MAPS posts

  • MAPS Oct. 2023B Night 1: 0 for 5

    2023-10-24

    Katie Morzinski

    MAPS Oct. 2023B Night 1: 0 for 5
    What’s this, another MAPS run? Yup, the moon is almost full, and here we are again! Unfortunately tonight we are 0 for 5 on AO engineering/commissioning productivity. Here are the 5 things: Can we safely open the dome? No, the humidity is so high that condensation could ruin all the sensitive equipment. Can we safely expose the ASM ...
  • MAPS Sep. 2023B Night 5: Wrapping up our first run of 2023B

    2023-10-03

    Katie Morzinski

    MAPS Sep. 2023B Night 5: Wrapping up our first run of 2023B
    The full moon is waning and that’s a wrap on the first MAPS run of 2023B! We have 3 more runs, on the full moons in October, November, and January. On this run we successfully closed the loop with our new software algorithms, which required taking new timing data and calibrations. We also got offloading within ...
  • MAPS Sep. 2023B Night 4: An interview with the team

    2023-10-01

    Eden McEwen

    MAPS Sep. 2023B Night 4: An interview with the team
    Dear readers, we have no science news to report. It has been windy and has stayed windy, with a fresh splash of humid to boot. So unfortunately, we do not have new science content to report. The experts have already shared their knowledge of some of the instrument’s background so tonight we’ll take the ...
  • MAPS Sep. 2023B Night 3: Wind, Wind, Wind, and much coding

    2023-10-01

    Manny Montoya

    MAPS Sep. 2023B Night 3: Wind, Wind, Wind, and much coding
    As was stated in the Mary Poppins Movie “Winds in the east, mist coming in, /Like somethin’ is brewin’ and bout to begin. /Can’t put me finger on what lies in store, /But I fear what’s to happen all happened before.” For us it has been out of the South with max of 60 ...
  • MAPS Sep. 2023B Night 2: Chilly wind

    2023-09-30

    Katie Morzinski

    MAPS Sep. 2023B Night 2: Chilly wind
    Tonight is our first *official* night on the telescope schedule, as last night was originally scheduled as an MMTO M&E night (maintenance and engineering) that the telescope ended up not needing more than we did, so they let us have an extra night to focus on our alignment. Thank you MMTO! Craig and Dan came back ...
  • MAPS Sep. 2023B Night 1: Field trip!

    2023-09-29

    Katie Morzinski

    MAPS Sep. 2023B Night 1: Field trip!
    Hello Extreme Wavefront friends, I’m back! Tonight was the start of our first MAPS run after the summer shutdown and it’s the usual packed control room, multi-tasking team, full moon, and beautiful mountaintop observatory! [Image description: Gallery of photos showing the MMT Observatory at the top of Mount Hopkins, the telescope overlooking the valley, and the ...
  • MAPS 2023A Day 5: Sunset on the ASM run

    2023-06-06

    Eden McEwen

    MAPS 2023A Day 5: Sunset on the ASM run
    Manny caught an unsuspecting grad student sunset-watching. Well, the fun had to end sometime. This post marks the official end of the MAPS 2023A run, after a weather-ful last two nights. One of the big perks of mountain observing in AZ, especially in June, is replacing the 100ºF highs of the valley with mountain temperatures of ...
  • MAPS 2023A Day 4: What’s a couple of shmims between friends?

    2023-06-05

    Joseph Long

    MAPS 2023A Day 4: What's a couple of shmims between friends?
    After the previous night’s untimely clouds, we were fortunate to have clear skies and moderate-to-good seeing all night. The MIRAC-5 team continued work on their instrument, which the adaptive optics operator Eden found extremely useful for its fast video feed showing how (and if) our adaptive optics experiments were improving their images. I, however, mostly spent ...
  • MAPS 2023A Day 3: MIRAC-5 has entered the chat

    2023-06-05

    Jarron Leisenring

    MAPS 2023A Day 3: MIRAC-5 has entered the chat
    After some berating from @jlong, here is my inaugural post! First, an obligatory observatory picture. The MMT at sunrise with the full moon on the horizon The MIRAC-5 team arrived Friday, June 2nd to prepare for installation of the latest iteration of the instrument. Originally conceived in 1988 by Bill Hoffmann at the University of Arizona, MIRAC ...
  • MAPS 2023A Day 2: “Now we’re starting to look like an AO system!”

    2023-06-03

    Eden McEwen

    MAPS 2023A Day 2: "Now we're starting to look like an AO system!"
    Hello. It is your local CACAO expert here, beaming to you directly from the beautiful peaks of the Santa Rita mountains. I am currently being not-paid to convince a wiggly mirror to un-twinkle stars from a four story building that rotates all night long. The whole experience feels like an internship at something between a ...