MAPS posts

  • 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 ...

  • MAPS 2023A Day 1: Clouds, Clouds, Clouds, and Adaptive Secondary Mirrors

    2023-06-01

    Manny Montoya

    MAPS 2023A Day 1: Clouds, Clouds, Clouds, and Adaptive Secondary Mirrors
    The night started off with clouds and the group had a nice and easy time getting to start their systems. Nothing like having time to catch up and get lunch together. CLOUDS, CLOUDS, CLOUDS CLOUDS,CLOUDS Lunch CACAO Station TopBox Station At midnight the weather decided to clear and we had high hopes of starting where we left off last night. ...

  • MAPS 2023A Day 0: Stranger in a familiar land

    2023-06-01

    Joseph Long

    MAPS 2023A Day 0: Stranger in a familiar land
    MAPS is The MMT Adaptive optics exoPlanet characterization System, an upgraded adaptive secondary AO system for MMT. For the next week or so, it is installed on the telescope and the team has important engineering and science to do. To this effort, the XWCL has contributed one CACAO expert on the ground (Eden McEwen) and ...