The GTC shutter
GTC has been open for five years, and the massive dome shutter has been getting some maintenance. This photo give an idea of the sheer size of the dome shutter.
astronomy
Rosetta and the comet
Rosetta is a robotic spacecraft built by the European Space Agency which is due to reach comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in August. It’s the first mission designed to both orbit and land on a comet. The Rosetta space probe orbiter, which features 12 instruments, will orbit 67P for 17 months and is designed to complete the most detailed study of a comet ever attempted. In November 2014 the Philae robotic lander,…
RGO Photographer of the Year Shortlist
The Royal Greenwich Observatory has announced the shortlist for the Astronomy Photographer of the year. They got 2,500 entries! As you can see fromt eh photo above, the standard is amazing. Go and see them at https://www.flickr.com/photos/royalobservatory/galleries/72157645060485867/ El Observatorio Real de Greenwich ha anunciado la lista para el Fotógrafo Astronomico del Año. ¡Tienen 2.500 entradas! Como se puede ver fromt eh foto de arriba, la norma es increíble. Ve a…
The Swedish Solar Tower
Two of the fourteen telescopes at the Roque de los Muchachos observatory are solar telescopes — highly specialised to observe our own sun. This is the Swedish Solar Telescope, which was the first telescope built on the Roque. It’s currently the best solar telescope in the world since they added the new adaptive optics in 2005. (Adaptive optics compensate for air turbulence.) It can resolve details of the sun’s surface…
Summer Solstice 2014
Today is the summer solstice – the longest day of the year. Several archeological sites on La Palma mark the solstice. El Verde, near El Paso cemetery, is a natural bowl where a natural notch in the rock sends a spotlight onto a carving at midsummer sunset. This was probably a sacred moment for the Awara. If you’d like to see it, get to the car park at El Paso…
The observatory in bloom
The whole hillside at the Roque de Los Muchachos is in bloom. But where heather moors go purple, The peaks of La Palma go yellow with sticky broom (Adenocarpus viscosus, or codeso in Spanish) and French broom (Genista benehoavensis or retamón palmero in Spanish)