently 1.8C and blowing at 32.7 mph. And getting colder. Speaking of cold, we installed the new liquid cooling system in the W-Unit today. The other big accomplishment in world of the NAS today was Laird installing the Telecentric Lens. ...

Today our big plumbing efforts started in earnest. The cooling system that Jason assembled in Tucson was unpacked today, and the complete circuit was put together. It is currently holding pressure (20#), and we’ll see if it holds all night. Still no big animals. The Viscacha was on its perch this ...

The VisAO electronics box is completely back together and running, so you can stop worrying and get back to working on your 22 milli-arcsecond science case. In addition to rebuilding the computer, I took the opportunity to organize cables and make everything look tidy. I also turned on the W-Unit and tested everything ...

Lunch on Sunday is always empanadas here at LCO, and it’s cold enough that a big bowl of hot soup hits the spot. Today was spent rebuilding VisAO after the cooling box interference and the motherboard fiasco from unpacking. It’s almost back together (and I have 2 spare motherboards just in case). But sadly ...

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 ...

Jason finished assembling our new CCD (and shutter) cooling system in the mirror lab yesterday. After several tries, and finally replacing the threaded cap that wouldn’t hold pressure, the system passed a pressure and operational test. It’s on its way to Pasadena, and from there to Chile.

We have settled on dates for our upcoming “NAS Fitcheck” run. We’ll be back at LCO for the last 2 weeks of August, and during the last few days we plan to bolt the NAS on the telescope and test as many things as possible. Jason and I are working on assembling and testing a ...

Here’s Laird about to update the AO session on the status of MagAO.

Several members of the MagAO team are in Amsterdam for the SPIE astronomy conference. In addition to presenting several posters and giving some talks, we are also conducting the Clio2 pre-ship review on Wednesday. A busy week.