La Palma’s got its Starlight certification

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…

June 23, 2012
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Venus Transit on June 5th and 6th

Map showing where the Venus transit will be visible. Credit: NASA
June 1, 2012

On  on 5 and 6 June 2012, the planet Venus will pass in front of the sun in what’s called a transit. The last one took place in June 2004, and the next one won’t happen until December 2117. If you’re in the USA or Canada, the transit will be in progress at your sunset on June 5th. If you’re in the UK or Germany or North-east Spain, the transit will…

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Exhibition comparing Mars and Earth

Earth and Mars
May 14, 2012

There’s a great exhibition about the Earth and Mars in Palacio Salazar in Santa Cruz de La Palma until Saturday May 26th. It features scale models of the two planets, lots of great photos of Mars, and explains the similarities and differences in geology, atmosphere and weather, and hydrology. Even better, they have a genuine meteorite from Mars which you can actually touch. The exhibition is open from 9 am…

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Mars-Earth exhibition

The scale models of the Earth and Mars
May 13, 2012

  Palacio Salazar in Santa Cruz de La Palma is hosting a great exhibition on the Earth and Mars until May 26th. It features lots of great photos of Mars, and explains the similarities and differences in geology, atmosphere and weather, and hydrology. Even better, they have a genuine meteorite from Mars. Did you know that a day on Mars lasts 24.6 hours compared to our 24? And the axial…

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A Guide to the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory

This is the cover design for my ebook, “A Breathtaking Window on the Universe: a guide to the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory”, which should be on sale by late summer or autumn of 2012. It explains why the observatory is on La Palma and how a telescope and its instruments work, and gives details of each telescope, plus many anecdotes and over 60 photos. I’ll be posting full details…

March 11, 2012
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