Clear skies?

We shut down last night around 4 am due to high humidity and threats of snow.  Ready for some sleep, I set my alarm for the early afternoon, giving me enough time to take a walk around the mountain before meeting the scientist/support staff who would teach me how to operate the instrument I'll be using for the next four nights.  I woke up to fresh snow on the ground but some sun, which was soon trailed by thick fog and clouds.  Ever optimistic, I hoped this oppressive weather would blow through, so I took my walk, and got ready for the afternoon. 

Too much fog over the WIYN telescope.  No clear skies for now.

Something I especially love about visiting major observatories is seeing the variety of telescopes, and meeting the scientists using those telescopes.  Just in a 30 minute walk, you can see so many different styles, sizes, and generations of telescopes. One really cool telescope here is a McMath-Pierce solar telescope, built in the 1960s.  Although the mirror is just 1.6m, the light travels along a really long path below-ground, making this structure appear to be on the verge of take-off into outer space.

The solar telescope.  Notice the old rec facilities in the foreground.  Astronomers clearly have no time for fun.

Another cool facility here, and particularly relevant these days, is the Spacewatch telescope, which monitors near-earth objects which may be a hazard to Earth.  This is where scientists discovered the asteroid 2005 YU55, a rock the size of a city block that will travel within the orbit of the moon tomorrow night.  Plans are being made to use this telescope to observe this object again, although it will be extremely challenging due to the objects high velocity.  Tomorrow should be an exciting day to be at the observatory.

I'm able to report about my afternoon, and the interesting telescopes nearby, because sadly we haven't been able to open our dome tonight for our own observations.  Why? The humidity is too high.  There are certain regulations for when we can open the dome, and it must be dry enough so that the optics and instruments won't be compromised.  

Alas, there are no rain checks for astronomers, and we are at the mercy of the weather gods. So, what do we do when we can't open the dome to take a look at the sky?  Well, at least this gave me a few extra hours to plan my observations (fingers crossed, hoping that it will clear up).  We don't want to head down the mountain yet and give up altogether.  To keep our spirits up, another staff member here came by for a visit.  She told us all about her adventures site testing at another telescope on the Canary Islands -- equipped with heavy parkas and boots on charter planes alongside holiday-bound Europeans, hiring donkeys to carry their gear up the mountain, no comfortable housing options or control rooms, but plenty of excitement of course.

The characters I have met while observing make this experience all the more interesting, and I hope that I will have my own adventures to share with future generations on observing runs to come.  As for now, at least we can see some stars instead of just clouds.  Let's hope the air dries out and we can open the dome for a while at least.  I'll let you know what we see!