I don’t have much to say for this one, just a random collection of poor-quality phone pictures. Coming to the end of an observing trip (my first solo!). Six nights on La Palma — 2 on the INT and 3 on the WHT, with a night off in the middle. Pictures all from around the observatory.
Two solar telescopes: the Dutch Open Telescope and the Swedish Solar Telescope. Very different designs to the night-time telescopes. (Unfortunately it seems like the DOT isn’t active due to a lack of funding.)
Since I had some free time this afternoon before sunset, I drove up to the viewpoint at the top of the observatory, from which you can see into the caldera of the volcano, as well as pretty good views in every other direction.
The other day I had a night off without a car. I decided to walk up to the GTC after dinner, which meant I happened to be there to watch it open at sunset. The GTC is the Grand Telescope of the Canaries, the biggest telescope in the world as measured by the diameter of its mirror (10.4m). It was quite dusty that day (the Canary Islands are downwind of the Sahara so often experience these dust clouds). Unfortunately my phone didn’t handle the contrast very well so the pictures weren’t great. It was cool to watch though.
