~8:45am - awake! Breakfast and
then got to be heading out in a half hour or so
~12:30am - yep, nothing
happening tonight. We filled the dewar and are headed for bed.
~12:00am - just stuck my head
outside - it's very very windy still... we're planning to get to bed
soon so we can be up and leaving by 9:30 tomorrow morning to get me off
on my flight.
Wednesday, April 11:
~11:00pm - still verrrry windy.
So we watched a movie and made chicken for dinner.
~7:45pm - just woke up from a
rather lengthy nap... weather's crappy for tonight, looks useless.
~3:00pm - little walk around
the area again... tonight's not looking good....
~12:45pm - I'm putting the "for
fun" pictures from last night up here, on this
page.
~11:45am - finished the
astronomy homework, time for breakfast - more oatmeal!
~10:15am - just woke up... have
to finish some astronomy homework that's due at 3pm EDT, or noon here.
~4:15am - just closed up. It's
been a good night! Got a lot of good data, and had some time to play
around after the Moon came up, too. Will upload pictures tomorrow....
sleep now!
Tuesday, April
10:
~11:00 pm - opening back up!
Humidity's down and we're back to the usual sequences of images!
~9:45pm - drat - humidity is
very high again, we're "temporarily closed"... so the lens caps are on,
but the dome is still open and the drive and everything is still going
and ready if it drops back down later...
~8:30pm - aligned, focused,
etc, did some standards, and now the first Sky West is going... and
it's time to start making dinner - pasta tonight!
~7:00pm - opened up the dome,
got things started, and taking 25 zeros now...
~6:45pm - sunset, just like usual
~4:00pm - have been working on homework and laundry... just
filled the dewar:
Here is a short video of what it sounds/looks like when the dewar's
done filling:
Here is another short video showing the walk between the telescope and
the room we sit in:
~1:30pm - took a nice long walk
outside around the facilities... checked out the solar telescope, some
nice views, and sat on some rocks in the sun for a while. Here are some
photos...
Some of the solar telescope:
Ok fine, some of these are dorky...
~12:15pm - woke up, took a
shower, oatmeal for breakfast.
~1:45am - took a quick walk
outside to see the moon rising, and an amazing smattering of stars! But
now, it's bed time.
~1:30am - and as quickly as it
was wonderful, it's bad now... humidity started shooting up in the 90%s
(our limit is 85%), and we had to close up. All done for the night,
since the moon is also rising now...
~1:00am - Hooray! The wind is
down enough and the humidity is reading out just barely ok (and after
using the expensive railing test equipment (aka go outside and touch
the railing) it seemed ok). Going to get 2 real images before moonrise
around 1:30, then get some other stuff done immediately after that,
before it gets too bad.
Monday, April 9:
~10:00pm - just into the first
real data image and winds were steadily over 40 mph... we'll keep our
eyes on the wind and hope for the best, but we're closed up until
things improve...
~9:30pm - we got the telescope
up and started... it's currently taking a blank sky field (for
calibration/etc later). Very windy though, and we might have to shut
down for that...
~8:15pm - Dinner! Stirfry - yum:
~7:45pm - started getting
telescope stuff going... the chip was reading really noisy, so we did
random things to it to try to fix it (swapping power cords, off/on,
etc) and eventually it improved (when we pointed it vertical). The
telescope is now doing a bunch of zeros (0 second long exposures for
calibration) and we're going to make/eat dinner while it goes.
~7:00pm - the sunset was
pretty, especially on the mountain to the east:
And the sun behind a weather station:
~3:30pm - started doing a
little research work I was behind on - it's easier when I can just ask
Prof. Mihos questions since he's right behind me.
~2:30pm - just got back from
the grocery and all. Unloaded/put away groceries, and filled the dewar.
Lunch: taco shell w/ provolone and turkey in it.
~1:30pm - At the cost of our
souls, we find the food we seek in Walmart. Then we head back to the
observatory:
(can you tell I just read "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac?)
View of the 4m from afar:
And our mysterious cool flower friends:
More roadside sights on the drive back up:
~12:30pm - leaving the grocery
store, in search of better tea and coffee selection (but otherwise
satisfied)
We venture out further:
And pass a casino:
~11:30am - on the drive down,
we encounter some very interesting flowers that we first noticed on the
way up yesterday:
~11:15am - we're off down the
mountain to the grocery store!
First views of the morning:
~10:45am - just woke up, took a
shower, and am scavenging around for a bit of cereal or something to
breakfast on. It's a bright, sunny, and very clear day - chances
looking good for tonight!
~12:15am - It's finally cleared
up, mostly. However, the moon rises in 30 minutes, so by the time we
actually got opened up and started working, we'd have to stop. Thus,
we're calling it quits for the night, and just going to bed. This is
especially nice since I've been awake since 9 am (EDT) on Saturday,
which was 42 hours ago, with the only sleep being two 2 hr naps on the
planes, roughly. So 38 hours of awake-ness, and I'm very ready for
sleep. Going to go grocery shopping tomorrow, hooray!
Sunday, April
8: (Easter)
~11pm - We're still waiting for
the low clouds to pass... they are very fast moving, so that if you go
outside and look up, you won't see anything for a few minutes, then all
of a sudden the stars will smear themselves into brilliant existence,
only to fade and be wiped away a few seconds later. Basically, not good
for astronomy.... moon doesn't come up until 12:42am though, so we're
going to stick around and see...
~8:30pm - Making a "real"
dinner since can't do anything else still...
~7pm - CCD is being really
noisy, it's really windy, and nowhere near
dark enough yet... so we're taking a break. Meanwhile, the sun set:
~6pm - quick/easy dinner from
the freezer (some kind of quiche), also I
hid half a dozen plastic Easter eggs around the observatory and Prof.
Mihos just found the first one of them. "A Schmidty
Easter basket" - quoth Prof. Mihos
The dewar is almost cooled down enough now (remember we filled it with
liquid nitrogen much earlier?), and we can start getting things ready
for tonight.
~5pm - collect/write/post this
blog/photos... make some quick dinner, take a nap [didn't happen]...
~3:30pm - we went over with a
friend of Prof.
Mihos's who's observing for the week on the KPNO 4m (WOW! BIG!)... and
since there's no scale, there's Prof. Mihos off to the side...
And, awww, here's me by the 4m.... it's seriously HUGE, and so is the
dome:
We visited the control room, talked about what the "telescope operator"
does, and such, and then headed outside:
Look at all the telescopes! and the mountains in the distance!
A final look back up at the 4m dome - HUGE
~2:30pm - After getting into
the observatory (shhh) we unhooked the vacuum pump
and filled the dewar with liquid nitrogen - but the hose had a hole in
it... our patch didn't work:
While Prof. Mihos was getting a new hose/tape/etc, I took some pictures
of the telescope:
Julie, this one made me think of you:
~12:49pm (MST) - arrive in
Tucson
drive out to the telescope, get there
around 2 or 2:30pm (all times in MST from now on)
~12:05pm (CDT) - leave Houston
~10:45am (CDT) - arrive at Houston
around this time, Prof. Mihos realised
that he had forgotten the observatory key...
~8:20am - get on plane bound
for Houston, view from window:
~7:15am - arrive at airport
~6:30am - leave my house to
meet Prof. Mihos on Cedar. The morning is
eerie and surreal:
~5am - Alison and Chloe go
home, I shower/pack
~4am - make pancakes
continue musicking
~2am - make quesedillas
continue musicking (with Alison and Chloe)
Saturday,
April 7:
~10pm - Meet Chloe and begin
game night with Miriam, Bret, Alison, Pat
raucous piano-playing and singing ensue
~7pm - Finally back after much
struggle.
~4pm - China Buffet with Pat
and Dave - almost die in the horrid snow,
repeatedly
~3pm - come back to my house,
clean and do laundry
~9am - wake up, go to the quad,
do work/research/etc
"A Schmidty
Easter basket" - quoth Prof. Mihos
