Hi everyone! I’m Leah, a visiting observer from MIT. Tonight marks the last evening of observing for this run. After two successful previous nights of star-hopping for my targets (and some other observations), the operators began the day with a delicious breakfast (while I was fast asleep).
Today we were joined by Manny, the Technical Director for the Center for Astronomical Adaptive Optics, for the day. See an archival post from a previous trip of his here: https://xwcl.science/hardware/it-begins-clio-unpacking/
In our downtime, Elena and I have been testing the Merlin birdwatching app around the telescope domes and dorms. So far, we have found the Moustached Turca, the Greenish Yellow Finch, Black-winged Ground Doves, and the Mountain Caracara (and many other species we were unable to identify).
After dinner, the team made their way up the mountain, and partook in the usual viscacha-watching. Many of us gathered to watch the sunset, and took a group selfie (sans Parker and Josh).
Tonight’s science began with my observations where we are using a method called star hopping. For these observations, we jump back and forth from a star with a protoplanetary disc, to a similar star without a disc. We can then subtract the non-disc star from the disc star, which removes any unmasked starlight. This leaves us (hopefully) with a nice image of the dust in the disc.
It is imperative to switch between the two very quickly so as to not waste telescope time. Jared decided that part of his mission tonight was to optimise this process, so provided strict instructions for the operating team to work simultaneously to “reduce latency”. He brought out his phone stopwatch, and timed the operators, a responsibility taken over by Joseph later in the night. I am proud to say that all of our hops took less than one minute, reflecting the team’s dedication to optimising my observing time.
Despite the forecast originally being for thick clouds to roll in during the afternoon and stick around the whole night, we were very fortunate that the prophesied doom did not arrive. Aside from a few high altitude wispy clouds, our observations were unaffected. In fact, seeing improved greatly by the end of my time, leaving good seeing for Sebastiaan to finish the run.
I had a great time observing at LCO. The MagAO-X team was amazing to work with, and I have learned a lot about being an observational astronomer (one should make sure to have many backup targets!). Thank you to everyone for letting me join you here, and I hope to come back soon.
Song of the Day
A sunset conversation got me thinking back to my plants back home… accompanied by an impending feeling of doom.
Blonde Redhead – My Plants are Dead
Fun Fact of the Day
In the spirit of star hopping, I will educate you about a different type of hop. Hops (the plant) always grow in a clockwise spiral!