Big observing run

I'm observing again. This time, a double-header. I'm on Maui Monday-Thursday, then on the Big Island Friday-Monday. I'm finishing up my third night at AEOS, and I've got a giant ungodly mound of data. My hard-drive is crying. I'm crying. I've got a lot of work to do, and I'm trying to get myself off coffee for a little while. Bad combo. I haven't had time here to do anything but sleep, eat, and drive the telescope. No pictures, no timelapses. Instead, I thought I'd share what I've been staring at for the last few days:

A sky-polarization map

And raw data......

The weather has been awesome though. I feel really lucky to have this period - it's going to really help me get going on my thesis. I've got a lot of calibration stuff to do to make sure I understand how the telescope measures polarization, and I just got most of the data to finish that. At first glance, it looks like the scope is a lot better than I thought it would be. We'll see, but that's my guess. I've got a decent start on the giant paper I need to write this year. It will be a monster, and probably all calibrations. Then another one on the data. We'll see......

Oh, yeah. It's my birthday. I nearly forgot, but the Australians (being a day ahead) reminded me. Thanks Carly & Deb! Liz then called at midnight to be the first to physically say it. She's very excited by the whole birthday thing, partly because she's now only 1 year older than I am. And she's excited about food..... I think my main thoughts today were 1) Geezus I've got too much data, and 2) I need some sleep. I'll live it up in Michigan next week......