Tag: Astronomy

  • Life and its lemons

    My code is handing me a lot of lemons today. In the form of error messages and ridiculously unreasonable results. I debug and solve some problems, just to have new ones crop up. This was supposed to be a very simple piece of programming. My supervisors are disappointed, and I…

  • Mount John Observatory

    I joined a couple of observers on their trip to Mount John Observatory for a few nights. What a place of science, beauty and adventure! Running around on a grassy mountain, swimming in a clear and cold Lake Tekapo, watching an absolutely gorgeous night sky. The southern sky really is…

  • More New Zealand yayness

    I like dreaming. And I do it a lot. About realistic things, unrealistic things, and things that are completely bonkers. Going to New Zealand was one of my dreams for so very long, so realistic that it bordered on a plan. And now here I am. It seems to be…

  • Mountains of Madness

    To observe observing observers can be interesting. If for no other reason then for the sheer meta-ness of it. It seems to take a special kind of personality to willingly go away to a faraway island, and spend two weeks at the top of a mountain looking at the Sun…

  • Mina äventyr på La Palma

    Jag lovade min kära faster att skriva något på svenska. Så varsågod faster och övriga svenskspråkiga, här kommer en sammanfattning av mina äventyr på La Palma. Alla bilder går att klicka på för att se i större format. Där inget annat anges har jag själv fotat med min inte alltför…

  • A good day

    And so the good mood returns, with a vengeance. Today was a splendid day. The seeing was fantastic well into the afternoon, and we observed a group of sunspot in an active region where flare after flare was going off before our eyes. The data set from today alone might…

  • SST villanelle*

    We spend the days here looking at the Sun From the tower watching the sunrise And hoping for a good observing run The plans for this had long ago begun In Sweden because Stockholm thought it wise To build this place for looking at the Sun The telescope has lens…

  • Volcanoes, aborigines and Solar worship

    Adventures were had. On my free day this week I made some excursions, and learned a few things about La Palma. For example:  Like the other Canary islands, La Palma formed after volcanic eruptions in the Atlantic ocean some millions of years ago. They formed from East to West starting…