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Just posted a blog for the Guardian website about the Isaac Newton Telescope.

CLICK HERE TO READ IT

And here's the video which inspired the blog.



And below are some pictures of the telescope from my recent visit to La Palma.

ORIGINAL SITE IN SUSSEX (Pic by David Brander)

NEW HOME ON LA PALMA

WHO LEFT THE LIGHT ON?

IN USE AT NIGHT

BRADY AND THE DOME

FULL MOON

ON THE RIDGE

HIGH ABOVE THE CLOUDS

FILMING TIMELAPSES (it was windy, needed the rocks!)

My final sunset on the volcano at La Palma, and this will be my final blog entry before jetting back to England.

In the afternoon I filmed at the SuperWASP facility and learned a lot about exoplanets.

Then to the Belgian-owned Mercator Telescope and a discussion about the Andromeda Galaxy.

I will be leaving La Palma with 14 tapes and a few memory cards full of video and photos.

The videos will be starting in January on Deep Sky Videos (more links below for Facebook, Twitter, etc).

Finally I must say a word of thanks to the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes which made this visit possible.

And especially the ING's public relations officer, Javier Mendez (right).

Javier went beyond the call of duty driving me all over the mountainside and arranging incredible access to many facilities - both at the ING and other telescopes.

He seemed to be working 24 hours a day and had an incredible knowledge about the science and technology across the observatory.

Thanks Javier.

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is run by The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. I am being hosted by the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. The videos from this trip will appear on Deep Sky Videos: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Click here for diary day one.
Click here for diary day two.
Click here for diary day three.
Click here for diary day four.
Click here for diary day five.
Click here for diary day six.
Click here for diary day seven.
Click here for diary day eight.

I've come to my final day and night on the mountain.

Everything is becoming bit of a blur.

I've seen so many telescopes, so many remarkable things - and had so little sleep.

Last night I went for a walk and saw perhaps the most amazing sight of the trip... the Geminids meteors.

These meteors appear each December as the Earth barrels through the dust and debris of an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon.

The first meteor streaked across the entire sky for about 10 seconds, burning up in spectacular fashion.

The sky here's so clear - you see so many stars and the Milky Way.

The meteor initially looked like an emergency flare, moving quickly but also gently (perhaps because of the eerie silence).

I've seen meteors before, but this one looked so foreign I didn't know what it was.

I initially thought one of the telescopes had fired a flare skyward (to check the weather conditions, perhaps)?

But its strange trajectory across the sky then made me realise how daft that was!

More meteors appeared at a steady rate and of course I went to fetch my various cameras, but didn't have the equipment, skills or luck to catch them.

And none matched the first one I'd seen.

Earlier in the day I visited yet more telescopes and filmed various bits and pieces for upcoming Deep Sky Videos.

These included the formidable MAGIC telescope, a pair of huge machines which detect gamma rays from the depths of space.

They are among the most striking sights on the mountain (below) because their huge mirrors and exposed day and night, not concealed within a dome.
 

Today I will see I couple more telescopes and spend a final night on the volcano.

Then home at last - which I am looking forward to.

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is run by The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. I am being hosted by the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. The videos from this trip will appear on Deep Sky Videos: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Click here for diary day one.
Click here for diary day two.
Click here for diary day three.
Click here for diary day four.
Click here for diary day five.
Click here for diary day six.
Click here for diary day seven.
Click here for diary day eight.

Below is the galaxy M74, imaged about an hour ago.

It is not the prettiest image of M74. Not a composite of many exposures with various filters.

But it's something more pure - more real.

And it's a far better example of what astronomers really see when they use professional telescopes.

The image was created with the Isaac Newton Telescope, on La Palma.

Astronomer Rafael Barrena (right), from the IAC, was kind enough to image it (I don't know how to use a telescope, do I?)

It's a two-minute exposure using a so-called R-Filter - essentially it is the red light coming from the great spiral galaxy.

This is the image as it appeared on the INT's screen.

It is unprocessed and has not yet been corrected for the CCD and mirror's idiosyncrasies, etc - that comes later.

But I wanted to share the image for that reason - because it's still untreated.

They will be plenty more stuff like this in the upcoming Deep Sky Videos series, which will be about showing astronomy as it really is.

I should point out the image was created in the twilight hours, here at La Palma.

That's because the telescope has a heavy schedule of science through the night (and every night).

But during twilight there was a brief window of opportunity for us.

Meanwhile, below is an apologetic video I just posted from La Palma for Sixty Symbols.



Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is run by The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. I am being hosted by the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. The videos from this trip will appear on Deep Sky Videos: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Click here for diary day one.
Click here for diary day two.
Click here for diary day three.
Click here for diary day four.
Click here for diary day five.
Click here for diary day six.
Click here for diary day seven.
Click here for diary day eight.

Another day and night on the volcano - and more amazing sights.

In the last post I said we missed our chance to use the Isaac Newton Telescope for a quick observation.

Well last night we made amends when the professionals allowed us a very brief opportunity to observe Messier 110 (right) - the satellite galaxy to Andromeda.

It was a real treat and will be a great addition to Deep Sky Videos early next year.

An exclusive (albeit very brief) opportunity to use a real professional telescope.

Earlier in the day there was another treat when we had a tour of the Gran Telescopio Canarias (right).

With its immense 36 mirrors stitched together, it creates a telescope with a mirror measuring 10.4m across.

One of the biggest and most powerful telescopes in the world.

Needless to say I did some filming in there too.

I can't describe how immense it was inside... I'm constantly amazed that humans build these things.

I also posted a short film to Deep Sky Videos this morning showing one of my timelapses at the Isaac Newton telescope.



I was quite pleased with it, until at dinner I met a named Daniel Lopez.

Daniel is one of the world's best astrophotographers and creates timelapse videos of the night sky to take your breath away.

Here's a link to his work. Please don't compare it with mine.

I am back in my room now, about to do some video editing for The Periodic Table of Videos, which has been neglected due to this La Palma diversion.

By the way - here's where my room is (below). It is take from near the summit - the clouds and sea are far below.

But do a I have a nice view?

No - all the windows are shuttered up.

They don't like (artificial) light around here very much!

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is run by The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. I am being hosted by the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. The videos from this trip will appear on Deep Sky Videos: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Click here for diary day one.
Click here for diary day two.
Click here for diary day three.
Click here for diary day four.
Click here for diary day five.
Click here for diary day six.
Click here for diary day seven.
Click here for diary day eight.

Back in my room after another night amongst the telescopes.

This evening I was mainly at the Isaac Newton Telescope (above), hoping to make a quick observation during one of its rare "service nights".

But the schedule was packed and it was not to be.

However it was fantastic to see the telescope in such detail.

And before sunset, my gracious host Javier Mendez had operated the machinery so I could film its movements.

Javier also showed me through the archives, including a fascinating collection of star surveys on old-fashioned "plates" (right).

I greedily filmed plenty of material for future films on Deep Sky Videos.

Then we walked around the mountain-top and shot a few timelapse sequences.

And while the camera never does it justice, I took a few nice photos.

Especially like this one (below) of Javier at the historic ruins of La Palma's first telescope.


And I love this one (below) of the moon-lit JKT telescope with the constellation Orion.


Despite the spectacular clouds below us, it was certainly the clearest night on the volcano since I arrived.

After faffing around with my own photos, I once again joined student astronomer Liam Hardy for more observations of Messier objects.

He'd imaged a few nice ones for us, including a couple of spiral galaxies.

It all starts again tomorrow. I'd better sleep.

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is run by The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. I am being hosted by the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. The videos from this trip will appear on Deep Sky Videos: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Click here for diary day one.
Click here for diary day two.
Click here for diary day three.
Click here for diary day four.
Click here for diary day five.
Click here for diary day six.
Click here for diary day seven.
Click here for diary day eight.

Recovering from my first taste of a real "observing run".

I spent last night in this building - the William Hershel Telescope, at La Palma.

The main telescope - with its immense 4.2m mirror - was being used by a team studying quasars.

I had a lengthy chat about their work, which was very impressive.

But I was not there to use the WHT.

I was working in an adjacent control room with student Liam Hardy, from the University of Sheffield but currently based at La Palma.

Liam was using a small telescope with a 0.5m mirror called pt5m.

The pt5m (below, A) sits on the roof of the main WHT bulding (B), dwarfed by the main dome (C).



However it still packs a punch, and Liam was using it to observe something amazing.

He spent five hours tracking and imaging a star called Wasp 33.

During this time an exoplanet about the size of Jupiter crossed the face of the star - a transit.

It sounds impressive - and of course it is - but it wasn't much to look at.

It was nothing like a solar transit or eclipse we're used to (Venus transit, right), when a black disc is clearly visible.

The transit of Wasp 33 was imperceptible to human eyes.

Only later when Liam closely measures the light from Wasp 33 will he deduce the affect of the planet's transit.

From that he hopes to learn more about the planet's size and trajectory, etc.

I made a film about Liam's work and it will appear soon.

But with the "real work" done, Liam allowed me to use pt5m (below) for other purposes.



Namely observing Messier objects for an upcoming video series called Deep Sky Videos.

We slewed the telescope across the sky in search of nebulae, galaxies and star clusters from Messier's famous catalogue.

My mind's a little hazy from lack of sleep, but I think we successfully imaged six objects.

They will appear in Deep Sky Videos throughout 2012.

One thing that struck me was that the images were not the typical gorgeous shots we see on TV and in glossy books.

These one-off snapshots were more raw, containing less detail.

Yet we were using a very powerful telescope at one of the world's best observing locations. So what was going on?

I guess it really hit home that those classic images we see of galaxies in deep space are not simple "photos" (right).

They are usually composites of many images (possibly hundreds) taken with many filters.

They're gorgeous, artistic and have great public relations value -  but to some extent they are "artificial".

The objects would never look like that to the naked eye or through a telescope.

For that reason, I really enjoyed seeing what these objects look like when astronomers capture them "in the raw" (right).

It was a long night (with more to follow) and we were very lucky with the weather.

A huge bank of cloud threatened La Palma through the night (below), but it never enveloped the island.



It was enjoyable, productive and an eye-opening evening for me.

But after 20 hours straight working, I was grateful for some sleep!

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is run by The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. I am being hosted by the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. The videos from this trip will appear on Deep Sky Videos: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Click here for diary day one.
Click here for diary day two.
Click here for diary day three.
Click here for diary day four.
Click here for diary day five.
Click here for diary day six.
Click here for diary day seven.
Click here for diary day eight.

So I braved the cold last night to take some photos of the observatory site.

This image (below) was probably the best effort with equipment ill-suited to the job:

It was a strange feeling out among the telescopes at night.

Everything is so quiet, so cold, so dark - yet you know each hulking machine is gazing skyward with steely resolve.

It's rather eerie actually - like being in a field full of unblinking, oversized eyes.

I learned the next day that "seeing" conditions were actually quite poor by La Palma standards.

Disappointing news for the astronomers.

Today I've been walking around the observatory site taking photos in daylight.

The observatory is huge, with telescopes scattered among the peaks.

It was hard walking up all those hills, lugging cameras and a tripod.

That's perhaps the thing that has surprised me most - just how scattered the domes are across such an expansive mountain-top.

I imagined everything would be closer together.

I'm now rugging up (below) for a night of real observing in one of the telescopes.


I'll be joining Liam Hardy, an astronomer-in-training from the University of Sheffield.

He has a long list of possible targets for us, including galaxies and a extra-solar planetary transit!!!

Fingers crossed for good conditions and some nice images for our upcoming video series.

Stay tuned for more tomorrow.

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is run by The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. I am being hosted by the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. The videos from this trip will appear on Deep Sky Videos: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Click here for diary day one.
Click here for diary day two.
Click here for diary day three.
Click here for diary day four.
Click here for diary day five.
Click here for diary day six.
Click here for diary day seven.
Click here for diary day eight.

This will be my home for the next seven days.

It's the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory - a collection of telescopes on the island of La Palma.

Most housed in gleaming white and silver domes, they loom over the Atlantic Ocean atop a volcano in the Canary Islands.

I'm here making films for an upcoming series called Deep Sky Videos.

The videos are still in production (that's why I'm in La Palma) but I thought it might be fun to share a daily diary of what's going on.

I arrived at lunchtime today. The first view of La Palma (below) was the island's peak and observatory poking through the mist and clouds.

The fact the peaks reach through the clouds is a major reason the observatory was built here.

The observatory is a collection of telescopes operated by different groups. But my host is the Isaac Newton Group (ING) of telescopes.

In the afternoon I met ING director Marc Balcells (right), who showed me inside the two main telescopes: William Hershcel and Isaac Newton.

I must admit being staggered by the size of the former. It was much bigger than I expected. Cavernous!

After recording some enjoyable interview clips with Marc (videos soon) he left and I checked into my accommodation on the volcano's flank.

But not before snapping the photo below, which I love.


As the sun sets, it shows the island's immense shadow being cast across the ocean.

You really should check out the detail on Flickr.

Over the next few days I hope to film much more of the telescopes and record some observations of objects in space.

I'm also considering going outside tonight to attempt some night-time photos, though the howling wind is making me think twice.

Stay tuned for more tomorrow.

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is run by The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. I am being hosted by the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. The videos from this trip will appear on Deep Sky Videos: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Click here for diary day one.
Click here for diary day two.
Click here for diary day three.
Click here for diary day four.
Click here for diary day five.
Click here for diary day six.
Click here for diary day seven.
Click here for diary day eight.