ExTrA extra: The three little domes of La Silla

So, the delay in writing this post is because I am back in England. I have been home for almost a week now, and it's been harder to find the time to write the final post about my trip. This won't be it though! For what you're reading now, I felt that after the numerous …

Investigating other worlds with WASPs, HATS and doughnuts

This post is about another astronomy programme I have been working on here. It involves observing transiting extra-solar planets (exoplanets) with the Danish 1.54m telescope at La Silla Observatory. So, a quick intro to the (other) world(s) of exoplanets. An exoplanet is any planet that orbits a star that isn't our Sun. Currently, the Nasa …

The ESO 3.6m Telescope: The highest point of La Silla

This post is about our tour of the ESO 3.6m telescope at La Silla Observatory. Sitting atop the highest hill, and in by far the largest enclosure, the house of the 3.6m can usually be seen in each photo of the site. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, it’s not until you get right up close that …

Is that asteroid getting faster?

No, not closer! Don't call NASA or Bruce Willis. This post is about one of the other astronomy projects I am working on here at La Silla Observatory. I am monitoring nearby asteroids to see whether their spin rate is getting faster. To do this, I repeatedly take short exposure images (10 to 30 seconds …

The Petroglyphs at La Silla

Earlier this week, a few of us went on a trek down the mountain to see the rock engravings known as petroglyphs near to the La Silla observatory. It ended up being about a two and a half hour round trip. If you've found this and are looking for an actual guide on how to get …

The Occultation of Phoebe

So this sounds like a girl named Phoebe gets drafted into a cult. Don't worry, that's not what this post is about. I'm saving that for next week! I changed my mind about the first astronomy post I would write up here after last night's observations. I've already started the draft for one on asteroids, …

In search of the missing wind cups

It occurs to me that I haven't yet talked much about astronomy, you know, the reason I am here... I have eleven more nights here though to get around to that, so here is another post about what I did during the day! As I mentioned in my previous post, and as you probably saw …

The New Technology Telescope

The New Technology Telescope (NTT) stands out amongst the other telescopes here at La Silla, as it's the one in the non-dome-shaped dome. Instead of the top section of the dome rotating around with the telescope, this whole building rotates. This improves the ventilation and stability of the telescope during observations. The NTT began operations …

Probably the best photo I will take all trip

No, not this one. The best photo comes a little later in my journey up to the Observatory from La Serena. This was the first vista I had of the Pacific shortly after leaving the small town. I can actually still see the ocean from the top of the mountain, even though we are about …

There and back, again

So I am back in Chile for my second observing run on the Danish national 1.54m telescope at ESO La Silla. I thought it would be a nice idea to write some blog updates as to how I was getting on. Mostly for the entirely selfish reason of developing my writing skills (I do have …