Bikers
Today’s visit to Gran Telescopio Canarias was a bit different. Most of the group were bikers from Gran Canaria. It made for a good photo op as they left.
GranTeCan
A new instrument for GTC
Gran Telescopio Canarias has a (sort of) new spectrograph. The HORS spectrograph is very high resolution, and of course GTC’s huge mirror collects a lot of light from even the most distant object. Put them together and you can measure the abundances of the chemical elements in stars, determine the masses of black holes in binary systems, and the composition of the atmospheres of exoplanets. I say it’s a…
Star birth
This amazing picture of stars being born inside a nebula was taken by Daniel Lopez using Grantecan. Near the centre of the picture is a dark red spot – that’s the new star which shines mostly in the infrared. The butterfly shape is a large disk of dust and gas orbiting the star. The gas near the star shines because it is ionized (like the inside of a flourescent…
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.
Merry Christmas 2013
Have a wonderful Christmas, (or whatever else you celebrate). I hope 2014 brings you whatever you most hope for.
Canopus, the sacred star.
The bright star Canopus is too far south to see from the UK, but it can be seen from La Palma from late August to April. These are exactly the months when it might rain on La Palma. The British aren’t usually fond of rain, but the Canary Islands could do with more rain not less, and four months with no rain at all must have been a serious problem…