(no subject)
yesterday was the most incredible thing i have ever done
first driving up there i was freaking out because mount wilson is the highest in all of the los angeles area but we get up there and you're above the smog and you look down and it feels like if was a clear day you could see the whole world and that was just the view during the day
then we get in there and im like ok no big deal maybe i should've stayed home and then we get inside the 60-inch telescope dome and you see this huge 22 ton piece of machinery that is so well made it barely makes a sound as it moves around... and then watching the dome itself move! it was so trippy because you would sit there and watch it move and you didn't feel as if it was moving but as if you were... but it was still light out so the incredibly nice man Dave, took us over to the 100-inch telescope which is even bigger then the 60-inch we went up 5 flights of stairs and were looking up at the biggest telescope ive ever seen that was an incredible 55 tons yet so balanced on mercury that if it's position wasn't locked you could lean on it and it would move then he took us out on the catwalk and you all know my phobia of heights... my plams were sweating my hands were shaking but i got out there and i saw one of the most incredible things ive ever seen ... we didnt have a camera but i got a picture of what you see
then he took us into the cotrol room and actually right up to the telescope which he opened up so we could see the glass they use to make the telescope work and it was wine bottle glass! green with billions of tiny little bubbles and when you would shine the light up in there it was as if you were looking up into the ocean
and then it was dark enough outside and they took us back to the 60 inch and we started looking through the telescope and what you see in there are the most incredible awe inspiring things you'll ever see. i saw m17 a gorgeous globular cluster and double stars and smoke rings around stars and neptune and uranus and i saw the moon so up close that it felt almost as if you could reach out and touch it ... i mean i saw craters and the shadows they give off and it was soooo bright that it left you seeing spots and it was the most beautiful you'll ever see
and as if to illistrate how incredible this really was ... me, the queen of having a phobia of heights was climbing to the top of a tweleve foot ladder and leaning over the edge one foot balanced on the telescope to be transported into another world seeing light thats hundreds of thousands of years old... these stars could have ceased to exist and yet we still see them and oh my god it was the greatest thing ive ever done
and then as we're leaving you see the view and its like you're standing at the very top of the world looking down into a never ending see of lights
its enough to take your breath away
i never had such a great experience in my life...
the 60-inch telescope i used and even climbed on
the 100-inch dome and the catwalk i stood on looking out
THE VIEW FROM THE CATWALK
one of the star clusters we looked at... incredible isn't it?
the smoke ring around the star
how close the moon seemed and even clearer then that
one of the double stars
how high up that catwalk really is
the daylight view
the tv anttenas right next door
first driving up there i was freaking out because mount wilson is the highest in all of the los angeles area but we get up there and you're above the smog and you look down and it feels like if was a clear day you could see the whole world and that was just the view during the day
then we get in there and im like ok no big deal maybe i should've stayed home and then we get inside the 60-inch telescope dome and you see this huge 22 ton piece of machinery that is so well made it barely makes a sound as it moves around... and then watching the dome itself move! it was so trippy because you would sit there and watch it move and you didn't feel as if it was moving but as if you were... but it was still light out so the incredibly nice man Dave, took us over to the 100-inch telescope which is even bigger then the 60-inch we went up 5 flights of stairs and were looking up at the biggest telescope ive ever seen that was an incredible 55 tons yet so balanced on mercury that if it's position wasn't locked you could lean on it and it would move then he took us out on the catwalk and you all know my phobia of heights... my plams were sweating my hands were shaking but i got out there and i saw one of the most incredible things ive ever seen ... we didnt have a camera but i got a picture of what you see
then he took us into the cotrol room and actually right up to the telescope which he opened up so we could see the glass they use to make the telescope work and it was wine bottle glass! green with billions of tiny little bubbles and when you would shine the light up in there it was as if you were looking up into the ocean
and then it was dark enough outside and they took us back to the 60 inch and we started looking through the telescope and what you see in there are the most incredible awe inspiring things you'll ever see. i saw m17 a gorgeous globular cluster and double stars and smoke rings around stars and neptune and uranus and i saw the moon so up close that it felt almost as if you could reach out and touch it ... i mean i saw craters and the shadows they give off and it was soooo bright that it left you seeing spots and it was the most beautiful you'll ever see
and as if to illistrate how incredible this really was ... me, the queen of having a phobia of heights was climbing to the top of a tweleve foot ladder and leaning over the edge one foot balanced on the telescope to be transported into another world seeing light thats hundreds of thousands of years old... these stars could have ceased to exist and yet we still see them and oh my god it was the greatest thing ive ever done
and then as we're leaving you see the view and its like you're standing at the very top of the world looking down into a never ending see of lights
its enough to take your breath away
i never had such a great experience in my life...
the 60-inch telescope i used and even climbed on
the 100-inch dome and the catwalk i stood on looking out
THE VIEW FROM THE CATWALK
one of the star clusters we looked at... incredible isn't it?
the smoke ring around the star
how close the moon seemed and even clearer then that
one of the double stars
how high up that catwalk really is
the daylight view
the tv anttenas right next door