Andy's Observing Adventures: Part I

This week, I'm "on the mountain" at Kitt Peak National Observatory, about 50-ish miles southwest of Tucson, Arizona. This is the longest observing run I've ever been on: 5 nights in a row at the telescope. It could've been worse, b/c the full length of the run is 8 days, and I'm just participating in the middle. (Gotta get back to my ladies in Anchorage!) This is also the first time in a long time that I've actually gone "up the mountain" to observe. The University of Chicago's telescope in New Mexico can be run over the internet, so I'd gotten used to observing in my jammies, and for only a half-night at a time.

Here are a few images I'd like to share, and there'll be more on the way. The one above is my reflection in the grating element of the coude spectrograph (I was basically standing inside the instrument, it takes up an entire room!).




Mount Rainier, as seen from the plane.


The road up to the observatory. The Mayall 4-meter telescope can be seen from miles away, even from downtown Tucson on a clear day.


One of the amazing views from the mountaintop.


Looking over towards the 4-meter and Spacewatch telescopes, to name a few.

There are more, but I'll save them (and those I haven't taken yet) for future posts.