The Subaru Telescope, the twin Kecks, and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility line a ridge on Mauna Kea, June 4, 2012. Photo credit: David J. Eicher
What a terrific day our travel group of
Astronomy readers had yesterday. Our original group of 54 listened to a great lecture on the Keck Telescopes on Mauna Kea by Alex Filippenko of the University of California, Berkeley, that morning. Alex described dark energy and all manner of other research subjects he has been intricately involved with, and also what it’s like to observe with the Kecks, how they work, and so on. And then he gave our travelers the lowdown on visiting the mountain’s summit. It’s a big deal because the thin atmosphere at 13,796 feet (4,205 meters) makes one a little loopy, as if you’ve knocked down a couple martinis. So you need to be careful at altitude.
We then trucked up the mountain, which is really something. Going from sea level to 9,000 feet (2,743m) initially, where we spent an hour to get used to the thinner atmosphere, is a magnificent experience. On the journey, you see nearly every environmental setting you can image: beach, forest, waterfalls, clouds, bright sunshine, arid plains of lava, and weird, otherworldly martian landscapes. It’s quite incredible. At the visitor center at 9,000 feet, we ate a snack lunch and watched the day’s sunspots as our bodies got used to less oxygen in the bloodstream.
A fabulous dinner ended the second day, with, left to right, Daniel Thorpe, Noelle Filippenko, Dave Eicher, Melita Thorpe, Alex Filippenko, and Julie Thorpe, June 4, 2012. Photo credit: David J. Eicher
Telescopes. Alex took us in to see a rare opportunity — the Keck I Telescope moving so we could see all its parts, including the numerous hexagonal mirror segments. That is quite unusual, and the group was thrilled. No doubt having Alex with us, as our guide, made this possible.
The group then walked around the summit, photographing the many other domes of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, the Subaru Telescope, the Gemini North dome, the radio telescopes, UKIRT, NASA’s IRTF, and the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. When we began the journey up the mountain, we heard that it may be snowing at the summit. Instead, we found high winds and bright sunshine, and the winds dropped the chill to about 0° Fahrenheit.
It was a sensational and exhilarating day. We drove back down to Kona, ate dinner, and collapsed, ready to see today the last transit of Venus anyone now alive will ever witness. What an amazing trip this is already.
And be sure to check out all the images from this trip at www.Astronomy.com/transit.