It’s science week and the astrophysics institute is organising events all around the Canaries. On Monday 26th at noon in the teachers’ centre there’s a workshop for 6th form students on atmospheric turbulence, and how astronomers compensate for it On Monday 26th at 6pm Ovidiu Vaduvescu will give a talk on near-Earth asteroids (in Spanish) in the San Fransico convent, Santa Cruz de la Palma On Tuesday 27th, there’s a…
Spot the Lava Flow
Just north of Fatima, El Paso Ladies and gentlemen, can you spot the lava flow in this picture? This lava flow at Fatima in El Paso is from the eruption of Volcan San Juan (St. John’s volcano) in 1949, but the whole island is volcanic. And, geologically speaking, it’s still in nappies. The very oldest rocks on the island formed as a submarine volcano, some 3 three million years ago….
Selling on Amazon
Amazon.com have this really nice program called Advantage, designed for people selling their own books/CDs/DVDs. But you need a US bank account, and you need to deliver your books or whatever) to their warehouse in the USA. This isn’t going to happen with my books any time soon. Amazon.co.uk don’t have Advantage. They do have something called “Fulfilment by Amazon” which seems similar, but I’d still have to get the…
The Hamster Wheel
“A Breathtaking Window on the Universe” is in production at the printers, and it should be here in 2-3 weeks. I need to get ready to sell it, don’t I? So I’ve improved the webpage for it and added extracts from the book, and my next move will be to look into getting it listed at Amazon. Meanwhile I’m doing enough tour guiding to cover my social security payments and…
Why La Palma?
Click on the image to read an extract of the book “A Breathtaking Window on the Universe: A guide to the observatory at the Roque de Los Muchachos” on sale December. The recommended retail price is €15, but books bought through the publisher’s website will cost just 12€ + P&P.
Model Ships
In Palacio Salazar, there’s an exhibition of model ships, mostly from the Napoleonic wars. Now model ships aren’t really my thing, but it’s worth a quick visit just because they’re so beautifully detailed. (And if you haven’t seen Palacio Salazar, that’s worth a visit too.) The exhibition fills up the ground and first floor, and contains perhaps thirty models, including the Titanic, HMS Bounty, the Cutty Sark and the US…