Massimo's photoblog

Two of the telescopes of the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (part of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) at Mt. Hopkins, AZ. These two telescopes are in the “ridge” area, along the road to the summit occupied by the larger MMT telescope. The two telescopes have a primary mirror with a diameter of 48 and 60 inches, respectively. I have never used the larger one, but I have been a few times at the 48 inch, to use a near infrared imaging camera, when I was a graduate student.

The 48 inch telescope is especially good for graduate students, because there is no operator and the astronomer has the full control of the instrument and the telescope, which is a good way to learn. The nights I spent there I was alone, apart for a mouse that was coming out for food every night at 4am. One night (the first of the run) I couldn’t make the camera work properly, and I had to debug the system for hours at the telephone, talking to somebody in Cambridge. In the end this person asked to check if the optical fibers connecting the camera to the control computer were ok. “Which fibers?” I asked. Well, apparently the day crew that was supposed to set up the instrument simply forgot to connect the camera to the computer...