Palomar, The Hanging Garden
11 Jul 2013
Greetings from cloudy Palomar! It s deliciously cool and breezy here, which is great for exploring, but not so great for observing (more on that later). Eric has a few nights on the mighty 200″, and his Dad and I are here to share in all the adventures. I have been doing some reading about the history of the mountain and the telescope, and I want to share a few of my favorite gems with you. Palomar is an unusual mountain for Southern California–most of them border the desert and are brown, rocky, and scrubby. But Palomar is lush and green, covered with ferns and redwoods and wildflowers.
There are wild sweet peas growing everywhere. I love them. When we were here a month ago, it was nothing but lupines as far as the eye could see, but now the sweet peas have taken over. I love being able to see that kind of change take place.
The name Palomar is Spanish for dovecote, and it was given in honor of the band-tailed pigeons that make this mountain their home (apparently dovecotes are also houses for pigeons–who knew?). I love seeing the pigeons and tree squirrels and everything else that thrives here. So far I have seen a deer, a skunk, and a scorpion (yikes!), but I am hoping to spot an owl and some of the band-tailed pigeons before we go.
The mountain air is just fantastically refreshing, and there are pines, firs, cedars, and cypresses as far as the eye can see. And, of course, gigantic pine cones!
I want to give you a little behind the scenes look at what Eric does here. The magic happens in the control room (unlike in the olden days, when astronomers used to ride all night in the cage at the top of the telescope!). It’s an awful lot of computer screens, and it’s pretty impressive.
Unfortunately, tonight there is a huge cloud cover, which will prevent them from being able to open the dome. The cloud cover prevents them from being able to see anything, but low clouds also present danger in the form of condensation–super bad for the telescope! For those of you who are interested, here are a few links to some time-lapse videos of the cleaning and re-aluminizing of the mirror. It’s amazing stuff. (And, there is a free documentary about Palomar on Hulu). This is the cloud camera in the control room. As you can see, it’s pretty severe! The planets are marked to the right, and the sources that Eric planned to observe are to the left. Those wire things sticking out are used to thread fishing wire over the camera so that owls don’t land on it.
Hopefully there will be better weather next time, but in the meantime, I leave you with some science humor, the very best kind of humor there is.
Jul 11, 2013 @ 05:21:28
It is impressive! It would be neat working in an office like that!
Jul 15, 2013 @ 20:35:09
Yeah, more screens than fingers!
Jul 11, 2013 @ 05:55:29
Interesting tour! I haven’t seen a pine cone that huge before, but then I’ve never been to California. However when we lived in Texas we did have scorpions and I do not miss them one little bit.
Jul 15, 2013 @ 20:36:12
Oh, yikes! Eric’s dad spotted that scorpion, and when it wasn’t there the next day, I sincerely hoped it hadn’t made its way into the house. I’ve never seen anything like that inside, but boy did it make me want to put my shows on when I got up in the morning!
Jul 11, 2013 @ 16:53:33
Wow I thought you were holding up some creative art piece you had made. That is a huge pine cone. Definitely should bring one of those home.
Jul 15, 2013 @ 20:37:32
Thank you for the encouragement! I love how variegated the colors are. Inspired by your suggestion, Jim and I picked out four of them to bring home. They are really sharp little devils, though, and they cut my hands three times! From now on, I will wear gloves when I touch them!
Jul 11, 2013 @ 18:28:08
This post is a 6 pack of coolness. And I know coolness when I see it. I want one of those pine cones. Hope you are all having a wonderful time on your various explorations!
Jul 15, 2013 @ 20:40:54
You can have one, but wear gloves! They poked the bejeezus out of me! I think I will put them on the mantle next to the garlics, and hopefully they will acquire some harmlessness from their smooth and non-bellicose neighbors.
Jul 11, 2013 @ 20:20:43
That is one SERIOUS pine cone. My daughter would love that. She spends all her time outside collecting pine cones and rocks. lol
Jul 15, 2013 @ 20:42:01
Aw, that is such a fun age! Everything is magic, and the whole world is like a gigantic storybook. I would tell you to have the most fun with it, but I know you already are:) Sonia is hilarious/adorable/precious:)
Jul 15, 2013 @ 13:16:12
Is he doing research to find out if he can see good, tasty food in outer space?
Jul 15, 2013 @ 21:00:24
I wish! Mostly just all kinds of heat and light emissions. Pretty cool, though!