MagAO: Status and Science

TL;DR

MagAO is a sophisticated adaptive optics system at the Magellan telescope enabling groundbreaking visible and infrared astronomical observations, including direct imaging of exoplanets and protoplanets, with recent technical improvements and operational updates.

Contribution

This paper reports the current status, performance, and scientific achievements of MagAO, highlighting its unique capabilities and recent technical developments in adaptive optics technology.

Findings

First ground-based CCD image of an exoplanet

Demonstration of the first accreting protoplanets

Discovery of a new wide-orbit exoplanet

Abstract

"MagAO" is the adaptive optics instrument at the Magellan Clay telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. MagAO has a 585-actuator adaptive secondary mirror and 1000-Hz pyramid wavefront sensor, operating on natural guide stars from $R$-magnitudes of -1 to 15. MagAO has been in on-sky operation for 166 nights since installation in 2012. MagAO's unique capabilities are simultaneous imaging in the visible and infrared with VisAO and Clio, excellent performance at an excellent site, and a lean operations model. Science results from MagAO include the first ground-based CCD image of an exoplanet, demonstration of the first accreting protoplanets, discovery of a new wide-orbit exoplanet, and the first empirical bolometric luminosity of an exoplanet. We describe the status, report the AO performance, and summarize the science results. New developments reported here include color corrections on red guide stars for the wavefront sensor, a new field stop stage to facilitate VisAO imaging of extended sources; and eyepiece observing at the visible-light diffraction limit of a 6.5-m telescope. We also discuss a recent hose failure that led to a glycol coolant leak, and the recovery of the adaptive secondary mirror (ASM) after this recent (Feb.\ 2016) incident.