UKIRT by moonlight

Saturday evening, July 16th 8:30 pm Hawaiian Standard Time, 2011. Most people are out on the town enjoying themselves, having fun with family at home or at a party. Me? I thought I'd pop outside and take a photo of UKIRT observing Saturn with the Celeste visiting instrument. You can even see my shadow if you look carefully enough!

Apart from the odd day or two I've spent the last two and a half weeks on Mauna Kea and have just got down for a bit of a break. The NASA Goddard team are still on the summit of Mauna Kea and from a report I got just minutes ago have taken some stunning data on Saturn's super storm. Tonight is their last night at UKIRT so it seems all the effort they and we have put into making this happen has been worth it.

Now it's time to relax and take a couple of days off work before getting UKIRT back to remote operations. I may even have another Mauna Kea sunset picture or two to post in the next day or so...