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…
Tag: Travels
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Hiking: a quest of pain and beauty
And so I return from a quest. The quest of hiking around this island, which I had taken upon myself to endeavour. On a bright and sunny morning (as are most mornings around here, but still) I walked out through the door of the telescope building, and set forth upon…
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I’ve looked at clouds from all sides now
It’s been a cloudy day today. The definition of a cloudy day around here is pretty much being inside a cloud. It certainly intensifies the feeling of isolation when you cannot even see the nearby telescopes anymore. Just damp whiteness. So yeah, we didn’t even open up today, which meant I…
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Learning to live
September is here. Today the term starts at the university back home. It feels overwhelmingly strange to not be responsible for and stressing over and being excited about a dozen things. September is usually one of the busiest months for me, what with new courses to study for, an astronomy…
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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…
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Location, location, location!
There seems to be some confusion about exactly where in the world I’m actually staying at the moment, so let’s clear things up a bit. There is a place called Palma de Mallorca, which is a town on the island Mallorca. It lies in the Mediterranean ocean outside the Spanish…
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Quoth the raven: I can has ur sammich plz?
You’ll never believe what happened to me today! As I was sitting outside, eating my lunch, a raven landed on the telescope building. I recognised him (by the ring around his leg) as one of the two tame ravens around here, Carmelo. I tossed him a piece of my sandwich,…
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Vacation and weather
I’ve been here for a week now. It’s my turn to fully take over as assistant, after having had Karl show me the ropes. Everything is getting less and less confusing, and even though I think I will never understand all the technical details I think I can handle it.…
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This windy, starry mountain
It’s a bit windy today. And when I say “a bit” I mean “hell of”. About 20 metres per second up here on the mountain-top. Enough to make opening the door difficult, and almost enough to knock you off your feet if you’re not careful when heading out. It was…
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First impressions of La Palma
And so the adventure begins. Holy shit people, I am currently located at a volcanic island, at the top of a 2.4 km mountain, the farthest south I’ve ever been, in a telescope building. Holy shit! How did this happen? I’ve begun my ten-week assistantship at the Swedish Solar Telescope…