Brian York's Life

Thoughts from the mountaintop

Written on June 19, 2008

Sometimes it’s really brought home to me why it is that I do this sort of thing for a living (astronomy, that is). This morning was one of those times. The last object that we observed looks like it might have a DLA (and there was great rejoicing), and then we took the trip back down to the Residencia to sleep.

It was incredible. There’s something about being out in mid-twilight (the sun was going to rise in about half an hour), and seeing clouds stretched all the way out to the horizon below you, catching the light of the almost-risen Sun. As tired as I was, I enjoyed the sight, and I almost stayed up to watch the sun rise (but not quite — I collapsed instead, and woke up again about 3:00 in the afternoon).

After doing a quick check of the telescope to make sure that everything was working (because it’s the weekend, we don’t have to worry about day workers coming in and changing our settings), Max took me for a quick tour around the mountain top. I got to see all the way down into the caldera from a spot near one of the telescopes, and we took a fifteen-minute (or so) walk down one of the trails near the top.

The trip was incredible. The whole top area and caldera is a national park, and the rock types are really interesting. An assortment of volcanic rock, with a few outcroppings of sedimentary. All sorts of loose stones, and I really wish I knew more about geology. There was also a surprising amount of stuff living up on top of the mountain. In addition to the really common bushes (which are a specific type whose name I forget, but which apparently flowers in May and looks really nice then), there were occasional flowering plants or cactus-like things in little sheltered rock crevasses. There are also little lizards that move incredibly fast (they’re a sort of blue-black colour), and birds which are apparently related to crows, but have the wing structure of hawks (as well as red beaks and legs). They seem to really enjoy gliding on the winds, and there were five or six of them doing acrobatics while we were on the way back for supper.

There are three helipads up here, and I finally learned what they were for. Apparently they were built when the observatory was being officially opened so all the Kings and Queens of the countries involved could get up to the top more easily. Given that there are observatories here associated with England, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland (and possibly others), I guess there must have been quite a few people coming up to see the ceremony…

Considering that all the food and drinkable water has to be brought up from sea level, we do eat fairly well here. There isn’t that much choice in what we eat, of course, but what’s there is pretty good. Everyone I’ve met here has been very friendly, and it’s been really nice to meet people who are also involved in astronomy, but who come from all over the world.

Another thing that strikes me about this place is how much trust there is. You leave your room door unlocked all the time, and when you’re going observing you just leave your key at the front desk in a little pile with the other keys. The car keys for the observatory cars are just on hooks near the front desk. The 24-hour breakfast (which, given the hours that astronomers keep, makes every kind of sense) works by taking what you want and marking it down on a list so that it can be added to your bill. I’ve just been leaving my computer in the telescope all afternoon since that’s the only place I can actually access the internet, and it’s apparently a fairly common thing to do. Granted, if something did go missing, the list of suspects would be pretty short (there aren’t that many people up here), but it’s still nice not to really have to worry about things being stolen.

I just went outside and looked at the stars. I know, that’s what I’m here to do, but it was nice to see something other than spectra — jagged lines don’t have quite the same romance that the actual stars do. It was incredible. Because the moon was so full (a bit past first quarter) it was hard to see the faint stars, but I was still able to see more than I usually can from Victoria. All the light around me was from the moon — no light pollution at all on the mountain, at least to my eyes. It was incredible. I’m going to go out again later once the moon has set to see it again.

Well, that’s it for now. I should do some more work on my essay while I have time.

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Entry last updated April 17, 2005