Extreme adaptive optics at visible wavelengths
MagAO-X on the Magellan instrument platform

MagAO-X is an extreme adaptive optics system used on the Magellan Clay 6.5-meter telescope to achieve diffraction-limited imaging at H-α (656 nm).

It is also a testbed for novel wavefront control experiments and post-processing algorithms.

Time on MagAO-X is available to Magellan partner institutions and through NOIRLab. Interested guest observers should contact P.I. Jared Males for information on submitting observing proposals.

Rendered view of MagAO-X optical beams

Press

MagAO-X reveals a baby planet's growth spurt

Prof. Laird Close of the MagAO-X team and Richelle van Capelleveen, an astronomy graduate student at Leiden Observatory, discovered and characterized the accreting young planet WISPIT 2b.

Publications

Team member Dr. Sebastiaan Haffert awarded New Horizons in Physics Prize

Dr. Sebastiaan Haffert of the MagAO-X team was awarded the New Horizons in Physics prize by the Breakthrough Prize board alongside Rebecca Jensen-Clem and Maaike van Kooten for work in extreme adaptive optics for exoplanet detection.

…and 59 scientific publications

Telescope

Magellan 6.5–meter

Clay first light: 2002-09-07
MagAO-X first light: 2019-12-03

Located on the peak of Cerro Manqui, the Magellan Telescopes enjoy exquisite seeing conditions.

Remote observations are possible, but seeing is believing.

Instrument capabilities

Simultaneous dual-band imaging using two Princeton Instruments ProEM HS: 1024BX3 electron-multiplying CCD cameras.

Woofer-tweeter wavefront control with 2040-actuator and 97-actuator deformable mirrors.

Dedicated non-common-path correction with 1020-actuator deformable mirror.

Improving run after run since December 2019.

Mission patch design for 2019B with Vizzy Viscacha
Patch design for 2020 with a pooping coyote
Patch design for 2021 with a barfing bobcat
Mission patch design for 2022A with Carlos Culpeo
Mission patch design for 2022B with Gabriela la gata Andina
Mission patch design for 2023A with el Condor
Mission patch design for 2024A with Hedwig
Mission patch design for 2024B
Mission patch design for 2025A
Mission patch design for 2025B with Gary Guanaco
Mission patch design for 2026A with a spotted false monitor lizard
TBA

The only problem we can't fix is clouds.

Team

MagAO-X is an international collaboration involving faculty, graduate students, and postdocs in Arizona, Leiden, Michigan, New York, and Washington D.C.

Consult the eXtreme Wavefront Control Lab website for the current roster of team members and alumni.

(We still like to think of ourselves as a small and scrappy traveling circus act, though.)