Going to get back into this blogging thing again. I have a good reason to post today. I finally got a trip up to the Mount Graham International Observatory today. Mount Graham is near Safford, Arizona and home to some great telescopes.
The drive up the mountain is pretty long with lots of switchbacks. You aren't going to make good time up there. However you are treated to the changing vegetation as you ascend to 10,500 feet and a nice collection of animals.
The first telescope we stopped at was the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), affectionately known as the Pope Scope. The VATT is a relatively modest 1.8 meter diameter telescope but broke new ground, particularly with its f/1.0 mirror, ushering in an era of fast telescope mirror fabrication. Here is the VATT.Next up was the Sub-Millimeter Telescope (SMT), a radio telescope.
The SMT is in a dome and the dish sits right next to the edge of the dome make it virtually impossible to get a decent picture unless the dome is open (which it wasn't).
Of course the big boy on the block is the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). The LBT features two 8.4 meter mirrors on a single mount. The light from these two massive mirrors can be combined to create the resolution of one telescope with a diameter of 22.8 meters if I remember correctly. The observatory is active, but still has lots of work being done with the addition of new instruments and an adaptive optics system. Here's a panoramic look from the mirror level.
You can see one mirror. The other mirror is on the far side behind the equipment in the middle. The best pic I got from the floor had me in it as scale model.
The mirror you saw in the previous picture is being supported by those silver supports on the left. The whole telescope can rotate and tip up and down. The scope is so well balanced, the whole thing can be moved by a 4 horsepower motor.
Now I am a fan of the quirky. Moths are very common up on Mount Graham. They have a homemade moth catcher...
That's just what it looks like. The light attracts the moths and the big fan sucks them down into the garbage can.
Finally, I will leave you with a pic showing how close we came to losing the observatory. A fire came within 500 feet in the summer of 2004. You can see where the fire advanced to before it was stopped.
Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.
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5 comments:
Boppster, I don't know much/nothing about those big scope.
Do they have to periodically take them apart to dust off the lens or are they sealed up pretty good?
The mirrors are exposed to the elements during observing and subject to all the dirt/dust and bird droppings that can fall on any random place.
Each year during the rainy season, one of the big mirrors is removed and gets a good cleaning. The other mirror is dipped in an acid bath that totally dissolves the aluminum coating and a new coating is applied. Next year, the mirrors switch roles so each mirror is totally recoated every two years.
They alumininzation chamber is on site. I took a picture of it but didn't post it since it really doesn't look like anything except a huge bell jar from the outside.
The size of that one, hale, is amazing! Thanks for posting!
Thanks for the info..........
Yeah, that pic with you in it gave some perspective. I am so inspired that we can do things like these. Then I read about the wars...
I love the homemade moth catcher. They better patent it or soon they'll be for sale on late night TV.
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