Phew... What a summer.
It has been so long since I have posted something in here. Sorry about that everyone. Turns out that most people like coming to an observatory in the nice summer weather and because of this, it gets fairly busy!
Right now though, the monsoons have hit... I know... monsoons. In Arizona. Here I am, coming from Oregon where I think I understand rain and I move to the "desert" where it should never rain right? But nope. My first week here someone told me that I was going to need an umbrella once the rain started. Being a typical Oregonian I said, PSH, I'm from Oregon! I totally understand and love rain. No worries. Imagine a 5 gallon bucket being dumped on your head, and that bucket never empties. That's what Flagstaff rain is like. Turns out I still need an umbrella...
Work has been going amazing! I've gone out to do some basic research with one of the astronomers twice now, I've had a lot of fun playing volleyball with some people up at the observatory, and I even got Neil Armstrong to wave at me! I'm fully trained in the job I'm doing, so I got my raise that I was promised and I have started working on other projects to help out the observatory. I may even get a big project helping out a co-worker that involves teaching kids robotics!
So now I will try to do this in an orderly manner... no promises though.
First off is the research. Larry Wasserman is an astronomer over at Lowell who is super interesting. Not only has he programmed ALL of the telescopes we use for research, he is one of the few people in the field who understands how to track objects that move in different directions of our earth. Now, when the earth rotates, we have to move telescopes at the same rate so that the stars don't appear blurry, and this in itself is fairly simple. When you want to study things like comets or asteroids that don't move in the same direction as what the stars appear to, then you run into problems. He programmed all of our research telescopes to be able to track in different directions so comet and asteroid research is possible. I got to go out with him two different times to track Keiper belt objects (KBO's). These are large asteroids, some the size of Pluto! He had a list of objects that he was tracking and would find the area of sky that the object was in, take a 15 minute exposure at the 72 inch telescope down at the Anderson Mesa facility, about 12 miles away from town. Then about an hour later he would photograph the same area of sky and he showed me how to find these objects moving around. You put one photograph on a computer screen in just the color red, and the second photo overlapped in Blue/Green. Any stars that haven't moved are all white, as the three colors that make up a computer screen are Red, Blue, and Green, and anything that is colored is a good candidate for being one of these KBO's. He would then plot the area of sky and the speed it was traveling in and actually update the worldwide database with the object's orbit and speed. Sometimes this will update the orbit up to a year in advance! It was a great opportunity to see if this was actually the kind of stuff that I want to be doing, and it really does seem interesting. Its nice to get a chance to see if I made the right choice by coming down here and I really believe I did.
The observatory has a sand volleyball court and I have gone from being very terrible to moderately good! I've made some great friends and met some awesome people who I've hung out with outside of volleyball. Turns out its a really fun sport too! Some of the players work at the observatory, in public programs like I do, and there are even some research astronomers who join us! In fact, the main push behind the games is Brian Skiff, an awesome astronomer who has been at Lowell for 40 years. Its been a lot of fun and it helps keep me in shape too. With the weather being stormy like it has been, we haven't been playing as much and the season has been winding down. But I've learned some fundamentals and may try to play some club volleyball later this year.
The Discovery Channel Telescope first light Gala was amazing. We had to dress up real fancy, and I got two awesome suit jackets (one for the gala, one for wearing in Vegas) for really cheap! I sat at a table with some really interesting people and had GREAT conversations with a lot of important people. The lady who was the liaison for the Discovery Channel workers was there so I got the behind the scene scoop of everything that had been going on with the filming of the special that will air on September 9th, all about the DCT. There was also an electrical engineer there who told me all about what a huge project like this takes from multiple engineering perspectives. Turns out that 10 years and 53 Million dollars requires a lot of work from a lot of people. Then came the speech by Neil Armstrong. He was so interesting and spoke directly to so many of the workers on this project. He was really inspiring and managed to make all of us laugh at his wit and charisma. He talked about his landing on the moon and how the entire procedure was all to run an experiment of shooting a laser beam at a mirror on the moon and seeing how long it took to get back. "I wasn't involved in the design of the experiment," he said, "I was just a technician. So I moseyed on over to the installation site to do my job." He told us that the very first thing that the mirrors did was fix the Latitude and Longitude of Wilson Observatory, the site that was running the experiment. Apparently when they first fired the laser, they didn't get anything back. After firing pulse after pulse, they realized they had the wrong coordinates for the observatory, so the very first experiment came in handy just for map purposes down here on earth! After that, they made SO many interesting discoveries over the next years. They found that the moon is moving away from us slowly, that the moon affects our tides, along with other discoveries. Mr. Armstrong showed us that even a simple experiment like that can unlock so much interesting information, and it really made the DCT more important in my mind. If just a simple mirror can tell us so much about our moon, this huge piece of technology should be able to unlock a LOT more information for us.
Neil Armstrong also showed us an awesome video someone had made of the Eagle lander landing, both with video from the actual lunar lander and set side by side to modern video images made by orbiting moon satellites today. You can watch this video along with the actual dialogue that happened between Houston and the Eagle here. It was SO cool to hear his thoughts during the video. He pointed a specific point out and went, "right here is where I knew I would need to steer the lander manually." So we got his entire thought process of what was going through is head as he landed. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I had such a great time! As he went to leave, I jumped up and waved at him from my spot near the back of the room. He waved back, and I'm just going to believe it was directed at me, cause that is too cool to pass up.
The rest will have to wait until next time, but I'll keep updating everyone on my summer and my current situation. Things are going great though, and really looking up! School is looking like something that may happen much sooner than I first imagined, which would be really awesome.
Until next time, be well, and clear skies!
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
First Solar Eclipse of my Life!
Phew... It's been a while, I do apologize for that, but this job has been taking up a lot of my time... And I LOVE it!
This last Sunday, May 20, there was an Annular Eclipse that passed right to the north of Flagstaff, AZ. I've never seen a solar eclipse, so needless to say I was REALLY excited. I got scheduled to work some solar scopes for the event, and after some other people dropped their shifts, I took over the morning/day shift as well.
It was intense... Starting right at 8:30 am, we were swamped. There were two of us working in the visitor center and we had been selling these eclipse viewing glasses that were filtered so that everyone could look at the eclipse through them. They were only $2, so people were buying 6-10 at a time. They would call in to find out if we had any, and apparently we were the ONLY place that was selling these south of the Grand Canyon. We had people call in from Phoenix, saying they would be there later in the day to pick some up. One guy, found out his name was Ray later, had called saying he was coming up later that day and really wanted to get some. Me, being the nice person I am, told him I couldn't guarantee him any, as we were selling them really fast. HOWEVER, I offered him the opportunity to borrow two pairs of mine, (I had purchased a bunch to send to family back in Oregon, and I figured I could help him out... I just wanted everyone to enjoy this celestial event that hadn't happened in the USA in 18 years!). I promptly forgot about this offer, as we were so busy, but more on that later...
My day pretty much consisted of checking people out of the gift shop, answering questions about the solar eclipse and the prime viewing locations, AND answering the phone every 5-10 seconds. When I say 5-10 seconds I MEAN that much time. I actually counted after a few hours of the phone ringing so frequently. I believe only about 3 times did I have 30 seconds in between calls. The phone actually started dying around 2 pm as it didn't have enough time to keep charging because people were calling so frequently! It was a really high energy day! People were calling in from all over the state asking if we sold solar eclipse viewing glasses, but they were doing it in a really frustrating way... "Ummmm... Sooooo... I was wondering if... you were selling... what are those called? Solar eclipse shades? Solar viewing glasses? Do you have any of those? How much are they?" I love answering questions and all, but when there are 10 people IN the gift shop trying to buy things and ask questions, I just don't have time for that kind of stalling. After only 1 hour of listening to questions like this, I started answering the phone, "You've reached Lowell Observatory, retailer of Solar Eclipse viewing glasses, how can I help you?"
EVERY single person who called in laughed and said, "You just answered my question!" I usually responded with, "I know. You and every other person in the state!" (In a very joking manner, mind you. I'm not one to be rude.) Because of this, I was able to answer more questions in a shorter amount of time and help more people. I even made most of the people in the gift shop laugh when I answered the phone like this. There were two girls who called in at one point and when I answered the phone, they said something to the effect of, "Oh no! We must sound like typical tourists! We'll sing you a song when we get up there to make it up to you!" They totally did too! They showed up about 15 minutes later and sang me a quick song about the eclipse and asked me to sign their glasses they purchased. When I pulled out a pen they clapped excitedly, shouting, "He's actually going to do it!!!"
I had a lot of fun joking around and informing the public, and when I found out that there was going to be NO lunch coverage for me OR the other coworker that was with me, I just shrugged, went, "C'est la vie" and continued my intense multitasking. Due to another scheduling mix up, I also ended up giving a tour around 3 pm, which was a nice break from the intense pace that the gift shop was having.
At 4 pm, after the tour (which I ROCKED by the way) I met up with my boss and started helping him set up solar scopes. We got an overview about how the night was going to work and then went to work setting up scopes and trying to get in prime viewing location, as the sun was going to set behind some trees a little bit after the maximum effect. We loaded up some scopes and had to sit in the back of his pickup to move them across campus, and due to my high energy (somehow I kept it up all throughout the 11 hour day I had) I stared waving at everyone around the car as if I was in a parade float. I got laughed at by a coworker to which I responded, "Oh just have some fun!" After setting up the majority of the scopes, Kevin (my boss) and I went to get the 6" brass telescope that Percival Lowell's assistant, Andrew Douglas, took around the Arizona Territory to figure out where Percy was going to build his observatory. This is an amazing piece of history, and the fact that Kevin wanted me to help him with this was really cool! I got to handle a telescope that we RARELY move, and I just felt so honored to be able to help him with that.
The eclipse was SPECTACULAR. We had something like 500-600 people attend and I spent the entire time answering questions and helping people view the event. Some astronomers made a big announcement when the actual eclipse started and it was just about the coolest thing I've ever witnessed. Even when it was only around 1/3 of the way through the eclipse, you could tell the air got colder and there was less light outside. Everyone had a creepy orange glow and things just felt... different. I can't even imagine what that must have felt like to civilizations that didn't understand exactly what was going on. It could drive a person mad... We got to watch the progression of the moon in front of the sun and since it wasn't a total solar eclipse, the moon only blocked around 90% of the sun. It was amazing to see with your eyes, and even better through the solar telescopes. I got ONE good picture among the line of people, and just wanted as many people as possible to see this event. I had to move the scope I was stationed at about 6 times to get views in between the trees, and most everyone really appreciated being able to see the best view possible.
It is so cool to see people get as excited about this kind of event as they did. It was like a Lady Gaga concert, but for the sun and moon. Astronomy is just SO interesting to me, so I love explaining how these events happen and talking to people about them. After the event, we got to spend some time looking at Venus through the old brass 6" telescope. There was also an older lady who sang all of the staff a song she had made up which was SUPER cute! I made her sing it again later and got a video of it which I'll put on my facebook later. One of my coworkers went up to our boss later and just said, "Thank you for hiring me" to which I agreed with completely!
This job has been the coolest thing I've ever experienced and I have SO many more posts to write about what I've been up to the last few weeks. I'll try and get them done as soon as possible!
Be well, and clear skies!
This last Sunday, May 20, there was an Annular Eclipse that passed right to the north of Flagstaff, AZ. I've never seen a solar eclipse, so needless to say I was REALLY excited. I got scheduled to work some solar scopes for the event, and after some other people dropped their shifts, I took over the morning/day shift as well.
It was intense... Starting right at 8:30 am, we were swamped. There were two of us working in the visitor center and we had been selling these eclipse viewing glasses that were filtered so that everyone could look at the eclipse through them. They were only $2, so people were buying 6-10 at a time. They would call in to find out if we had any, and apparently we were the ONLY place that was selling these south of the Grand Canyon. We had people call in from Phoenix, saying they would be there later in the day to pick some up. One guy, found out his name was Ray later, had called saying he was coming up later that day and really wanted to get some. Me, being the nice person I am, told him I couldn't guarantee him any, as we were selling them really fast. HOWEVER, I offered him the opportunity to borrow two pairs of mine, (I had purchased a bunch to send to family back in Oregon, and I figured I could help him out... I just wanted everyone to enjoy this celestial event that hadn't happened in the USA in 18 years!). I promptly forgot about this offer, as we were so busy, but more on that later...
My day pretty much consisted of checking people out of the gift shop, answering questions about the solar eclipse and the prime viewing locations, AND answering the phone every 5-10 seconds. When I say 5-10 seconds I MEAN that much time. I actually counted after a few hours of the phone ringing so frequently. I believe only about 3 times did I have 30 seconds in between calls. The phone actually started dying around 2 pm as it didn't have enough time to keep charging because people were calling so frequently! It was a really high energy day! People were calling in from all over the state asking if we sold solar eclipse viewing glasses, but they were doing it in a really frustrating way... "Ummmm... Sooooo... I was wondering if... you were selling... what are those called? Solar eclipse shades? Solar viewing glasses? Do you have any of those? How much are they?" I love answering questions and all, but when there are 10 people IN the gift shop trying to buy things and ask questions, I just don't have time for that kind of stalling. After only 1 hour of listening to questions like this, I started answering the phone, "You've reached Lowell Observatory, retailer of Solar Eclipse viewing glasses, how can I help you?"
EVERY single person who called in laughed and said, "You just answered my question!" I usually responded with, "I know. You and every other person in the state!" (In a very joking manner, mind you. I'm not one to be rude.) Because of this, I was able to answer more questions in a shorter amount of time and help more people. I even made most of the people in the gift shop laugh when I answered the phone like this. There were two girls who called in at one point and when I answered the phone, they said something to the effect of, "Oh no! We must sound like typical tourists! We'll sing you a song when we get up there to make it up to you!" They totally did too! They showed up about 15 minutes later and sang me a quick song about the eclipse and asked me to sign their glasses they purchased. When I pulled out a pen they clapped excitedly, shouting, "He's actually going to do it!!!"
I had a lot of fun joking around and informing the public, and when I found out that there was going to be NO lunch coverage for me OR the other coworker that was with me, I just shrugged, went, "C'est la vie" and continued my intense multitasking. Due to another scheduling mix up, I also ended up giving a tour around 3 pm, which was a nice break from the intense pace that the gift shop was having.
At 4 pm, after the tour (which I ROCKED by the way) I met up with my boss and started helping him set up solar scopes. We got an overview about how the night was going to work and then went to work setting up scopes and trying to get in prime viewing location, as the sun was going to set behind some trees a little bit after the maximum effect. We loaded up some scopes and had to sit in the back of his pickup to move them across campus, and due to my high energy (somehow I kept it up all throughout the 11 hour day I had) I stared waving at everyone around the car as if I was in a parade float. I got laughed at by a coworker to which I responded, "Oh just have some fun!" After setting up the majority of the scopes, Kevin (my boss) and I went to get the 6" brass telescope that Percival Lowell's assistant, Andrew Douglas, took around the Arizona Territory to figure out where Percy was going to build his observatory. This is an amazing piece of history, and the fact that Kevin wanted me to help him with this was really cool! I got to handle a telescope that we RARELY move, and I just felt so honored to be able to help him with that.
6" Brass Telescope that scouted out the prime location for Lowell Observatory.
The eclipse was SPECTACULAR. We had something like 500-600 people attend and I spent the entire time answering questions and helping people view the event. Some astronomers made a big announcement when the actual eclipse started and it was just about the coolest thing I've ever witnessed. Even when it was only around 1/3 of the way through the eclipse, you could tell the air got colder and there was less light outside. Everyone had a creepy orange glow and things just felt... different. I can't even imagine what that must have felt like to civilizations that didn't understand exactly what was going on. It could drive a person mad... We got to watch the progression of the moon in front of the sun and since it wasn't a total solar eclipse, the moon only blocked around 90% of the sun. It was amazing to see with your eyes, and even better through the solar telescopes. I got ONE good picture among the line of people, and just wanted as many people as possible to see this event. I had to move the scope I was stationed at about 6 times to get views in between the trees, and most everyone really appreciated being able to see the best view possible.
Best picture I could get of the Eclipse through the solar telescope.
Some strange effect of the eyepiece, but pretty clear!
It is so cool to see people get as excited about this kind of event as they did. It was like a Lady Gaga concert, but for the sun and moon. Astronomy is just SO interesting to me, so I love explaining how these events happen and talking to people about them. After the event, we got to spend some time looking at Venus through the old brass 6" telescope. There was also an older lady who sang all of the staff a song she had made up which was SUPER cute! I made her sing it again later and got a video of it which I'll put on my facebook later. One of my coworkers went up to our boss later and just said, "Thank you for hiring me" to which I agreed with completely!
This job has been the coolest thing I've ever experienced and I have SO many more posts to write about what I've been up to the last few weeks. I'll try and get them done as soon as possible!
Be well, and clear skies!
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Lyrid meteor shower and the Alvin Clark 3 ton challenge.
Work has been going great. I'm finally getting checked off on enough stuff that I have a little variety in my day to day even though the majority of my time is still spent in the gift shop. I really kind of like working in there though because I get to talk to all the customers, meet some really cool people, and just surround myself with astronomy.
In fact, last night, I ended up selling two 8 inch Orion dobsonian reflector telescopes. This is the same telescope Austin owns. The first guy who came on had a LOT of questions. I was able to offer him a lot of good advice and talk him through some of the purchases he was thinking about. Turns out, it was his seventieth birthday and his wife had just bought and names a star after him. They were picking up a telescope so they could look up and find his star. This, to me, is just the coolest thing I've ever heard of. When he was asking about what objects you could see with this telescope, I started getting really animated and told him how seeing Saturn through that exact model of telescope changed my life. I described my sudden breathlessness and the really profound realization I had in that instant. He laughed and told me that because of my passion and excitement about this kind of thing, he would get the telescope. He said he could tell I wasn't trying to get him to spend money, I just wanted him to experience that same moment that I did. Which was exactly right! To me, the most exciting part about this job is finding other people who are interested in this stuff. I feel like if I can give them some of my passion and drive, they will be able to experience the beauty of the universe they way I have. Once that happens, there's really no going back to everyday life in the same way. It... Changes you. Different things become important. Things that used to bother you or make you sad or mad don't seem as important after staring deep into the celestial sphere.
After closing the observatory with help from my, again, awesome coworkers I stayed behind to watch the lyrid meteor shower. It was a crystal clear night and in asking around to see if anyone else was staying, I found out that one guy was going to be using the Clark all night long just for viewing and for taking some pictures. I decided to hang out and watch there before heading outside to watch the shower.
I got to see so many deep sky objects... The sombrero galaxy, M104. The black eye galaxy, M64. M3, an AMAZING globular cluster. And so many more I can't remember the names of all of them. Should have written them down... But all of these through the 24" refractor lens were astounding. In M104, I could see the main dust lane pretty clearly and in M3 there were so many individual stars... A lot of them looked blue, which gives me a theory about the age of the stars in that cluster that I'll have to look up soon.
I got to learn a LOT about declination and right-ascension coordinates, and even though I couldn't actually move the telescope myself, I'm not trained to do that yet and you can really destroy that historic piece of equipment if you don't know what you are doing, I got a pretty deep insight into how everything works. My coworker was really cool and put up with all my questions and pretty much at one point just asked what me and his friend visiting from Canada wanted to see. He moved and aimed that telescope over and over and let me tell you, that is NO easy feat. Even though that telescope is near perfectly balanced, it's still 3 tons of metal and glass. Making some of the fine tuned adjustments that he was doing seemed pretty strenuous. After doing deep sky, we turned our "eye" to Saturn which was... Just beautiful. We could clearly see the Cassini division between the rings and about 5 moons. The seeing was so good, he pulled out his camera and started snapping pictures and I'll be honest, even his single, 1/8 second exposures were more clear and brilliant than I've ever seen before. He not only took a ton of still shots, but also recorded a video to be able to stack each frame and come up with something even better.
After we closed down the telescope for the night, about 12:30 am, I headed up to the darkest, clearest spot at the observatory and set up to watch the meteor shower. It was just astounding. My eyes got adjusted after about 30 minutes, as I had already adjusted a bit in the telescope dome, and I saw more stars with my naked eyes than I could have ever thought possible. Every once in a while a meteorite or fireball would streak across the sky, and one was so brilliant and bright, it slowly traversed the sky, going about twice the length of the big dipper before disappearing.
I had about an hour and a half of peering into the cosmos. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced. I've never gone out and just really paid attention to the stars. I learned some more constellations, though it was so dark up there, I was seeing stars that I had no idea existed. It made finding some constellations harder because stars that I didn't recognize were popping up all over the place. It was a good time of quiet contemplation and I feel like I had some really profound insights just from being there, experiencing it all. It was as if I was staring at the face of the universe and it stated right back. Every once in a while, it would wink, as if to say, "look at the wonders I can hold. The sheer beauty and power and vastness... Just soak it all in" and that's exactly what I did. I experienced and appreciated the night sky like I've never been able to in my life. It will be there long after I'm dead and gone, and at this point I just want to be a part of as much of it as I can. I want to see all the works of art out there that put our greatest creativity to shame, to listen to the cosmic fugue, and to love each burning ball of hydrogen as I do our own.
Go stargazing tonight. Spend a few hours outside and you will not be disappointed. The meteor shower will still be going on, and I will say, it's more than fantastic. Make sure to dress warm though!
As always, be well everyone.
In fact, last night, I ended up selling two 8 inch Orion dobsonian reflector telescopes. This is the same telescope Austin owns. The first guy who came on had a LOT of questions. I was able to offer him a lot of good advice and talk him through some of the purchases he was thinking about. Turns out, it was his seventieth birthday and his wife had just bought and names a star after him. They were picking up a telescope so they could look up and find his star. This, to me, is just the coolest thing I've ever heard of. When he was asking about what objects you could see with this telescope, I started getting really animated and told him how seeing Saturn through that exact model of telescope changed my life. I described my sudden breathlessness and the really profound realization I had in that instant. He laughed and told me that because of my passion and excitement about this kind of thing, he would get the telescope. He said he could tell I wasn't trying to get him to spend money, I just wanted him to experience that same moment that I did. Which was exactly right! To me, the most exciting part about this job is finding other people who are interested in this stuff. I feel like if I can give them some of my passion and drive, they will be able to experience the beauty of the universe they way I have. Once that happens, there's really no going back to everyday life in the same way. It... Changes you. Different things become important. Things that used to bother you or make you sad or mad don't seem as important after staring deep into the celestial sphere.
After closing the observatory with help from my, again, awesome coworkers I stayed behind to watch the lyrid meteor shower. It was a crystal clear night and in asking around to see if anyone else was staying, I found out that one guy was going to be using the Clark all night long just for viewing and for taking some pictures. I decided to hang out and watch there before heading outside to watch the shower.
I got to see so many deep sky objects... The sombrero galaxy, M104. The black eye galaxy, M64. M3, an AMAZING globular cluster. And so many more I can't remember the names of all of them. Should have written them down... But all of these through the 24" refractor lens were astounding. In M104, I could see the main dust lane pretty clearly and in M3 there were so many individual stars... A lot of them looked blue, which gives me a theory about the age of the stars in that cluster that I'll have to look up soon.
I got to learn a LOT about declination and right-ascension coordinates, and even though I couldn't actually move the telescope myself, I'm not trained to do that yet and you can really destroy that historic piece of equipment if you don't know what you are doing, I got a pretty deep insight into how everything works. My coworker was really cool and put up with all my questions and pretty much at one point just asked what me and his friend visiting from Canada wanted to see. He moved and aimed that telescope over and over and let me tell you, that is NO easy feat. Even though that telescope is near perfectly balanced, it's still 3 tons of metal and glass. Making some of the fine tuned adjustments that he was doing seemed pretty strenuous. After doing deep sky, we turned our "eye" to Saturn which was... Just beautiful. We could clearly see the Cassini division between the rings and about 5 moons. The seeing was so good, he pulled out his camera and started snapping pictures and I'll be honest, even his single, 1/8 second exposures were more clear and brilliant than I've ever seen before. He not only took a ton of still shots, but also recorded a video to be able to stack each frame and come up with something even better.
After we closed down the telescope for the night, about 12:30 am, I headed up to the darkest, clearest spot at the observatory and set up to watch the meteor shower. It was just astounding. My eyes got adjusted after about 30 minutes, as I had already adjusted a bit in the telescope dome, and I saw more stars with my naked eyes than I could have ever thought possible. Every once in a while a meteorite or fireball would streak across the sky, and one was so brilliant and bright, it slowly traversed the sky, going about twice the length of the big dipper before disappearing.
I had about an hour and a half of peering into the cosmos. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced. I've never gone out and just really paid attention to the stars. I learned some more constellations, though it was so dark up there, I was seeing stars that I had no idea existed. It made finding some constellations harder because stars that I didn't recognize were popping up all over the place. It was a good time of quiet contemplation and I feel like I had some really profound insights just from being there, experiencing it all. It was as if I was staring at the face of the universe and it stated right back. Every once in a while, it would wink, as if to say, "look at the wonders I can hold. The sheer beauty and power and vastness... Just soak it all in" and that's exactly what I did. I experienced and appreciated the night sky like I've never been able to in my life. It will be there long after I'm dead and gone, and at this point I just want to be a part of as much of it as I can. I want to see all the works of art out there that put our greatest creativity to shame, to listen to the cosmic fugue, and to love each burning ball of hydrogen as I do our own.
Go stargazing tonight. Spend a few hours outside and you will not be disappointed. The meteor shower will still be going on, and I will say, it's more than fantastic. Make sure to dress warm though!
As always, be well everyone.
Monday, April 16, 2012
First 8 hour day!!!
Finally got my first full day of work today! Man did I need that...
Started out the day training to use the register machines and doing some training for some of the more difficult things, like selling memberships and the like. It was all pretty straightforward and with the practice I got today, I think I'll be pretty set for working in the Gift Shop. Nothing too crazy there. :)
After the training I basically just started working alongside Jamie, a CRAZY awesome co-worker. Its funny, cause every time I have walked into Lowell, she's been there, so we were joking about how I thought she was the only worker AT Lowell. She ended up showing me the ropes today though and kept telling me I needed to "learn to work like her". She's actually leaving the observatory in like 3 weeks, so I have to absorb as much info from her as I can!
We spent the majority of the day working the gift shop. She has an awesome, friendly attitude that I really wanna try and emulate. All the customers (and me as well) loved talking to her. Really got a standard to live up to now. We went to lunch together and got to know each other a little better over some Bigfoot BBQ and she hit me up with all the secret, cool stuff the observatory lets us workers do. Talked to me about how to handle problematic customers and some crazy situations she's been in. Turns out she has had a few times she's had to call cops in for some really (almost dangerous) situations.
After lunch, I followed her around while she gave two tours and let me just say... She is an AMAZING tour guide. She's super engaging with the customers, has a lot of really, really awesome jokes she throws into her information, to the point where I was laughing hysterically at some parts (as were all the other people taking the tour). I have a lot more information now that will be good to be able to refer to when I give tours and I MAY end up stealing a few jokes. ;) I've taking a few tours now and hers was my favorite so far. I still have a lot of other people to shadow though, and I think that everyone has their own way to make it interesting and fun. I'm excited to develop my own tour, as they send out a 30 page (!) booklet of information and you basically pick and choose which topics you want to focus on. Since she's a 13 year resident of Flagstaff, she gave some really cool history lessons as well! (DID YOU KNOW: Flagstaff is the biggest Ponderosa Pine forest in the United States? Also, if you drink 1 tablespoon of the sap from one of those trees, you can die.)
After the tours, I went to talk to my boss to find out when next I work, as I wasn't quite put on the schedule yet. I get tomorrow off, but go back in on Wednesday night to train on how to close the observatory at night. I'll also get tested on my gift shop work on Thursday, and then I'll start training for tours that same day! I asked if I could get my hands on one of the booklets or get some reading material to prepare myself a little better for Thursday, and my boss gave me a copy of "The Explorers of Mars Hill" a 260 page book on the history of Lowell Observatory. So I'll be busy tomorrow zooming through that!
Be well everyone!
Started out the day training to use the register machines and doing some training for some of the more difficult things, like selling memberships and the like. It was all pretty straightforward and with the practice I got today, I think I'll be pretty set for working in the Gift Shop. Nothing too crazy there. :)
After the training I basically just started working alongside Jamie, a CRAZY awesome co-worker. Its funny, cause every time I have walked into Lowell, she's been there, so we were joking about how I thought she was the only worker AT Lowell. She ended up showing me the ropes today though and kept telling me I needed to "learn to work like her". She's actually leaving the observatory in like 3 weeks, so I have to absorb as much info from her as I can!
We spent the majority of the day working the gift shop. She has an awesome, friendly attitude that I really wanna try and emulate. All the customers (and me as well) loved talking to her. Really got a standard to live up to now. We went to lunch together and got to know each other a little better over some Bigfoot BBQ and she hit me up with all the secret, cool stuff the observatory lets us workers do. Talked to me about how to handle problematic customers and some crazy situations she's been in. Turns out she has had a few times she's had to call cops in for some really (almost dangerous) situations.
After lunch, I followed her around while she gave two tours and let me just say... She is an AMAZING tour guide. She's super engaging with the customers, has a lot of really, really awesome jokes she throws into her information, to the point where I was laughing hysterically at some parts (as were all the other people taking the tour). I have a lot more information now that will be good to be able to refer to when I give tours and I MAY end up stealing a few jokes. ;) I've taking a few tours now and hers was my favorite so far. I still have a lot of other people to shadow though, and I think that everyone has their own way to make it interesting and fun. I'm excited to develop my own tour, as they send out a 30 page (!) booklet of information and you basically pick and choose which topics you want to focus on. Since she's a 13 year resident of Flagstaff, she gave some really cool history lessons as well! (DID YOU KNOW: Flagstaff is the biggest Ponderosa Pine forest in the United States? Also, if you drink 1 tablespoon of the sap from one of those trees, you can die.)
After the tours, I went to talk to my boss to find out when next I work, as I wasn't quite put on the schedule yet. I get tomorrow off, but go back in on Wednesday night to train on how to close the observatory at night. I'll also get tested on my gift shop work on Thursday, and then I'll start training for tours that same day! I asked if I could get my hands on one of the booklets or get some reading material to prepare myself a little better for Thursday, and my boss gave me a copy of "The Explorers of Mars Hill" a 260 page book on the history of Lowell Observatory. So I'll be busy tomorrow zooming through that!
I'm gaining a LOT of respect for this place. I went from never hearing of this observatory to realizing that the Big Bang Theory actually got started here! Basically, they found evidence of the Expanding Universe here and that led Edwin Hubble to explore that, and to look for evidence of the Big Bang. It turns out there is a LOT of really great research going on here, and even the mission statement the observatory lives by is pretty amazing. "The mission of Lowell Observatory is to pursue the study of astronomy, especially the study of our solar system and its evolution; to conduct pure research in astronomical phenomena; and to maintain quality public education and outreach programs to bring the results of astronomical research to the public." Its awesome to see scientists wanting the public to know what they are up to.
In other news... I've started appreciating tea a lot. I think I'm going to try and make this a nightly ritual, as its very relaxing. :)
Friday, April 13, 2012
Folding shirts: a glamorous start to my astronomy career.
Job update time! Today was my second day of training, and it started with me opening up the observatory visitor center, and getting the registers ready. Nothing too fancy or difficult, though I do a little projector work, glad I'm so comfortable with those!
After some discussion with my supervisor, I went and helped re stock their supply of t-shirts. Basically I spent two hors folding shirts... Gotta start somewhere!
It actually ended up being really fun, mostly because I was in the lobby in the building that houses the staff mailboxes. During the two hours I was folding (my laundry is going to have a new standard because of this already) staff would swing by to pick up their check statement. Almost EVERY one of them stopped to look at shirts and talk to me. Not just hourly workers either. A lot of professional staff chatted with me too! Got to meet this astronomer named Gerard, who was AT Geneva, participating in the discussion of whether or not to demote Pluto! He voted to keep it a planet. ;)
"It was never a question of 8 or 9 planets... It was a question of 8 or about 25!" he told me. "A planet has to be big enough to be round, and big enough to be a bully" <-- heh heh. Astronomy jokes ftw!
Also talked with the tech support, a few other administrative staff, and also the old school designer of the DCT. I'm reeeealy hoping I can accompany him to some of his photo sessions he does after work. :D Had a bunch of people comment on my tattoo too! Though, I checked with my boss and I WILL have to cover it up come summer. I'll be fine until then, as it's still cold enough to wear the long sleeved shirt they gave me (looks super snazzy too!)
I also got my two work shirts today, and my first paycheck for the little bit of help I did over the weekend. Ive got this weekend off again though, and then some more training on Monday. The plan is to open on Monday, get trained on the registers, and then shadow the current worker that day. I think her name is Jamie and I've actually talked with her a little already.
Tuesday, I begin tour training. :D The scheduler has to pull some strings for this to happen, but I think my enthusiasm for doing that kind of thing is showing to a lot of people. I think I'm getting kind of fast tracked, which is pretty awesome.
Every person who works there is incredibly pleasant. I got told "glad to have you as part of the team!" so many times I lost count. That's a really awesome thing to hear from people you just met. I was surprised that they all stopped just to chat too! It wasn't all about astronomy (though a big portion of it was, even overheard a discussion of potential focusing problems on a big telescope) and when one admin asked where I was from, he got super excited at my answer. Apparently he's going to the spruce goose museum to try to borrow the mars lander they have there!
This job is going to rock. Between the people, the work, and the subject matter, I think I'm going to fit right in. Hopefully I can put some of my crazy ideas to work and really impact this place while I'm here. :D
On my down time, I've been doing a lot of reading. Got acquainted with the library yesterday and picked up some Isaac Asimov. :o that guy is an amazing writer. I forgot how much fun reading can be.
Off to find something to do today now!
Stay well, everyone.
After some discussion with my supervisor, I went and helped re stock their supply of t-shirts. Basically I spent two hors folding shirts... Gotta start somewhere!
It actually ended up being really fun, mostly because I was in the lobby in the building that houses the staff mailboxes. During the two hours I was folding (my laundry is going to have a new standard because of this already) staff would swing by to pick up their check statement. Almost EVERY one of them stopped to look at shirts and talk to me. Not just hourly workers either. A lot of professional staff chatted with me too! Got to meet this astronomer named Gerard, who was AT Geneva, participating in the discussion of whether or not to demote Pluto! He voted to keep it a planet. ;)
"It was never a question of 8 or 9 planets... It was a question of 8 or about 25!" he told me. "A planet has to be big enough to be round, and big enough to be a bully" <-- heh heh. Astronomy jokes ftw!
Also talked with the tech support, a few other administrative staff, and also the old school designer of the DCT. I'm reeeealy hoping I can accompany him to some of his photo sessions he does after work. :D Had a bunch of people comment on my tattoo too! Though, I checked with my boss and I WILL have to cover it up come summer. I'll be fine until then, as it's still cold enough to wear the long sleeved shirt they gave me (looks super snazzy too!)
I also got my two work shirts today, and my first paycheck for the little bit of help I did over the weekend. Ive got this weekend off again though, and then some more training on Monday. The plan is to open on Monday, get trained on the registers, and then shadow the current worker that day. I think her name is Jamie and I've actually talked with her a little already.
Tuesday, I begin tour training. :D The scheduler has to pull some strings for this to happen, but I think my enthusiasm for doing that kind of thing is showing to a lot of people. I think I'm getting kind of fast tracked, which is pretty awesome.
Every person who works there is incredibly pleasant. I got told "glad to have you as part of the team!" so many times I lost count. That's a really awesome thing to hear from people you just met. I was surprised that they all stopped just to chat too! It wasn't all about astronomy (though a big portion of it was, even overheard a discussion of potential focusing problems on a big telescope) and when one admin asked where I was from, he got super excited at my answer. Apparently he's going to the spruce goose museum to try to borrow the mars lander they have there!
This job is going to rock. Between the people, the work, and the subject matter, I think I'm going to fit right in. Hopefully I can put some of my crazy ideas to work and really impact this place while I'm here. :D
On my down time, I've been doing a lot of reading. Got acquainted with the library yesterday and picked up some Isaac Asimov. :o that guy is an amazing writer. I forgot how much fun reading can be.
Off to find something to do today now!
Stay well, everyone.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Gravity, and sports associated with a fundamental force.
I think the name for the sports I like should be called gravity sports. Things like mountain biking, long boarding, and snow sports (not into these yet, but can see the appeal) take an innate understanding of physics and the way gravity works. In biking, this is apparent in planning out your route and finding which hills and obsticals you can make it over vs which times you should excersise caution and walk. There is something amazing about powering up a hill you didn't think you could make it up or racing through a downhill that is technical and challenging. When you adjust your course slightly to ramp off that perfect rock, and go hurtling through the air, your mind is already racing, judging speeds, angles, landing points. It's like solving a physics problem in real life, in milliseconds! So that when you stick that landing, you get a sense of triumph, a... Success over the forces of nature. I always like thinking, "yeah, take that gravity. Try and bring me down, but I know what you're up to and I won't allow it."
Either it really is like this for other people, or I just think I'm invincible...
These thoughts came to me while sitting atop the side of walnut canyon. I ended up biking back out there yesterday, and I took a different path to reach Fischer point. The ride to the summit was INCREDIBLY difficult. I ended up walking the majority of the way, getting passed by 3 other bikers. Lugging my bike up there was totally worth it though. The view was amazing, and after I found a nice rock near the edge, I took my shoes off and actually meditated! I've never done that for real, but I had a really interesting time alone with my thoughts. I'll have to make it a more regular thing...
Anyways, back to gravity.
The ride down was both challenging and exhilarating and I had a few moments of sheer terror with some of the bigger drops, but thanks to my innate understanding of a fundamental force, I was able to avoid incident.
I can't wait for winter to roll around so that I can give other "gravity sports" a try. I'm thinking skiing or snowboarding would be rewarding in the same way that biking is... Only with a ski lift.
Be well everyone!
Either it really is like this for other people, or I just think I'm invincible...
These thoughts came to me while sitting atop the side of walnut canyon. I ended up biking back out there yesterday, and I took a different path to reach Fischer point. The ride to the summit was INCREDIBLY difficult. I ended up walking the majority of the way, getting passed by 3 other bikers. Lugging my bike up there was totally worth it though. The view was amazing, and after I found a nice rock near the edge, I took my shoes off and actually meditated! I've never done that for real, but I had a really interesting time alone with my thoughts. I'll have to make it a more regular thing...
Anyways, back to gravity.
The ride down was both challenging and exhilarating and I had a few moments of sheer terror with some of the bigger drops, but thanks to my innate understanding of a fundamental force, I was able to avoid incident.
I can't wait for winter to roll around so that I can give other "gravity sports" a try. I'm thinking skiing or snowboarding would be rewarding in the same way that biking is... Only with a ski lift.
Be well everyone!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Putting my lungs AND my bike to the test
Day 2 with no job down here and I have GOT to find something to do.
Decided to take my bike out for a ride, try to find a trail that gets me to work quicker than driving down Route 66, and was EXTREMELY successful. In fact, the first trail I took, took me straight to the observatory road. LOL. Go mental map!
After succeeding MUCH too quickly at what I thought was going to take me hours, I decided to visit a local bike shop and get some kind of map for biking trails around town. Got one that was awesome, and also contains trails around Sedona, and a bunch of other towns. (I keep hearing from EVERYONE, even strangers on the street, that Sedona is where its at... gonna have to check that out soon.) I found an easy trail, just to warm up, and there were directions to a canyon just outside of town.
Headed into NAU, so I got to see some of the campus, including the telescope on campus. (Hopefully in a year or two I'll be spending LOTS of time there.) The trail started right at the edge of campus and headed off into the wilderness.
Biking through a dry forest, where there was lots of evidence of trees that had been burned... Maybe to prevent fires later on in the season? The trail was awesome! Lots of ups and downs, and places to rest and enjoy the view. There were actually a bunch of areas that ended up in jumps after a long downhill, and I ended up taking a bunch of them. One shot me up probably about 4-5 feet high! Very rocky terrain, and I was moderately concerned that my bike was going to blow a tire. Thankfully I have Kevlar re-enforced tires, so no problems there. (DEFINITELY need to bring things to patch tires next time though...)
After about 4 miles of biking, I came upon Walnut Canyon. There was a turn off to go to the top of the canyon, called Fisher Point, and I think I'll take that route next time. After playing around in a little cave right at the entrance of the canyon, I decided to head in. Unfortunately, the trail became un-bikeable, so I walked my bike off the trail a bit and hid it in some bushes and locked it to a recognizable tree.
The hike was awesome. Got to check out a cave a little further in, and luckily I had brought a flashlight, so I was able to explore to the back of it. I was a little nervous as I don't really know what kinds of wildlife is out here yet, but I didn't get mauled or attacked, so success? Gonna look into what I need to watch out for before I head out next time. LOL. Saw some awesome wildlife, there were so many different bird calls I heard, and it was almost like all the different birds were talking to each other in multiple languages. Had to trek over some snowy areas, which I was amazed were still there, cause the sun was hitting the bottom of the canyon pretty hard the entire time. I didn't notice till later, but it was a bit cooler at the bottom... more on that in a bit.
About 3/4 of the way into my hike, I started noticing big tracks on the ground. I'm fairly sure they were elk or deer or something, but still... Facing a fully grown Elk wasn't high on my list of things to do today, so I decided I'd call it pretty soon. Another half mile, and the trail had gotten harder to find and I was starting to have to trudge through some kind of prickly bush. Right when I told myself I should turn around and head back, I noticed that the canyon wall had only a slight inclination, so I decided to try climbing up a ways.
It was a fairly easy climb, pretty much walked up with the exception of having to lift myself up twice onto a higher ledge. I started noticing the temperature was rising pretty steadily, so I worked up quite a sweat in the 10 mins I was climbing. Got about halfway up and started thinking about getting down (which at this point was going to be fairly difficult without slipping down) so I took some pictures from up there and started heading down. It was during my jump down from one of the ledges I had pulled myself up onto that I noticed there was suddenly cacti EVERYWHERE. I'm so glad I didn't land on one or pull myself into one! I'll have to pay more attention to that next time...
Started hiking out of the canyon after that, and ended up right behind two other hikers who had turned around right before the spot I had stopped at, so I (it felt this way, even though I wasn't trying to make it seem like it) creepily followed them out of the canyon. After retrieving my bike and wishing them a good rest of their hike (they had stopped at the first cave to rest) I headed on home. The ride back was uneventful, though the return trip was JUST as fun as the trip there. That's one thing I love about a good mountain bike trail, it isn't just uphill OR downhill, there is enough variety that you can power up a hill cause you know there is flat ground or a descent up ahead. This trail was a great one in this aspect too.
The one thing that did happen on the way back was that I almost ran over a little lizard! I managed to avoid him (while almost wrecking horribly) and went back to try and poke him with a stick until he would move off the path. Took me 5 minutes of prodding at him before he decided he'd had enough and scurried off the trail. Good deed for the day done! I saved some wildlife!
Swung by the campus of NAU to get a HUGE salad and rest my (at this point) exhausted legs. Got to bask in the sun and see what the campus life felt like. I think I'll like going here when I start up again. :) Overheard a petitioner greet one of his friends and I could have SWORE I heard him say quidditch... Walked up to him after my lunch and asked him about it... turns out, NAU has a quidditch team! Gonna check out some of their games in the fall. I'm thinking it will be much more interesting to watch than football though.
I have a great trail guide to use to explore around the area in the next few months, and I really wanna get hard into mountain biking. There are just SO many great areas to do it around here, and it was a fantastic workout. OH... that's the other thing. Apparently there is 25% less oxygen up here, so for the first part of the ride, my lungs were on FIRE. My legs were noticeably getting less oxygen, as I couldn't push them as hard as I normally can. By the end of the ride I had gotten used to it though, and was able to push myself a lot further than when I started out. I'm really excited to train up and become a mountain person! It'll make my lungs super strong and I'll be able to do SO much more when I visit back at sea level. ;)
Another great day, in another great state. I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.
Be well everyone!
Decided to take my bike out for a ride, try to find a trail that gets me to work quicker than driving down Route 66, and was EXTREMELY successful. In fact, the first trail I took, took me straight to the observatory road. LOL. Go mental map!
After succeeding MUCH too quickly at what I thought was going to take me hours, I decided to visit a local bike shop and get some kind of map for biking trails around town. Got one that was awesome, and also contains trails around Sedona, and a bunch of other towns. (I keep hearing from EVERYONE, even strangers on the street, that Sedona is where its at... gonna have to check that out soon.) I found an easy trail, just to warm up, and there were directions to a canyon just outside of town.
Headed into NAU, so I got to see some of the campus, including the telescope on campus. (Hopefully in a year or two I'll be spending LOTS of time there.) The trail started right at the edge of campus and headed off into the wilderness.
Biking through a dry forest, where there was lots of evidence of trees that had been burned... Maybe to prevent fires later on in the season? The trail was awesome! Lots of ups and downs, and places to rest and enjoy the view. There were actually a bunch of areas that ended up in jumps after a long downhill, and I ended up taking a bunch of them. One shot me up probably about 4-5 feet high! Very rocky terrain, and I was moderately concerned that my bike was going to blow a tire. Thankfully I have Kevlar re-enforced tires, so no problems there. (DEFINITELY need to bring things to patch tires next time though...)
After about 4 miles of biking, I came upon Walnut Canyon. There was a turn off to go to the top of the canyon, called Fisher Point, and I think I'll take that route next time. After playing around in a little cave right at the entrance of the canyon, I decided to head in. Unfortunately, the trail became un-bikeable, so I walked my bike off the trail a bit and hid it in some bushes and locked it to a recognizable tree.
The hike was awesome. Got to check out a cave a little further in, and luckily I had brought a flashlight, so I was able to explore to the back of it. I was a little nervous as I don't really know what kinds of wildlife is out here yet, but I didn't get mauled or attacked, so success? Gonna look into what I need to watch out for before I head out next time. LOL. Saw some awesome wildlife, there were so many different bird calls I heard, and it was almost like all the different birds were talking to each other in multiple languages. Had to trek over some snowy areas, which I was amazed were still there, cause the sun was hitting the bottom of the canyon pretty hard the entire time. I didn't notice till later, but it was a bit cooler at the bottom... more on that in a bit.
About 3/4 of the way into my hike, I started noticing big tracks on the ground. I'm fairly sure they were elk or deer or something, but still... Facing a fully grown Elk wasn't high on my list of things to do today, so I decided I'd call it pretty soon. Another half mile, and the trail had gotten harder to find and I was starting to have to trudge through some kind of prickly bush. Right when I told myself I should turn around and head back, I noticed that the canyon wall had only a slight inclination, so I decided to try climbing up a ways.
It was a fairly easy climb, pretty much walked up with the exception of having to lift myself up twice onto a higher ledge. I started noticing the temperature was rising pretty steadily, so I worked up quite a sweat in the 10 mins I was climbing. Got about halfway up and started thinking about getting down (which at this point was going to be fairly difficult without slipping down) so I took some pictures from up there and started heading down. It was during my jump down from one of the ledges I had pulled myself up onto that I noticed there was suddenly cacti EVERYWHERE. I'm so glad I didn't land on one or pull myself into one! I'll have to pay more attention to that next time...
Started hiking out of the canyon after that, and ended up right behind two other hikers who had turned around right before the spot I had stopped at, so I (it felt this way, even though I wasn't trying to make it seem like it) creepily followed them out of the canyon. After retrieving my bike and wishing them a good rest of their hike (they had stopped at the first cave to rest) I headed on home. The ride back was uneventful, though the return trip was JUST as fun as the trip there. That's one thing I love about a good mountain bike trail, it isn't just uphill OR downhill, there is enough variety that you can power up a hill cause you know there is flat ground or a descent up ahead. This trail was a great one in this aspect too.
The one thing that did happen on the way back was that I almost ran over a little lizard! I managed to avoid him (while almost wrecking horribly) and went back to try and poke him with a stick until he would move off the path. Took me 5 minutes of prodding at him before he decided he'd had enough and scurried off the trail. Good deed for the day done! I saved some wildlife!
Swung by the campus of NAU to get a HUGE salad and rest my (at this point) exhausted legs. Got to bask in the sun and see what the campus life felt like. I think I'll like going here when I start up again. :) Overheard a petitioner greet one of his friends and I could have SWORE I heard him say quidditch... Walked up to him after my lunch and asked him about it... turns out, NAU has a quidditch team! Gonna check out some of their games in the fall. I'm thinking it will be much more interesting to watch than football though.
I have a great trail guide to use to explore around the area in the next few months, and I really wanna get hard into mountain biking. There are just SO many great areas to do it around here, and it was a fantastic workout. OH... that's the other thing. Apparently there is 25% less oxygen up here, so for the first part of the ride, my lungs were on FIRE. My legs were noticeably getting less oxygen, as I couldn't push them as hard as I normally can. By the end of the ride I had gotten used to it though, and was able to push myself a lot further than when I started out. I'm really excited to train up and become a mountain person! It'll make my lungs super strong and I'll be able to do SO much more when I visit back at sea level. ;)
Another great day, in another great state. I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.
Be well everyone!
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