The Picard Principle states:
“It is possible to commit no mistakes, and still lose.”
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.
As Leden said, Jay, Josh, and I stayed an extra day to get one more Empanada Sunday.
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.
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.