Author Topic: observatories  (Read 9208 times)

Offline Daniel Kalal

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observatories
« on: March 25, 2015, 09:43:17 AM »
A pretty limited collection.  By their nature, these things are often in remote areas--so, it's not something you'll routinely come across while riding.  

As often as I've been around Mount Davis in Texas, I've never taken a photograph of the McDonald Observatory (anybody, here, taken one?).  Likewise, somehow I've never been up the Mount Palomar road in California to get a shot of that observatory.

New Mexico (National Solar Observatory)


Sardinia (INAF Sardinia Radio Telescope)


New South Wales (CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope)


New Mexico (National Radio Astronomy Observatory VLA).  I was lucky to have been here when the dishes were in a close-array, and not moved to their maximum spread.


England (Stonehenge--not strictly within this category, but it at least got folks thinking.)
« Last Edit: March 25, 2015, 09:46:40 AM by Daniel Kalal »

Offline Chuck in Indiana

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Re: observatories
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2015, 11:07:04 AM »
Daniel, you've missed one of the *great* roads in the U.S.  ;D Anyone near should ride Palomar road..

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Re: observatories
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2015, 11:48:37 AM »
Lick Observatory atop Mount Hamilton above San Jose, CA.  A pretty regular weekend ride for the locals.
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Offline Tobit

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Re: observatories
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2015, 12:50:04 PM »
Start them young.

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Re: observatories
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2015, 12:50:04 PM »

Offline Sasquatch Jim

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Re: observatories
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2015, 03:16:04 PM »
Mauna Kea.

 
« Last Edit: March 25, 2015, 03:16:54 PM by Sasquatch Jim »
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Offline Chuck in Indiana

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Re: observatories
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2015, 03:58:44 PM »
You been in the acid again, Jim?
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Re: observatories
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2015, 04:58:00 PM »
Mt Evans, Colorado.

Offline Daniel Kalal

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Re: observatories
« Reply #7 on: March 25, 2015, 05:05:08 PM »
Daniel, you've missed one of the *great* roads in the U.S.  ;D Anyone near should ride Palomar road..

About all I know of the Palomar Road is that it features on those YouTube "motorcycle crash videos" that I try to avoid looking at.  Is it otherwise a decent (good view; good pavement) road to ride?

Offline Dilliw

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Re: observatories
« Reply #8 on: March 25, 2015, 07:01:04 PM »
With Guzzi content.

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Offline jrt

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Re: observatories
« Reply #9 on: March 25, 2015, 07:45:02 PM »
Drive over to my University- we have a small observatory.  Heck, I'll buy you coffee.
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Offline Chuck in Indiana

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Re: observatories
« Reply #10 on: March 25, 2015, 07:47:54 PM »
About all I know of the Palomar Road is that it features on those YouTube "motorcycle crash videos" that I try to avoid looking at.  Is it otherwise a decent (good view; good pavement) road to ride?

It's been a few years, but oh, yeah.  ;D I understand they built the road because that giant mirror had to make the trip in a limited amount of time.  All the corners are perfectly cambered, smooth.. a great ride. Just because some squids think it's their personal race track, doesn't mean it isn't a great road..  ;) I only ran up and down it once, but didn't get passed or pass anyone, as near as I can remember.
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Offline keuka4884

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Re: observatories
« Reply #11 on: March 25, 2015, 08:12:03 PM »
Yerkes observatory in Wisconsin is a good one too. Lick houses a 36 inch refractor. Yerkes has a 40 inch lens. Both refractors lenses were ground by Alvan Clark, the finest lens grinder who ever lived. Both telescopes are old now and the glass is beginning to sag. So the lenses are rotated periodically in an attempt to counteract that. They are best used to view planets, for which they are superb even today.
I have a 29 inch reflector inside a 20 ft dome in upstate NY. I have looked through a 61 inch scope on Mt Lemmon north of Tuscon. That telescope was built to examine lunar landing spots. The folks in charge added an adaptive optics secondary which allowed the image to remain rock solid. Jupiter and Saturn looked much better than any photograph I have ever seen. Detail so fine only the eye can see. I understand you can rent a big scope on Mt Wilson.     
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Offline charlie b

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Re: observatories
« Reply #12 on: March 25, 2015, 09:27:06 PM »
Daniel, should have gotten a pic of the 3.5m telescope at Sunspot. 

Most of the modern telescopes are run remotely.  You login, set the time/coordinates of what you want to look at.  The pictures are digital and downloaded to your computer.  The 3.5m scope at Apache Point was built by a 5 university consortium back in the late 80's.

I can't take pics of the one I worked with, but, you can see it here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfire_Optical_Range

They and MIT Lincoln Laboratory developed the adaptive optics used in most observatories around the world today.
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Re: observatories
« Reply #13 on: March 25, 2015, 09:48:13 PM »
Deke , isn't Stonehenge a transmitter left behind by aliens ?  :D Good stuff , as always ;-T

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Offline Daniel Kalal

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Re: observatories
« Reply #14 on: March 25, 2015, 09:49:23 PM »
Daniel, should have gotten a pic of the 3.5m telescope at Sunspot.

Is this the one?  I figured all those smaller scopes on the hill weren't nearly as impressive as that solar telescope.


Offline charlie b

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Re: observatories
« Reply #15 on: March 25, 2015, 11:02:12 PM »
Daniel,  no, those are other solar scopes. Apache Point is a ways away, big box looking thing.

http://www.apo.nmsu.edu/
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Offline Chuck in Indiana

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Re: observatories
« Reply #16 on: March 26, 2015, 05:38:38 AM »
Yerkes observatory in Wisconsin is a good one too. Lick houses a 36 inch refractor. Yerkes has a 40 inch lens. Both refractors lenses were ground by Alvan Clark, the finest lens grinder who ever lived. Both telescopes are old now and the glass is beginning to sag. So the lenses are rotated periodically in an attempt to counteract that. They are best used to view planets, for which they are superb even today.
I have a 29 inch reflector inside a 20 ft dome in upstate NY. I have looked through a 61 inch scope on Mt Lemmon north of Tuscon. That telescope was built to examine lunar landing spots. The folks in charge added an adaptive optics secondary which allowed the image to remain rock solid. Jupiter and Saturn looked much better than any photograph I have ever seen. Detail so fine only the eye can see. I understand you can rent a big scope on Mt Wilson.     

One of the kool things about Yerkes is the platform around the telescope. Made out of wood, and the whole platform moves up and down..
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Offline charlie b

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Re: observatories
« Reply #17 on: March 26, 2015, 07:55:10 AM »
Yep.

If you look at the pic of Starfire the 3.5m telescope looks like it is set up on top of the building.  It really is not.  That whole surrounding structure slides up and a top slides over to cover the scope when it is not being used.

The air currents of a regular dome cause turbulence in the telescope, which is not good.  So, it is best to just expose the whole thing to ambient air.  The largish diameter of the surrounding dome is made to 'smooth' the airflow around the telescope.  The proof of the pudding is when you get pictures from the ground that are as good as the ones from Hubble ;)

This is not technically a telescope, although we did use it as one every now and the.  Worked there for 15 years.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Slbd_front.jpg

1.8m diameter.  That's one of the technicians sitting underneath it.  No he did not sit there during operations.  And, yes, those are 'kills' marked on the side  :)  If you have driven across White Sands Missile Range you have seen the box this thing sits in.
« Last Edit: March 26, 2015, 07:57:19 AM by charlie b »
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Offline Nic in Western NYS

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Re: observatories
« Reply #18 on: March 26, 2015, 08:09:50 AM »

The air currents of a regular dome cause turbulence in the telescope, which is not good.  So, it is best to just expose the whole thing to ambient air.  The largish diameter of the surrounding dome is made to 'smooth' the airflow around the telescope.  The proof of the pudding is when you get pictures from the ground that are as good as the ones from Hubble ;)
Check out 'active and adaptive optics'. Unbelievable - http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/develop/ao/what_ao.html
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Offline keuka4884

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Re: observatories
« Reply #19 on: March 26, 2015, 01:32:08 PM »
Chuck
You are right. The dome at Yerkes is huge. The entire floor is basically an elevator that raises and lowers to adjust the observing position.

Adaptive optics shines a laser into the sky and automatically adjusts the secondary to compensate for atmospheric distortion. There is no jiggling of the image. Unlike Kate Upton.

Another interesting story on astronomy. After we built the 200 inch on Mt Palomar, the Russians decided to one up us. So they built a 220 inch scope in a terrible location. The optics and observatory are so big that it took 3 days for the mirror to reach ambient temperature once the dome was opened. So they installed a massive refrigeration system in the observatory to help cool the optics. That idea worked half-assed so they basically abandoned the giant scope. So typical. They do build some mighty fine scopes for amateurs now though.
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Offline creaky99

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Re: observatories
« Reply #20 on: March 26, 2015, 05:12:07 PM »
Kitt Peak....attended a nighttime program in '03, awesome.

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Offline charlie b

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Re: observatories
« Reply #21 on: March 26, 2015, 07:11:29 PM »
There is also the MMT outside Safford, AZ and the small observatory near Flagstaff, named for the guy that discovered Pluto IIRC.

AO systems and mirror technology is getting commonplace these days.  When you can buy one from Edmund's you know it's pretty common.  Used to be I couldn't even discuss the stuff without shutting the vault door.  Programs spent a ton of money on that stuff back in the day.  One mirror for our system cost close to $2M.

Primary mirror technology has grown by leaps and bounds too.  The University of Arizona put in a spin cast facility to make up to 8m dia mirrors with a parabola (kind of) 'built in'.  They would pour the glass as the mould spun at a predetermined rate.  And it had a bunch of hex shapes in there to make empty space so the mirror would come out lighter by a lot.  Mounts got actuators to 'move' the mirror to compensate for gravity effects.  Another benefit was fewer inclusions (bad spots).  And computers controlled the shaping of the mirror to get the exact prescription needed.  The lap was also 'actuated'.  A big flexible polishing pad 'bent' to conform to the exact shape needed in the final product.  All this cut the price of primaries down by tons and made them much more precise than the hand work done in the past.  As well as cutting the production time down to a month or two.

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Offline Nic in Western NYS

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Re: observatories
« Reply #22 on: March 27, 2015, 04:06:01 PM »
Are there any astronomy listserves that folks here would recommend?
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Offline Bill N

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Re: observatories
« Reply #23 on: March 27, 2015, 04:58:57 PM »
Are there any astronomy listserves that folks here would recommend?

I'm not sure what a listserves is but I check into cloudynights.com every day. Great info and forums there.
Bill

Offline Nic in Western NYS

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Re: observatories
« Reply #24 on: March 27, 2015, 08:42:13 PM »
To my understanding, 'listserve' is old fashioned talk for something like wildguzzi (internet forum using emails as one way to distribute info.)  I'm a member of Cloudy Nights but never got into it, will dive in and give it a try, thanks.
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Re: observatories
« Reply #25 on: March 28, 2015, 08:43:55 PM »
I have one of my own.   A 3 meter (diameter) observa-dome with motorized turret. One of my retirement projects.  Photo of same model.

Offline Nic in Western NYS

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Re: observatories
« Reply #26 on: March 28, 2015, 09:41:28 PM »
I have one of my own.   A 3 meter (diameter) observa-dome with motorized turret. One of my retirement projects.  Photo of same model.
Nice.  What's in there?
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Offline LowRyter

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Re: observatories
« Reply #27 on: March 28, 2015, 10:22:43 PM »
wow........  saw the building, what kind of telescope?
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Offline rboe

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Re: observatories
« Reply #28 on: March 28, 2015, 11:14:13 PM »
I'm not sure what a listserves is but I check into cloudynights.com every day. Great info and forums there.
Bill

I'll second cloudynights.com too, I'm less active there but check in with the crew most days. They have forums for just about any part of the hobby you'd like learn about.
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