MAPS posts

Not a sunset picture. I took this earlier in the day (I actually went outside! It was not 100 degrees out, so I decided to enjoy the weather.) For the first time, Bianca and I are the only AOistas at the AO station for the entirety of a run. After last night’s work, we felt motivated ...

It is the start of the second run of the semester. The night was focused(pun intended) on alignment and understanding how each one of the movements of the telescope, science camera, and Wave Front Sensor. And what it comes down that each one affects the other and it takes a lot of abstract scratching of ...

Hey everyone, I realized I didn’t introduce myself properly in my last blog post, sorry about that. I am Krishna, 3rd year PhD candidate at ASU. I am working with Jenny and Katie to characterize MAPS AO performance 🙂 It was a night like any other except we started on a little bit of rough ...

Hello! I’m Alyssa, and I am new to this blog. I am a visiting grad student from the University of Michigan that joined the MAPS team on this 6-night run. This will be my second observing run ever! The MAPS team headed up to the summit tonight! The skies looked more promising than previous nights. ...

As much as I hate to report it, the MAPS crew is once again trapped in a cloud. For a few days now, the forecast has consistently predicted high cloud coverage for all of tonight. To be sure, we performed our own professional survey of the sky at sunset. Yep, those clouds look cloudy, and ...

System is ready, but Weather is here. Last night we started the night with clouds above and over 30 mph winds. We got the system ready for on sky time and then waited for the wind to die down. Hopefully it will all clear out and we will start doing some AO’ing soon. https://youtu.be/8fNhoHoGUe4?si=HqxhxJiuGwyEsA5k

…to defeat…chronic back pain. Or something like that. Yesterday, the MagAO-X team partook in rigging and crane safety training (or craining for short). “Why do we need a blog post about rigging? I just don’t get it!” ~ Anonymous MagAO-X Team Member Fair point, anonymous group member. However, plenty of excitement occurs during crainings. I have ...

Usually you would think, the big W problem for an observing run would be Wind. And usually you would correct… but not this time. When we went to sleep today morning, we were prepared for facing clouds at night but not Water shortage. There was no water at the bowl…would be a statement a thirsty ...

With all the bits and pieces working and at the end of last night. Tonight is geared toward the goal of the AO consistency, training, and reliability. As one can see from the picture from the start of the night it does not look promising. Training Training Training Amali had a classroom of future AO ...

‘Twas the night before running AO, when all through the telescopeThe wind was violently stirring, we had lost all our hope;The MAPS team decided that the night would finishIn hopes that tomorrow the gales would diminish;There are 52 more lines in this old-time poemSo I will write the remainder of this blog in the way ...