As Janet mentioned in the last post, I was off in Hawaii for our anniversary. Many people think that astronomers only work at night, that we mostly just look up at the night sky drawing lines between the stars, and we are waiting for aliens to contact us.
However, most of the time we work long days in offices, reducing data that we take at the telescopes on the ~5 nights a year that we get time, and hoping to present our work at an annual conference somewhere in the world. Romantic, I know... but the conferences and the telescope observations are the highlights of our year.
While in Hawaii I worked a LOT. But I wont write about that here, instead I will talk about my time off.
From my room in Waimea I had a great view of the Keck Headquarters and Mauna Kea (meaning White Mountain with an elevation of 14,000 ft and often snow capped peaks).
Zooming in on the mountains reveals the collection of telescopes upon the peak. I used the one that is the second from the right to do my observing.
For my first adventure I drove along the west coast of the Big Island to South Point. This is the southern most point in the United States. It has housed the Navy, Army, and the Air Force and is now open ranch land.
Happy Horses
Dead Wind Farms
Ocean Cliffs
Panoramic of the South Point tide pools
On my drive back I drove my rental car up the side a mountain, visited a ancient ruin, saw the site of Captain James Cook's death, and stopped at a Kona coffee mill.
My next adventure took me up to the north point of the island. There were cattle along the way,
and on the north end I took a hike at Pololu Valley.
The view from the parking area.
Cairns along the beach.
A Butterfly after learning to use the camera for closeups.
Canyon Views
With a stop at a cafe for dinner, I was back at work and praying for clear skies at 14,000 ft. My 2 nights at the telescope were the only cloudless nights while I was in Hawaii and now I am back in my office reducing the data and working towards more observing nights and conferences.
