I have an evolving interest in the early history of astrophyiscs, which lead me to investigate the first astrophysical observatory established in Chile (located in Santiago and called the Manuel Foster Observatory these days). I visted Chile in December of 2013 and got to see the Foster, but also some other Chilean telescopes including the Blanco 4m telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, on which the Dark Energy Camera is currently mounted. Here are some pictures from my trip. In California I have also visited Mount Wilson Observatory, the Lick Observatory at Mount Hamilton, and Palomar Observatory. I did an overnight shift at UBC's Large Zenith Telescope. The mirror is a 6m diamter spinning pool of liquid mercury in the forests of British Columbia overlooking the Fraser River valley. |