Snow men
The snow is still there in the shadows, especially north facing slopes. And since it’s Sunday, there are lots of families come to play in the exotic snow.
Roque de los Muchachos
Snow at the Observatory today
This is wht the MAGIC webcam is showing tonight. Very Christmassy, don’t you think?
Snow and ice
People associate the Canary Islands with sunshine for good reason. But the Canary Islands at beach level is one thing, and the Canary Islands at 8,000 ft (2,400 m) is another. In the middle of winter, Mt Teide often has snow, and the top of La Palma can have snow and ice too.
Merry Christmas 2013
Have a wonderful Christmas, (or whatever else you celebrate). I hope 2014 brings you whatever you most hope for.
The William Herschel Telescope
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…
Towers of Flowers
Tower of Jewels is one of the common names for Echium wildpretii. Some of the other are red bugloss, Tenerife bugloss or Mount Teide bugloss. The Spanish name is tajinaste grande or tajinaste rojo, although the ones on La Palma can be blue or mauve. The individual flowers are tiny, but the spikes can be anything up to 3 m high. And they’re in flower on the peaks of La…