This is my seventh trip to Las Campanas Observatory (I think?) and the first time I’ve seen actual, bona-fide precipitation in the Atacama desert. I woke up at 2pm to the gentle patter of rain on my windows, and emerged blinking into daylight. I did try to document it with my phone, but in my sleep-addled state I apparently double-tapped the “record” button and ended up taking some neat videos of the ground.
Fortunately, the early shift was up and could take some pictures.
Vizzy Viscacha was wise to stay under cover as the storm rolled in. Even MagAO-X had to be tucked in safe and dry.
Then, it started really snowing.
Laird is the only one brave enough to venture forth from the lodge. He had to get MagAO (not -X) packed up for its international shipment.
After the snow, we got a snow-bow!
Unfortunately, our guest observers Gabriele Cugno from Michigan and Jensen Lawrence from MIT have had just about the worst weather I’ve ever seen here. In fact, this brief break in the clouds after dinner was when Gabriele got his best chance to observe:
Then the hailstorm started.
(Or maybe it was a graupelstorm?)
Today, by the numbers:
New SSH/VPN questions: 2
Spurious Python environments purged: 11
Night lunches recovered from shutdown: 4
Stars: 14 ish?
Hailstones and/or graupelstones: ≫14
Adaptive secondary mirrors: 1 (slightly used)
Best 15 Minutes of the Day
Probably the rainbow. I swear, natural phenomena here look just the way they are depicted in children’s book illustrations.
Song of the Day
This song of the day is not observer-approved.
Remarks overheard
“So, by the way, how does a pyramid wavefront sensor actually work?”
[rueful laughter in response]
“Whatever. I have no excuses, but I’m also not sorry.”