Biking through Paradise
Here’s a wonderful video of mountain biking on La Palma. Of course, if biking’s not your thing, you hiking through the same stunning scenery.
Month: October 2012
I got a Buzz from Buzz Trips
I enjoy tour guiding. If I’m honest, I like the sound of my own voice, but I also like to share my enthusiasm for astronomy and La Palma, and I love to see people go away happy. I like it even more when they tell the world about it, like Buzz Trips blog just did.Actually, Buzz Trips looks like a great blog. I’ll have to keep reading it.
Canopus, the sacred star.
The bright star Canopus is too far south to see from the UK, but it can be seen from La Palma from late August to April. These are exactly the months when it might rain on La Palma. The British aren’t usually fond of rain, but the Canary Islands could do with more rain not less, and four months with no rain at all must have been a serious problem…
Photography Trip
From left to right: Liverpool Telescope, Isaac Newton Telescope, Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope,William Hershel Telescope (with laser guide star) Swedish Solar Telescope, Dutch Open Telescope. At the front, MAGIC I.The very bright star is actually Venus. I got permission to take photographs of the observatory early this morning. I’d carefully planned it so that the full moon would be setting, illuminating the telescopes for me, and I hoped to get the…
Rose Petals, Lavender and Glitter
I’m delighted to announce that my story, “Rose Petals, Lavender and Glitter” is up at Abyss and Apex.One side effect of spending so much time on the guide book to the observatory is that it’s been a while since I had something published. I’ve missed it. So I’d better get on with getting the book published, hadn’t I?