An astronomer in Texas – 2
–part 2 of the essay An astronomer in Texas– Having arrived in Texas, our final trip was a drive through the mountainside. While taking photos out of the car is a challenge, the light through the clouds and the pale traces of plant life on the rocky hills made it worth a try.
An astronomer in Texas – 3
–part 3 of the essay An astronomer in Texas– The first time we could see the observatory. The road divides the image and provides a nice visual cue as to the difference of the telescopes: the left one, called HET, is an experimental, modern 10 meter class telescope that however can only rotate and not […]
An astronomer in Texas – 4
–part 4 of the essay An astronomer in Texas– Having reached the top, weather got worse quickly. Here, one can see the HET, which is located on the opposite hill, in more detail. Infrared was able to pierce the fog while visibility was much worse in the visible.
One year on Mt Wendelstein – 9
–part 9 of the essay One year on Mt. Wendelstein– After a long and productive night, one of my highlights is watching the sunrise in the morning which announces the end of my shift. Since there is nobody here besides the observer, I put on classical music from Bruckner and sit outside for half an […]
One year on Mt Wendelstein – 11
–part 11 of the essay One year on Mt. Wendelstein– Ever imagined how the sky on an extrasolar planet could look like? On Earth, the sky is blue mostly due to Ozone with rayleigh scattering, which is still often taught at school as an explanation, playing only second fiddle. Other gasses therefore would color the […]
One year on Mt Wendelstein – 12
–part 12 of the essay One year on Mt. Wendelstein– With autumn approaching, the stormy season has begun. Infrared is able to show the structure of the incoming rainclouds with almost no haze, making them look all the more threatening.
One year on Mt Wendelstein – 13
–part 13 of the essay One year on Mt. Wendelstein– Night shots are particularly challenging in the infrared since the amount of photons is quite low. However, trying it with a not very bright superzoom lens may be called insanity! During full moon, I took a series of ten images and stacked them. This lowered […]
One year on Mt Wendelstein – 14
–part 14 of the essay One year on Mt. Wendelstein– Winter has caught up with the alps. After waking up and seeing this beautiful scenery, I immediately grabbed my camera and took a photo of the increasing inversion. Infrared serves as an increased contrast between the snow and the trees.
An astronomer in Texas – 12
–part 12 of the essay An astronomer in Texas– A more zoomed-in photo reveals supernumaries. Rainbows are created by water drops of equal size, where light gets reflected inside the drop and, depending on the wavelength, exits the drop at a certain angle. However, if there are several similar-sized types of water drops in the […]
An astronomer in Texas – 14
–part 14 of the essay An astronomer in Texas– With this photo, our observing run concludes. We collected data in sufficient amounts to keep ourselves busy until next year and enjoyed the scenic route back to the airport, the road leading up into the magnificient mountain pass below the clouds.
One year on Mt Wendelstein -1
–part 1 of the essay One year on Mt. Wendelstein– Astronomy and infrared go hand in hand. I am an astrophysicist who is working at the Wendelstein observatory in the Bavarian alps, where I am in charge of our multi-band camera 3KK which can see simultaneously in the optical and infrared. This, of course, inspires […]
One year on Mt Wendelstein – 3
–part 3 of the essay One year on Mt. Wendelstein– If the weather conditions are just right, inversion can occur. This means that the mountain pierces the cloud layer, leading to amazing observing conditions for astronomy. More important to this essay, however, is that it gives photos a surreal touch as everything seems to be […]
