Thursday, July 5, 2007

A different view of the Universe




Well - back up at Kitt Peak again running the 2.3 meter telescope for the astronomers. Took the opportunity to make some quick and dirty images of the environs during the night and a couple of "portraits" of the astronomers working. Above is Andrew Cenko from USNO. He and his team were there to test out a new laser based spectrograph - you see him here in the 2nd floor lab were he kept watch on the laser's tuning.



Another couple of images from my last romp at Kitt Peak - above an environmental portrait of astronomer Dr. Bob McMillan at work beneath the 2.3 meter Bok telescope. I combined a short 2 second exposure of Dr. McMillan with a 30 second exposure of the telescope which was illuminated by the LCD display in front of the astronomer and a flashlight which I used to "paint" the telescope's structure with light during the long expsosure.

Below is a rectalinearized fisheye view of the 2.3 meter telescope dome and the full moon. The image displays a full 180 degree panorama of the telescope and sky. Photo details: Canon EOS 5D | 15 second exposure | ISO 800 | f/4.5 | Sigma 8mm.

3 comments:

Jim said...

Cool pictures - I didn't even recognize the Bok telescope dome in that fisheye shot! BTW, I added a link to your blog on mine.... Welcome to the world of blogging!

Tuguldur said...

hay Dave, you got some really nice pictures here! :)
I am a new student at the U of A, majoring in Astronomy and Physics. Also I am an avid amateur photographer, and its getting better and better with the help of my 'teacher' Jim. :P
It would be great if you allow me to have a link of your blog on mine. :)

Tuugii

Unknown said...

Jim and Tuugii - thanks for your comments. Tuugii - sure add away. I've added you both to my fav's - keep in touch.