Last summer and this spring, I got several mornings work as a tour guide, showing people around either the William Herschel Telescope, or the Isaac Newton Telescope. Today was my first go at the new-style open days at the observatory (see my blog about the island) where I have to give a general talk about the observatory first, then take them to the MAGIC telescope (and maybe give the explanations…
From 20th June to 19th July, 2008Casa Principal de Salazar, O’Daly 22, Santa Cruz de la PalmaOpen Mon-Fri, 10 am to 1 pm and 5 pm to 8 pmSaturdays from 10 am to 2 pm. You know, I think “Mountains” is a mistake in translation, because the exhibition is about forests (and “monte” can mean either forest or mountain side.) I don’t care. It’s a fun exhibition. My son enjoyed…
Traditionally, the observatory has been open to visitors about 4 days per year, with perhaps 6 groups for each day. This year, they’re going to have 20 open days, but most of them will only have one group. Each visit starts at 9:45 with a visit to the MAGIC gamma-ray telescope, followed by one other telescope, and finishes before 12.00. DATE Day 2nd telescope 8th July Tues WHT or INT…
And what does he want for his birthday? “Just more Peace & Love. It would be really cool if everyone, everywhere, wherever they are, at noon on July 7 make the peace sign and say ‘Peace & Love’.” That sounds like a much better present than a pair of socks and a dodgy tie.
My friends in Franceses have amateur telescopes, and my friend in Puntagorda usually has cloudless summer nights with no street lights nearby. So we finally put the two together. The catch is that it meant camping, because the house in Puntagorda is tiny, but that made a change. It’s almost a year since I’ve been camping, partly because the previous exhibition wasn’t a success. (See Sleeping With My Best Friend’s…
This is one photo I didn’t take myself – I wish! As you probably guessed, it’s a NASA photo, taken from the Space Shuttle. If you want to see the high-resolution version, together with some text about the geology of La Palma, and how the image was taken, click here.