I Pushed a Telescope Until My Arms Hurt

Most of today went by with a blur. The morning and afternoon portions of class were spent simply working on a lab about image processing and determining what we needed for our projects. 

Right before dinner we split off into groups based on either what we said we wanted to do and what we wanted to use. All I knew was that I wanted to work with the 40” telescope. The correlating project topic was binary star systems. Jahnvi also wanted to use the 40” so we both ended up on the same main project. As we walked outside during our break for dinner we heard the other people in our group complain about using the 40” scope as they wanted the 41” as their choice scope. They spoke about it being old and less cool than the newer 41” scope. I can get where they’re coming from, they didn’t get their first choice and the 40” makes it a bit harder to image, but it’s far more of a hands-on scope, and we get to move and operate it ourselves. The 41” though it takes better images, must be operated by computer leaving little for you to do but sit, while the experts move it.

The best part of today was the evening. Since we picked our groups in the afternoon and what we would be working with, it was finally time to get started on our projects. Only I had no clue what to do, and the assignment is due Thursday night. 

South Lawn as the Sun goes down

Professor Kron took us up to the telescope first, showing us how to operate the dome and floor. He also showed us how to make the telescope move and what we should be looking for. We quickly discussed projects to realize that out of the six of us, only two knew what they would look for right away. The rest of us including Jahnvi and I didn’t know exactly what we wanted to tackle. 

I researched binary stars for a better part of an hour, but couldn’t find a topic that was both doable and relatively difficult. Most ideas I looked up already had a step by step process available which isn’t really what I wanted. When Professor Kron came down and Jahnvi shared her idea with him, he asked if I wanted to work with her. Honestly, I wasn’t sure. Jahnvi’s project idea initially sounded like there wouldn’t be enough for me to do that I would actually enjoy doing. As we began to work on it, I liked it more and more.

The 40"

Jahnvi and I went up the telescope with Professor Kron and our first task was imaging our first target. Luckily, the group before us had chosen the same one. Our second job was a lot harder. To get the telescope to point to a different spot on the opposite side of the dome, we had to push the telescope and get it essentially flip to the other side of its mount. It was really a process, even yesterday with a group of seven it was difficult to push the telescope, today with only three the task was even more daunting. It worked out well, we managed to get the scope in position after 30 or so minutes of pushing, adjusting, and driving the telescope. 

When the telescope was finally aligned we looked though the eyepiece to see absolutely nothing. There were clouds in the way. In order to see how bad the clouds were, Professor Kron led us over the railing of the platform and onto the nearby stairs, where we then walked on the roof of the observatory. In reality, you aren’t supposed to get off of the platform unless it’s on the ground, and the roof is supposed to be accessible for emergencies, but we were able to see that clouds were thin and that our work wasn’t for nothing.

We imaged our second system then returned downstairs to get to work on our binary star project.