Exploring the Solar System

The NASA IRTF is often at work by the time we get to the Mauna Kea's summit. Much of its work is spent exploring the Solar System planets in conjunction with probes in orbit around various planets. Since it's an infrared telescope, similar to the one I work at, observations can be made while the sky is still bright. A bright sunlit sky usually means astronomers are still in bed but the story is different in the infrared. The main thing you need to worry about is pointing the telescope too close to the sun and accidentally focusing its light elsewhere, like the inside of the dome.

I'm sure many of you played with a magnifying glass as a kid, concentrating the sun's light into a small spot that started a fire. Multiply that power by a few thousand and you can imagine we try to avoid pointing at the sun at all costs! Despite the risks, apparently one or two observatories still have their "solar observations" singed on the inside of their domes. I won't mention any names though...

Another Big Island of Hawai`i photographer

Kahuku has finally made it to the Big Island of Hawai`i. She is one of my favourite photographers and I'm honored to have her comment on my own blog from time to time. I love her pictures, especially those that remind me of my younger years in the UK when punk was a big thing. There's also a sense of comedy in some of her pictures, so hope you take a bit of time to see her portfolio and her blog.

Surf

I used to hear the sound of the surf each evening at home but it's been replaced by the call of the coqui frog. In any case, I'd have to fly back 2,500 miles to catch this Californian surf again!

UKIRT and CFHT

Both pictures taken at sunset earlier this evening. Now it's the middle of the night and Pink Floyd is keeping me awake.

Distant thunderheads?

Or atmospheric refraction? Click on the picture to take a closer look. In fact it's the latter, refraction. The photo was taken from Mauna Kea's summit a few minutes after the sun had set and shows some distant clouds still back-illuminated by the sun. Layers of air with different temperatures cause the light to refract differently which can give rise to all sorts of curious effects and shapes, especially around sunset as the earth's surface starts to cool off.

The refraction effect that caused these odd cloud shapes is the same one Pam and I saw from Moonstone Beach in Cambria, California, shown in the picture below.

Back above the clouds

It's been a little while since I spent significant time at the summit and although I've been up several times in the last month, they weren't for long runs, but I'm on one now. It's good to get back into observing again.

Things are about to change very significantly at the observatory and this includes a change of role for me which is both exciting and daunting, and I suspect I'm going to be swamped for the next few months as I figure things out. So perhaps I might cut back on my blog posts, which, you may have noticed, has already started! I'll still try and post pictures regularly but you might find me writing less.

My new PC with Windows 7

AAAAARRRGGGHHH%^&#$%^!

Mount Hamilton's spooky trees

More later, I'm a little busy...

A model Santa Barbara

Well, the power's gone off again. It seems to be the local electric company's attempt to make the island feel authentically third world. My place loses power at least once a month and you get used to it over the years, but it is quite a pathetic performance by Hawaiian Electric. During the winter the power losses can often be once a week with less problems during the summer. If there's a storm or the weather is a little breezy you can can guarantee the candles will be needed. Tonight the wind is calm, there's no rain or lightning so it's more likely someone's driven into a utility pole.

At least I have my emergency backup laptop at home since my PC died, and it has a battery! Please excuse typos though. I'm a terrible typist at the best of times and this post is being written by candlelight!

Anyway, I've been meaning to try Tilt Shift Maker for a while but had no appropriate pictures before now . I was originally pointed to it by Alice at 10,000 Monkeys and a Camera and it's fun to visit. It makes your pictures look very odd and toy-like. Essentially, it keeps only a very small part of your picture in focus while defocusing the rest with the result that your image looks as if you took a photo of a model. It's quite effective and don't forget you can click on the pictures for a larger view.

Santa Barbara from the tower on top of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse.

Santa Barbara Harbor.

Early morning start

Dawn shots of the boats working early morning in Monterey Bay, California.