observatory

Transvulcania runners visit the Observatory

Me and Transvulcania runners outside GTC., Roque de Los Muchachos, La Palma
May 7, 2015
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  Today 11 of the Transvulcania runners visited the observatory, together with about 20 journalists. Lucky me, I got the job of being their guide. So I showed them around GTC and the MAGIC. It felt a bit odd, because the runners were interested in the telescopes, but the photographers were largely interested in the runners. Well, it’s their job, obviously: they weren’t there for me or the telescopes. But at the end,…

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Sunset at the Roque de Los Muchachos

Gran Telescopio Canarias at sunset, Roque de Los Muchachos observatory
April 29, 2015
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  The Roque de Los Muchachos is a spectacular place to watch the sunset. For one thing, you’re usually above the clouds (which is one reason the observatory is there.) In fact, sometimes the clouds are so much lower than the Roque that the sun sets well below you. This means that your shadow on a wall is taller than you, and the shadows of your legs go on forever….

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New Cherenkov Telescopes

Proposed Chrenkov Array
April 27, 2015
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  The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is negotiating with the IAC to site more Cherenkov telescopes on La Palma. It’s not guarenteed that they’ll come here, but it’s highly likely. What is certain is that they’re going to build a prototype here. So what’s a Cherenkov telescope? The oversimplification is that it’s a telescope to look at gamma rays instead of visible light. For more detail, see this article on…

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Spring is here

  Spring is obviously here. Some people look for the swifts returning or flowers blooming, but I know it’s spring when the solar telescopes start work after their summer break. It’s not very easy to see whether the Swedish Solar Telescope is working unless you’re close, but yesterday, the Dutch Open Telescope had the clamshell dome down and they were clearly open for science. It must be time to buy…

April 3, 2015
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Life is what happens…

  ..after you made other plans. Here’s what was supposed to happen today: I had a group of students to show around two telescopes. Since they were going up in a bus from Los Cancajos and the weather forecast was poor, I arranged to drive to Los Cancajos, leave my car there, and go up with them in the bus. This would avoid the usual confusion created by bad weather…

March 20, 2015
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Chatting to Carmelo the raven

Sheila holding Carmelo the raven and her book 'The Seer's Stone' at the Roque de Los Muchachos
March 3, 2015
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              This morning when I finished work I went up to the Roque itself to relax and admire the view. Helen Loth kindly agreed to take a photo of me with my book and the telescopes.                     While we were doing that, Carmelo the raven came to say “Hello”. Well no, he really came to…

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