Tuesday 16 December 2008

Oh no, not another one!

Yes, another sunset photo! I must find another hobby soon, although the weather at sea level has been bad and was the type that made me wish I had a fireplace at home. The summit received quite a bit of snow last week and more was forecast for the weekend, but it didn't arrive and last week's fall is already melting. Unfortunately for us, the sky is full of mid- to high-level cloud which makes observing impossible although some of the submillimeter telescopes might stand a chance.

The panorama above includes the true summit of Mauna Kea to the left, Mauna Loa directly ahead with a snow-capped summit, although not easy to make out in the fading light, the usual tourists up to view the sunset (and collect the snow) and the distant Hualalai volcano whose summit can be made out through the mist in the distance.

On the other side of the road the telescopes come into view. To the left and in the distance is Hualalai volcano again, and in the valley (know to the local workforce as Submillimeter Valley), the CSO, JCMT and the SMA (the latter two cleverly camouflaged). On the ridge, Subaru, the twin Kecks and the NASA IRTF. Only Subaru and the CSO seem keen to start observing!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Tom, looks like you're getting hugin-happy!! Some very nice panos there - I really like the way that Hualalai looks. 'Cmon, tell the truth, you had no intention of observing tonight did you? You just came up to take photos of the snow.

Well, it's 4:15am as I write this and I am still stuck in Submillimetre valley and we are taking data as we have been all night. I'll see if I can get a sunrise image in the morning...

Ant.

Zuzana said...

These pictures look nothing like Hawaii to me.;) This could have just as well been taken somewhere in the Alps.
Images like these must be soothing for you, especially when you miss Europe in the winter months.;)

Keera Ann Fox said...

Sunset, shmunset. Now it all just looks like it does here: All wintery pale. Which is nice in its own right.

alice said...

Based on the second image, I now imagine you've left Hawaii and are living on the ice planet of Hoth.

Tom said...

Ant - still waiting for that sunrise shot!

Protege - I miss European winters with snow and all that, but I have to say 13-hour nights at 14K feet isn't the most pleasant way to experince snow! ;)

Keera - you gave up on my deal to stop taking sunset shots, so enough of the shmunset stuff! ;)

Alice - one of the comments I hear often from first-time summit visitors is that they've felt as though they just landed on another planet. They say that even when there's no snow here...

Anonymous said...

If you do get another hobby, I hope you're not planning on stopping the panoramas! :)

Submillimetre valley... Heh heh...

Tom said...

It's submillimetre, I know, but not only does the spellchecker moan about that, our own site spells it submillimeter as well. Sigh. I just went with the flow...

Anonymous said...

Oh, I wasn't trying to correct the spelling! If I'm honest, I hadn't actually noticed... :P