MagAO Commissioning Day 2: That Was Big

Armando Riccardi is here. That means it is all going to be fine. Seriously – stop worrying.

O.k. Maybe worry a little. We had a 6.2 magnitude earthquake today, almost right under us. That’s telescope shaking, rock slide causing, all work stopping strong. Strong enough that Armando abandoned the ASM in the cleanroom. Here’s a map:

Coordinates and strength of the quake from Universidad de Chile . It was only 34 miles away.

The valley between us and the epicenter had clouds of dust rising, presumably from rock slides. [check back, I’ll post some pics when I get them]

In the end everything is fine. Nothing broke and we just kept working.

Alan and Tyson tweak our guider.
Tyson working on wrapping the 'Anaconda', which regular blog readers will remember from our last adventure. Katie and Alan are safety watches in case it turns on Tyson.

Progress was made on site cleanliness as well.

Alan gets it done again. Our various mothers will be grateful for once-more poop-free pictures of their children.

And we discovered what “the problem has been dealt with” actually meant. The Viscacha den in the attic of the ASB was screened over.

The screens put in place to stop the banana raids. The white streaks are evidence of the former occupants. Vizzy looks on with seeming distinterest.