Most of the telescopes at the observatory here look spectacular even from the outside. SuperWASP looks like a big garden shed. It’s the white thing at bottom left. Even when it opens up, it still doesn’t look like a professional telescope. To me, it looks more like a small missile launcher. The equipment isn’t that spectacular either. As modern telescopes go, it was built for peanuts. It has eight cameras,…
This is wht the MAGIC webcam is showing tonight. Very Christmassy, don’t you think?
Have a wonderful Christmas, (or whatever else you celebrate). I hope 2014 brings you whatever you most hope for.
The William Herschel Telescope at sunset. . The William Herschel Telescope was for many years the biggest and best optical telescope in Europe (until GranTeCan opened in 2009). The main mirror is 4.2 m across (165″, or 13′ 9″) which astronomers call “a good light bucket”. It’s rather old as world-class telescopes go, since it opened in 1987, but it still produced excellent science. In fact data from the WHT…
The Spanish version of “A Breathtaking Window on the Universe: A guide to the observatory at the Roque de los Muchachos” has gone to the printers. It will be on sale as soon as the books arrive, in about 2 weeks. There will be extracts on the Dragon Tree website very soon.
The Spanish version of my guide to the Observatory of the Roque de los Muchachos is in layout. I hope to have it on sale in early February.