Travel Diary: Vatican Observatory
Last Wed, Fran and I left Notre Dame for the Vatican Observatory in Arizona. The 4 hour plane ride was rather uninteresting and I played Fire emblem the entire way. I've failed to train my units properly and despite my best efforts, I could not defeat level 22.... so I'm starting over.
The hotel at Phoenix was awesome. Because the university is covering all expenses on this trip, we each got our own suite. What was I going to do with two TVs and a king size bed? Fran even had a balcony overlooking the pool...
The drive to Mount Graham was interesting. The scenery was entirely of that of a desert until we reached the mountain, the road up the mountain looked as if it went straight up. After we stopped at base camp, the ride up changed scenary to that similar to yellowstone, dead burnt trees or pine trees. Down at the base camp, we had to sign papers to gain access to the road up to the top. Apparently the small population of red squirrels was a pretty big issue of controversy. When the plans for the observatory was drawn, plenty of eco-terrorist attempted to sabotage the place... it's quiet down some, but only under the condition that the natural habitat of these elusive squirrels were protected. Thus, we were confined by yellow rope to the mountain top and the dirt road that goes up to it. I say elusive, because we have yet to see one, and according to my adviser, who comes here at least once every year for the past 10 years, he has never seen one. I'm beginning to wonder if the red squirrels are just myths.
the first night here was the most difficult because Fran couldn't get used to the elevation (we are about 10,000ft above see level). After being very sick (I was so glad that we get a cleaning crew everyday), Fran had to use the oxygen tank. I was glad that it was cloudy the first night, we couldn't get much done anyways. Instead we watched movies and episodes of Firefly. She was feeling much better the next day, so there were no more problems.
The next day, we got a tour of the Large Binocular Telescope. Telescope has two 8.5m mirrors! I was very interested in the optics of the instrument, and was very impressed with the size. Apparently to get the two mirror up the mountain, they had to use a oversize truck. Coming up the access road (a steep, twisting dirt road), the truck had to go 1mile/hour. That would have taken two days just to come up the mountain...
We have tours of the observatory almost everyday, small groups of people who are privileged enough to get the chance to come up to the mountain. Yesterday, when Fran and I decide to go take a walk, a group was just coming in. They commented on how it must be nice to be astronomers to use the observatory and look at the stars and such. I didn't mention that we were both undergrad nor the fact that I'm an optics major, not astronomy. heh...
The access path up the mountain was marked with a sign every couple turns so that if anything happens on the way up, people could radio the base or the observatory and report where they are on the mountain. There were 9 signs that included the 7 Pleiades plus Atlas and Pleione. We wanted to take picture on the mountain, so we walked all the way down to the first sign. (since we work all night and sleep all morning, we get the afternoon off to do whatever we want) The hike was really nice and scenic... reminds me much of MT. However, the walk up was not easy. We stopped many times, and even walked backwards at places, but the thin air didn't help. We came back to the Vat gasping for air and close to collapsing at the front steps... it was a good thing that our adviser went for a hike earlier, or this might have been more embarrassing. Fran is fit, but just having difficulties with the elevation; I, on the other hand, am just plainly out of shape.
Since we were rotating dinners, for my dinner last night I made orange chicken, kong pao chicken, and herb rice. Fran doesn't eat much other than chicken...
Because of the hike, I slept from 6 this morning until 3 in the afternoon. Waking up just in time to take a walk and prepare dinner (grilled chicken, sausages, and steak). I invited Cortney over for dinner and watched another episode of Firefly. Cortney is a Grad student at Ohio State and here for the week working at the LBT (lucky). She shared stories about the night before, when they had a hell of a time focusing the telescope and eventually found the problem: a moth was flying in the secondary mirror. Moths seems to be a real problem here since they come inside from the dome to avoid the bats.
Tonight is the last night of observation at the Vatican Observatory. I've really taken a liking to this cozy place. It was really nice to be able to stay up all night to look at stars and sleep all day. We have a metal curtain that snaps shut to keep the light from entering during the day when I'm sleeping and keeps the light from leaving when we are observing (can't see stars if there are light pollution). Because of this, my biological clock is now tuned to be nocturnal, which is not that much of a problem until I have to attend an ethics class the morning after we get back to Notre Dame. We get back at 11:30, class is at 9:30... I guess vacation is over :D
The hotel at Phoenix was awesome. Because the university is covering all expenses on this trip, we each got our own suite. What was I going to do with two TVs and a king size bed? Fran even had a balcony overlooking the pool...
The drive to Mount Graham was interesting. The scenery was entirely of that of a desert until we reached the mountain, the road up the mountain looked as if it went straight up. After we stopped at base camp, the ride up changed scenary to that similar to yellowstone, dead burnt trees or pine trees. Down at the base camp, we had to sign papers to gain access to the road up to the top. Apparently the small population of red squirrels was a pretty big issue of controversy. When the plans for the observatory was drawn, plenty of eco-terrorist attempted to sabotage the place... it's quiet down some, but only under the condition that the natural habitat of these elusive squirrels were protected. Thus, we were confined by yellow rope to the mountain top and the dirt road that goes up to it. I say elusive, because we have yet to see one, and according to my adviser, who comes here at least once every year for the past 10 years, he has never seen one. I'm beginning to wonder if the red squirrels are just myths.
the first night here was the most difficult because Fran couldn't get used to the elevation (we are about 10,000ft above see level). After being very sick (I was so glad that we get a cleaning crew everyday), Fran had to use the oxygen tank. I was glad that it was cloudy the first night, we couldn't get much done anyways. Instead we watched movies and episodes of Firefly. She was feeling much better the next day, so there were no more problems.
The next day, we got a tour of the Large Binocular Telescope. Telescope has two 8.5m mirrors! I was very interested in the optics of the instrument, and was very impressed with the size. Apparently to get the two mirror up the mountain, they had to use a oversize truck. Coming up the access road (a steep, twisting dirt road), the truck had to go 1mile/hour. That would have taken two days just to come up the mountain...
We have tours of the observatory almost everyday, small groups of people who are privileged enough to get the chance to come up to the mountain. Yesterday, when Fran and I decide to go take a walk, a group was just coming in. They commented on how it must be nice to be astronomers to use the observatory and look at the stars and such. I didn't mention that we were both undergrad nor the fact that I'm an optics major, not astronomy. heh...
The access path up the mountain was marked with a sign every couple turns so that if anything happens on the way up, people could radio the base or the observatory and report where they are on the mountain. There were 9 signs that included the 7 Pleiades plus Atlas and Pleione. We wanted to take picture on the mountain, so we walked all the way down to the first sign. (since we work all night and sleep all morning, we get the afternoon off to do whatever we want) The hike was really nice and scenic... reminds me much of MT. However, the walk up was not easy. We stopped many times, and even walked backwards at places, but the thin air didn't help. We came back to the Vat gasping for air and close to collapsing at the front steps... it was a good thing that our adviser went for a hike earlier, or this might have been more embarrassing. Fran is fit, but just having difficulties with the elevation; I, on the other hand, am just plainly out of shape.
Since we were rotating dinners, for my dinner last night I made orange chicken, kong pao chicken, and herb rice. Fran doesn't eat much other than chicken...
Because of the hike, I slept from 6 this morning until 3 in the afternoon. Waking up just in time to take a walk and prepare dinner (grilled chicken, sausages, and steak). I invited Cortney over for dinner and watched another episode of Firefly. Cortney is a Grad student at Ohio State and here for the week working at the LBT (lucky). She shared stories about the night before, when they had a hell of a time focusing the telescope and eventually found the problem: a moth was flying in the secondary mirror. Moths seems to be a real problem here since they come inside from the dome to avoid the bats.
Tonight is the last night of observation at the Vatican Observatory. I've really taken a liking to this cozy place. It was really nice to be able to stay up all night to look at stars and sleep all day. We have a metal curtain that snaps shut to keep the light from entering during the day when I'm sleeping and keeps the light from leaving when we are observing (can't see stars if there are light pollution). Because of this, my biological clock is now tuned to be nocturnal, which is not that much of a problem until I have to attend an ethics class the morning after we get back to Notre Dame. We get back at 11:30, class is at 9:30... I guess vacation is over :D