Well, that's it.

We've done it. The last of our images are in, it's 3:49am, and we're cleaning up to leave the control room one last time. Stay tuned as time rolls on for updates on processing images and cool things of that nature. Ciao for now!

A horse in space.

Hi everyone,

Happy 1:38am MST! The skies are dark and clear, and we've been bringing in images all night thus far. We have about an hour and a half of time left tonight, but then we have to pack it up because it's an early morning (relatively, of course ~ leaving the mountain at 10am is very early for astronomers who've been up all night) at the airport. For your viewing pleasure, I've attached a copy of one of our very own images. It's raw/unprocessed, so, yes, it kinda looks icky. Yes, it is a black, white, and gray blob in space. But it's also a black, white, and gray blob in space that sorta looks like a horse.

We really are working....I swear.

An Astronomer's Dinner

Good Evening!

It's currently 7:27pm MST, and we're in full picture-taking mode. The sky is clear, the telescope is working properly, and we're rolling along with our final night of imaging here on Kitt Peak. To finish out the set of 3, I've included this evening's sunset image of Kitt, as well as a photo of our telescope preparing for the night's observations. Not to be outdone, however, I've also included a photo of tonight's dinner, as prepared by Emily. 5 stars, no less. Vegetable stew and Cous Cous. Not to mention cookies and chips and sandwiches! Okay, it's going to be a long night, I'll be back later with updates. Ciao!

Sidenote #2.

So...even here on Kitt Peak, we're not immune to telemarketing. The phone just rang here in the control room, and I felt all important answering it: "0.9-meter, this is Seth" ...and sure enough, it was a computerized voice asking if I was happy with my mortgage rates. Unbelievable.

Telescopes!

The 4m scope, largest on Kitt Peak.





Looking out across Kitt, from the base of the 4m. Our telescope is just right of center, on the ridge line.

The 90" Steward scope, flanked by the 4m on its perch in the background.

Afternoon, Day 3

Hi everybody~

Sorry for the lack of late postings last night. Clouds, no clouds, clouds, dome shut, dome open, no clouds....it was a goofy night. In the end, we ended up finishing a run on the Triangulum galaxy, M33, that we had started the night previous. Additionally, we nabbed an hour and a half worth of Hydrogen-Alpha (a special filter) exposure on IC434, or, more famously, the Horsehead Nebula. We're running some flats in the dome right now, and trying to sort out our data so we can back it up onto our drives for the journey back to Wisconsin. Tonight's target is going to be the Helix Nebula, a large planetary nebula where we can go back to our original goal of examining structure using the OIII filter. But for now, we're going to go walk around, and I'll grab some photos of the other telescopes on the mountain. More later, Ciao!