Las Campanas Observatory, Chile

Chicago - Dallas - Santiago - La Serena
whoa! this is how the other end lives. i'm traveling with Mike, and he's such a super-duper-airline-mile-club-member (since he flies so much) that he got us access to the "Admirals Club" lounge. this is where the first-class passengers pass time when waiting for a flight, while the rest of us ordinary people wait at the gate looking for an outlet to plug into. i'm talking open bar (premium!), free food (shrimp cocktails, fruit, desserts...) and wifi.
cool.
i didn't get to sit in first class, but got pretty decent seats, with a full 3-seat row all to myself on the longest stretch. i actually got some sleep.


Santiago-Las Campanas


Las Campanas
i'm now at the Magellan telescope, at Las Campanas Observatory. a driver drove us from La Serena to the top of the mountain. the road isn't very safe (an evidence to that would be a bunch of little shrines scattered by the road, made for people who have died in accidents), and that's why they have a driver take us.
it's a 2 hour drive, going through pretty awesome landscape along the shoreline, turning into a snaky dirt road up the mountains.
it reminded me a lot of driving to the Wise Observatory in the israeli Negev Desert. only upscaled. by five thousand. you get to a small town in the middle of nowhere, then drive out of that town on a paved road for a while, that changes to a dirt road, and at some point you pass a turn in the road and see the telescope on the top of a hill. only Magellan is much larger, there are many telescopes on the summit, the roads are longer and higher... but the desert part is very similar, the plants are similar, even the colors of the dirt remind me of Ramon Crater.
The summit is also similarly tranquil to Wise. it's similarly windy. the main difference is that there are actually lots of people around... a handful of observers, and some 20-30 engineers, instrument guys, telescope operators, and other staff.
after we got here in the afternoon i spent a couple of hours winding down and enjoying the peaceful surrounding. i could get used to this, if it wasn't so far away from my family.


some clouds trying to climb over the mountain tops, somewhere between La Serena and Las Campanas.


desert hills


look at the colors of the dirt. orange, yellow and purple.


you can see the telescope domes if you squint!



At the observatory


other telescopes at LCO - Du Pont and Swope


Magellan telescopes: Clay (left) and Baade (right), named after the famous astronomers.



we are allocated the second half of the night for observing. i hope i have time to say something about that later. clear skies!