*This blog post provides a belated summary of the various exploits of MagAO-X team members at the 2026 SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.*
Day 0
We began our conference journey with the registration of participants and their respective guests (human and otherwise). In fact, there were so many MagAO-X affiliates in attendance that they would not have all fit into one photo.
Our featured guests in attendance included the Danish stoat accompanied by one Dr. Jared Males.
Day 1
The day started off on a high note with a review talk from Dr. Laird Close on MagAO-X’s famed H-alpha imaging mode.
Elena then gave an excellent talk on the first on-sky demo of the FAST SCC.
Daily Poster Roundup
Today’s poster session featured friend of MagAO-X, Dr. Jaren Ashcraft (well…half of him to be specific), Elena featured again (but this time w/ the PIAACMC), Dhwanil with coronagraphy + wavefront sensing, and Eden with blue Beta Pic b.
We end the day with a beautiful sunset…
Day 2
On the 2nd day of SPIE, the conference gave to me…
Haffert 2019…
MagAO-X data…
Yankie chocolate bar…
Eugenia’s award-winning poster…
Dr. Hom’s Roman CGI talk…
And some brooken coffee machines.
Meanwhile…
In a deep, dark lair (that was definitely not a Danish hotel), a daring villain was devising a dastardly deed.
With the utmost care, he cracked open a safe and withdrew a wheel of Gouda cheese (but left the passport).
Assisted by an unnamed accomplice, this person of interest cubed the cheese in preparation for a bread and cheese platter that would later be offered to SPIE conference attendees.
(To be continued)
Daily Poster Roundup
Day 3
We have reached the third day of the conference and energy is running high.
Dr. Sebastiaan Haffert told us all about quantum-optimal coronagraphs.
Dr. Lauren Schatz guided us through the history + awe-inspiring power of laser guide stars.
Katie gave an excellent talk on correcting dispersion within MagAO-X.
It was then time for the lunch break, where the results of yesterday’s cheesetivities were revealed:
The cheese received rave reviews:
And now back to our regularly scheduled SPIE programming.
Laird gave a secret talk on his homemade telescope for measuring sky brightness in the near IR:
Poster Roundup
The day ended with a green flash.
Day 4
Surprise, it’s a twin! Dr. Matthijs Mars presented his digital twin of MagAO-X.
Unfortunately, I could not find a picture of Dr. Rico Landman presenting his work on the unmodulated pyramid wavefront sensor. However, you can reference this highly academic source for details.
Various MagAO-X members also explored the SPIE exhibition hall and took selfies in front of various optics.
Poster Roundup
Day 5
We are nearing the end of our journey through the astronomical instrumentation universe. But stick around dear reader because we’re not done yet!
Eden kicked things off for the MagAO-X group with a sparkling presentation on pyramid wavefront sensor optical gain:
Parker gave us good vibes with his talk on vibration control using accelerometers:
Here is a summary of the evening shenanigans:
Day 6: The Final Day
On the final day, Manny showcased the progress that the MAPS team has made on the MMT adaptive secondary mirror used for exoplanet characterization.
Jay showed us windsoCC:
Matthijs LOWFS’d in a non-linear fashion:
And Sebastiaan gave one of the final talks of the conference on a fan-favorite: wavefront sensing and control:
With hearts full and passports smelling of dairy, we conclude the SPIE Copenhagen conference.
See you in two years for the next edition!
