The digger’s started wotk on the foundations for the Large Size Telescope I gather the plan is to dig down 3 m, which is less than I’d thought for such a big structure. But the the MAGIC telescope is very light for its size, so perhaps the LST will be too. Cross posted to http://lapalma-island.com
The Canarian Tourist Board will be live streaming tonight’s lunar eclipse at http://www.thebestclimateintheworld.com/geminidas Just to remind you, the moon is at almost its closest approach to the Earth, so it’s will be a supermoon – noticeably bigger than usual. There are two parts to the Earth’s shadow: the penumbra is the outer part, and the umbra is the much darker inner part. Penumbral Eclipse begins 28 Sep, 00:11:47 The penumbral…
Next week the European Astronomical Society (EAS) will be holding their annual meeting at the ‘Guajara Campus’ of the University of La Laguna (ULL) in La Laguna, Tenerife. This is the 23rd EWASS, and the first one in Tenerife. The organisers are expecting over 1,100 participants. I’ll be there on Wednesday from around 1 pm to 7 pm, to sell and sign my books (more details of exactly where…
On Monday and Tuesday I showed a journalist around for the Tourist Board. On Monday night we went stargazing with Astrolapalma. I loved it. Agustín was very enthusiastic, and now I understand why people enjoy my enthusiasm so much. We started off just after sunset, and we had a lovely view of the old moon in the arms of the new. That’s the poetic name for when you can see…
The Spanish version of my guide to the Observatory of the Roque de los Muchachos is in layout. I hope to have it on sale in early February.
The Starlight Initiative has officially recognised La Palma as a “Starlight destination“, meaning that the island has really starry skies and really good activities for tourists to enjoy those skies. Among other things, the auditors were impressed by La Palma’s growing number of hiking trails and viewpoints used for astrotourism, its archaeological sites connected with astronomy, the progress towards a visitor centre at the Roque de Los Muchachos, and the country cottages…