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.
observatory
Ravens on La Palma
Common Ravens live all over Europe, Asia and North America, but we have a different sub-species here. Some biologists group our raven in with the North African sub-species (Corvus corax tingitanus) and others think the Canaries have their own sub-species (Corvus corax canariensis). Like other members of the rook-and-crow family, they’ll eat whatever’s available: carrion, insects, cereal grains, berries, fruit, small animals, and food waste. And they’re pretty intelligent about…
#onthedraw
The Canarian Tourist Board have some good ideas. One was to invite 7 artists from all around Europe to visit an island each with a local artist, and La Palma got Steve Simpson. who was hosted by Victor Jaubert. You can see the work of the artists at the Twitter hashtag #onthedraw
Visiting the observatory 2014
La Palma is home to one of the three most important astronomical observatories in the world. (The other two are Hawaii and the Atacama desert in Chile.) The observatory sits at the top of the island, at the Roque de los Muchachos. It’s a fascinating place to visit, but it’s not normally open to tourists – they’re too busy doing science. However, you can sign up for a 90 minutes…
This morning
I didn’t feel like getting up early this morning, but I had two groups of tourists at the Roque, so needs must. And the drive up was all sparkly with dew and early sunlight. I finished work at 1 pm, and went up to the viewpoint right at the top in hopes of meeting my friend Carmelo, the raven for a chat. He wasn’t there, but another raven was (I…
Carmelo’s Back!
I hadn’t seen Carmelo the raven for about a month, and I was starting to worry. I’ve seen lots of other ravens, but Carmelo’s easy to recognise by his ankle bracelet. He’s also much the friendliest (or maybe just the cheekiest) and I’m very fond of him. So it was quite a relief when he turned up on the heliport yesterday to guzzle most of my elevenses. Many thanks to…