Another night shift begins

Not much to say this evening, it's work all day and night at the moment and I've certainly had a few curve balls thrown my way. If I still lived in England I would have said "googlies sent my way" but no-one in the US would know what I was talking about. Just before I left the UK many years ago I actually managed to learn how to bowl a googly but my master ball was the top-spinner. I seemed to bowl that every time even when I didn't mean to.

I think I can cope with the extra work - it keeps the job interesting to say the least - but the lack of cricket is getting me down!

In the meantime, just another sunset photo to to keep everyone satisfied.

Spreading confusion

I received two emails from Hawai`i Island Civil Defense this evening. The first said this:

"Highway 11 is closed in both directions at the 87 Mile Marker due to a traffic accident."

The second one, about 2 hours later, said everything was clear:

"Highway 190 is now open in both directions"

As much as I appreciate the time and effort these people put into their work, it's a great example of life on the island. This is a small, isolated place with few highways - it's almost impossible to get lost as a driver. The key to island life though is not to expect competence. If you can live and cope with that then life on the island is much more enjoyable.

Earth's shadow

It's still a few minutes before sunrise, but the shadow of our planet, Earth, can be see in the western sky above the Subaru telescope.

An astronomical model

Bet you thought I was going to talk astrophysics for a change! Sorry.

Below is a picture I took the other day of Submillimeter Valley near the summit of Mauna Kea at dawn. There's the CSO down to the left along with our emergency evacuation vehicle in case we have a serious medical case at the summit. In the middle is the JCMT and to the right are the dishes of the SMA and the hangar where we keep the alien spacecraft we shot down overnight.

Just for a bit of fun, I sent the picture to TiltShift maker. I tried it before with a picture of Santa Barabara but haven't tried it with summit pictures before. The whole idea is to put most of the picture so out of focus it makes the whole thing look like a toy model. I prefer the Santa Barbara picture but this isn't too bad!

Click on the pictures for larger versions as ever.

False sunset

A recent observer surprised me the other day when he walked back into the control room before the sun had officially set. I had told him to go out and enjoy the sunset. I do this for all the observers I support. They may be summit novices or Mauna Kea veterans but they don't have the same opportunity as I do to watch sunsets (or sunrises) from 14,000 feet. This time of day often involves taking calibration data but I also want our guests to experience a sight most people will never see in their life and I'm happy to take over the start-of-night work while they enjoy the view.

Of course, what had happened is the sun had "set" behind the clouds but wasn't actually below the true horizon.

Some visitors to the summit are confused by "official" sunset times. Many media publish the times of sunset and sunrise but it's often calculated for sea level. Because we're so high, the sunset actually occurs several minutes after it does at sea level. This isn't too much of a problem for most as they've already arrived and are ready, but conversely sunrise occurs several minutes before those at sea level experience it, so if you're not prepared, you'll miss it!

For example, this evening the sun set in Hilo at 6:59pm but at the summit sunset was at 7:10pm. Sunrise tomorrow morning occurs at 5:47am from Mauna Kea but from Hilo it'll be 5:55am.

This may seem an insignificant difference to many, but knowing the exact time of sunrise and sunset is crucial to us as we rely on those times to start calibrations. A minute or two wrong either way can mean the data are useless, so it's something we need to make sure we get right.

The island of Hualalai

It's not actually one of the islands of Hawai`i, it's one of the several volcanic peaks on the Big Island of Hawai`i. The view from Mauna Kea's summit, however, tends to make it look a little like an island in an ocean of clouds.

Sunrise from Mauna Kea: II

I'm not sure I'll have many more opportunities to be at the summit at sunrise and it's not as if I've taken too many photos of sunrises there in the past. It's possibly the most beautiful and serene time on the summit: it's quiet, there are few tourists and the light is stunning. On the other hand, it's the end of a very long night shift (close to 14 hours on a clear winter's night) and it takes a little time to get things set up properly to take nice photos on the summit. We run a "buddy system" (as do most observatories) so we're always accompanied by someone else in case of problems, and the last thing I want to do is hold them up when all they want to do is return to lower altitudes for some sleep.

So, the photos are taken quickly. Above, the CFHT is closing at sunrise. Like us, the CFHT is planning to switch to remote operations, that is it'll be run remotely without anyone actually at the telescope. I'm hoping to swap some notes as we'll both be starting this new operational mode at roughly the same time.

Down below, in Submillimeter Valley, the CSO is closing while the JCMT continues to observe despite almost daylight conditions. These telescopes can operate during daylight if necessary and it's only money, staff effort and a build up of water in the atmosphere during the day that prevents this. In fact, UKIRT and the IRTF can also observe in daylight although the bright sky does provide the odd problem or two.

In fact, some years ago, I helped commission an extremely complicated mid-infrared instrument, Michelle, by starting the day at 2am with a drive to the summit, observing from roughly 6am to 10am each morning, driving back down, doing office work, returning home and trying to go to bed at 8pm each evening.

The plan worked but unfortunately I was a complete psychological wreck for several weeks!

The IRTF, above, is often open in daylight hours although on this occasion they closed at sunrise. They're often open when we arrive at the summit in the early evening because they're observing a planet in collaboration with NASA spacecraft or work well beyond dawn for the same reason.

Finally, it's time to head down. The JCMT remains open, the CSO is closed and it's impossible to tell if the SMA is still working as they don't have domes to close. The shadow of Mauna Kea is shrinking by the minute as the sun rises and will soon be gone.

I'm hoping for one more chance for sunrise photography at the summit before we switch to remote observing. Although I'll still visit the summit on occasions it won't be anything like the current frequency. It's almost as if a part of my life will disappear!

Thanks for filling our hospital

I know they didn't mean this, but after a rather nasty accident involving a tanker our local Civil Defense organization wrote this:

"This is an update on the Hwy 19 road closure near the 28 mile maker. Although the roadway has been cleared, air quality remains at unsafe levels for public access. Crews are working to mitigate the issue. Kaawalii Gulch continues to remains closed until further notice. Thank you for your patients. This is your Hawaii County Civil Defense."

Given this is the USA I'm sure the hospitals will welcome fee-paying patients and those stuck on the highway will just have to exhibit a little patience.

Interlude

I was going to post some more sunrise pictures tonight but I'm too tired and it's time for bed - we experienced one of the all-time weird computer faults this evening that has left me utterly bamboozled but we did mange to fix things without losing any significant observing time. I'll have to talk to the geeks tomorrow and hope I get an answer in comprehensible English. I'm an optimist by the way but those guys can wear you down given the slightest opportunity...

In the meantime, here's another sunrise shadow picture.

Sunrise from Mauna Kea: I

It's the end of the night shift for us on the mountain. After a long night spent trying to satisfy our scientific curiosity it's time to shut down the telescopes and drive down to Hale Pohaku for some much needed sleep. I don't usually take pictures at dawn, I'm usually too tired and all I can think of is breakfast and trying to get some sleep down below. Despite being so tired, I know sleep at 9,000 feet will be fitful and like nearly everyone else I've spoken to who has slept at HP, my dreams will be bizarre and sometimes quite disturbing. It's one of the strange effects of sleeping at altitude that none of the observatory websites tell you about!

The sun is still below the horizon and the Gemini telescope is still open and trying to get the last photons from the Universe for the night.

The CFHT has closed, the sky is now too bright to be able to work and the staff inside the dome are doing their end-of-night shutdown procedures.

Keck 2 is shutting down and making sure the dome is closed before sunrise.

And twenty minutes later the observing staff are off down to lower altitudes and breakfast!

On the other hand, Subaru stayed closed all night. The telescope is undergoing some heavy engineering and I believe it'll remain closed until some time in September. It's very noticeable that HP has become a much quieter place at dinner these days!

As ever, click on the pictures for larger versions and I have some more sunrise pictures from the mountain to come.