Around 20 students from the MAGIC Collaboration participated in the MAGIC Hardware School on the island of La Palma this July. The aim was to provide Ph.D. students and Postdocs first-hand experience working with the MAGIC experiment, a system of two Imaging Atmospheric Cherekov Telescopes situated at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory at an altitude of 2200 meters above sea level.
Students learned how to operate and maintain the telescopes. They learned about the inner workings of the data acquisition and triggering hardware system, and even had a chance to shadow some shifters during nighttime observations. One of the highlights was climbing the MAGIC telescope structure to survey the telescope active mirror control system. In addition, students had the opportunity to open up and get a close, personal view of one of the MAGIC cameras, composed of photomultiplier tube and silicon photomultiplier devices. SENSE member Derek Strom gave a lesson on the principles of low light-level detectors. He was available throughout the school for questions and to engage the students in discussions regarding the future of photo-sensing technology.