2025B – Page 5 – Extreme Wavefront Control Lab

MagAO-X 2025B Day 20: Head in the clouds

Dear Vizzy,

We missed you! It’s been a whole MagAO-X observing run since we last saw you. We checked every day on our way up, but it seems like you were busy with other business.

Last seen May 2025 — Señor cleanroom Vizzy.

Last night, or morning? We had our last hurrah in the control room.

The fastest starhopping times in the southern hemisphere — Everyone in the control room one last time.

Our take down crew went to bed early, but the night crew holdouts worked on Sebastiaan’s targets until the clouds told us it was time to pack up.

We need a windsock care plan. — Clouds through the moonglow.

Surprisingly, stars are still visible with clouds like these. If you're an AO system. — Clouds through the moonglow.

The night crew’s responsible for shutting everything down, and tucking all the cables away before craning operations start. Though I’m sure you’ve heard us up to this before.

Take your darks during the day, kids. Don't be like us. — Face of a man about to take darks.

This has been equated to being in the pit crew of NASA. — Face of a man about to take darks.

You might have seen quite a few cars swinging up and down the road to the cleanroom this morning. Josh and Parker were running up and down on errands before then we fully swapped with the day crew. I’m happy to report that both crews got a filling and balanced breakfast.

Rico is almost as tall as the electronics rack! — Rolling out the electronics rack.

What are you looking at? — Rolling out the electronics rack.

How did the day crew do? I heard they had some trouble with the bolt holes in the legs. Thank goodness the LCO crew is around to help when nuts get stuck. As you must have seen, MagAO-X is back in the clean room in good time. Some of us are sticking around one more day to attach all the sensitive parts and make sure it’s ready for remote observation.

Colorized, 2025. — Pondering above the fog.

This was a short break in our run away from the clouds. — Pondering above the fog.

I hope you’re staying warm with all these clouds coming through. We got one good walk in before they fully swallowed the mountaintop. The moisture in the air was just enough for us to finally smell the flowers. Also we finally had some free time to smell the flowers.

This is not the final configuration, dear vizzy. — Geometry measurements of CLIO.

In the original vest, no less. — Geometry measurements of CLIO.

Don’t forget to say hi to Manny! It’s been a while since the last time he was here but we promise he’s friendly. He just got here yesterday, but he’s already gotten so much of CLIO into a box.

Josh watches on in horror. — The clouds finally covering the mountainside.

Sorry for all the noise by nap spot in the eves. I promise things will start to quiet down soon. Till next time,

Eden

P.S Song of the Day

Great No One by The Beths

P.P.S. Fun Fact.

Did you know that Seattle, USA has more cloudy days than London, UK?

P.P.P.S. Laird said to tell you hello.

MagAO-X 2025B Day 21: Today is Tomorrow

Phil: Do you know what day it is?
Rita: No, what?
Phil: Today is tomorrow. It happened.

— Groundhog Day (1993)

This will be my 571st night at LCO (and this is my 270th blog post).

I feel like one always gets into a rhythm on a long observing run. It might take a while — with MagAO-X we always start with a frantic lab period, installing the latest crazy upgrades and tuning the instrument up. Then there’s “the day”, where we go 24 hours all at once to move up to the telescope. That helps with the transition, since you’re so tired after that you can’t help but sleep at 8 am. Then after about a week your body starts to adjust, and you can sleep a little later into the afternoon. One night turns into another, and you start to wonder if you’ve ever had a different day. But now we get to go find out what those different days are like.

except for Rico. Rumor has it he is still on the mountain, training his neurons. — Part of the crew departed this morning. The rest of us tomorrow.

MagAO-X works because of our great team. Thanks everybody for the hard work. And thanks to our great observers who bring us such interesting projects and challenging observations. See you next time.

dangerously close to the viscacha access pipe

As has become our normal practice, we have left MagAO-X set up for remote operations in the LCO cleanroom. This time it’s a little different, since we put it in the corner to keep the tent clear for another instrument. Fits just fine over there.

we got it done, eventually. — Of course we couldn’t just leave. There’s always something to work on.

We have exciting new things planned for next semester, so exciting we may have to change the way the blog works!

hi there. remember me? — The bird-poop selfie is an ancient tradition, harkening back to the age of legends.

view from afar — The sky looks clear — but those clouds are closer than they appear.

Fun Fact: Imbolc is the old Gaelic name for what became Saint Bridget’s day, and is a seasonal festival marking the turning of Winter into Spring. The ancient goddess Brigid was welcomed into homes at Imbolc with hopes for a quick end to Winter and a warm Spring. Part of this festival included watching for animals to emerge, and to see if the hag Cailleach arranges for good weather so she can gather lots of firewood for the long remaining winter ahead. Does that sound familiar? Well, that just might be where modern Groundhog Day comes from.

And here’s a song about Bridget.

This is a good lullaby

This song has been on a MAPS run before. The artist, Celia Farran, was just in Tucson for the Celtic Festival — but we didn’t find out about it until it was too late.