Tonight is my first calm night driving the AO system in 5 nights. It is great that everything in MagAO/VisAO/Clio is working well together again. Katie is getting great data and Kevin Wagner has joined us at Clay.
I was having such an easy time running the AO that I was “volunteered” into writing tonight’s blog post.
Last night’s very rare high humidity night (60-80% humidity all night) was so well sensed by our capacitive sensors on the ASM that I was reminded how capacitors really are barometers. Then I got to thinking that the ASM has many unsung talents in weather prediction.
When I was a young lad I was always interested in science and part of that was a love of weather. My grandfather Jack Close who was a bit of contrarian realized this and purchased a “weather predicting donkey” for his home. I was very excited to meet this clever donkey. I was a bit less impressed when I finally got to meet it. We went outside and he pointed to a round piece of wood with donkey painted on it with a little tail made of wool stapled on to the wood for a tail. Below you can see a picture of a similar weather predicting donkey:
Now that I’m all grown up I’m pleased to present my very own weather predicting ASM. And, since long time readers of the blog know how Katie and Jared love rules: here are the rules of how the weather predicting ASM works (this could actually replace sections in our operating manual):
So here are the rules of how the weather predicting ASM should be always used:
ASM state = weather: Action
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ASM dry = Nice Night: keep observing
ASM can’t set = humid night: Close dome and warm up the ASM –it is cold and damp
ASM wet = Rain: stop observing!, and repeat what we did for the last 10 months to repair liquid in the gap
ASM frozen = Cold: Call LBT for advice
ASM’s tip-tilt loop goes crazy but stays locked = small earthquake: remain calm and ride it out (see Clio’s earthquake images above!)
ASM’s tip-tilt loop opens = big earthquake: HIT THE BIG RED EARTHQUAKE BUTTON (then, do as the day crew do, and run out of building)
ASM’s tip-tilt loop good on one side and bad on other = low airmass: blame ADCs for a while, then replace Tip-Tilt mirror
ASM’s Shell blows off: Tornado: OMG I hope MagAO-X gets built soon…
I think Papa Jack Close would approve…
A nice song that I like about fireflies