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.

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!

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. :)

Be well everyone! 

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.

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!

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!

Secret Tour at Lowell Observatory!

I was going to start my job at Lowell Observatory today, but due to some paperwork not being done, I'm just stranded (LOL stranded, more like... vacationing) in Flagstaff, AZ. A little background, just in case. I am now a peer program educator at Lowell Observatory, and will be doing things like running the gift shop, giving tours, answering questions, and helping patrons find objects in one of the many telescopes that are up there. Decided to stay and look around the observatory and the coolest thing happened to me.

So there I am, looking through the exhibits, thinking, "I should see what I need  to know to give tours, so that I can move up to giving tours pretty quickly." A public educator came into the exhibit and said that a tour was starting soon and I decided to join the tour group, since I'll soon be leading them. Figured it would be a good glimpse of what my job will be like. After going to the first stop, the 116 year old telescope that weighs a few tons. The guide got this little 6 year old kid to move it saying, "you've never moved a few tons before, have you?" The kid just shrugged.

After some more talking, we went outside and the Mausoleum for Lowell caught my eye. I walked over and there was an amazing quote on the side...

"Astronomy now demands bodily abstraction of its devotee... To see into the beyond requires purity, and the securing it makes him perforce a hermit from his kind... He must abandon cities and forgo plains... Only in places raised above and aloof from men can he profitably pursue his search. He must learn to wait upon his opportunities and then no less to wait for mankind's acceptance of his results, for in common with most explorers he will encounter on his return that final penalty of penetration the certainty at first of being disbelieved..." - Mars and its Canals, Percival Lowell.

I got chills while reading this and had to share it with Tuna, so I spent a bit texting it to him. When I got done, I looked up and my tour group was gone! I decided to just wait there for the next group to come through and I would join them. It was really peaceful there, and if you looked inside, you could see that the roof over his tomb was made of blue glass, so that he could stargaze for the rest of eternity. When the next group arrived, I could tell it was a smaller group, but I thought nothing of it. 

We went to the next stop on the tour, after I had cleared my switch with them, and did the Pluto walk. It shows, at a scale of one inch = one million miles, how far away the planets were from the sun. One small child was basically giving the rest of us an astronomy lecture, which was so cool to see. He must have been about 8, and at one point asked the tour guide about neutron stars. When she said she didn't know what those were, he replied, "REALLY? Welll, they are..." and went off on a 5 minute explanation of what a neutron star was. (He was totally spot on btw)

We then walked into the rotunda museum, which houses a lot of observational equipment and exhibits about Lowell's search for his mysterious planet "x", later known as Pluto. This is usually open to the public. The next area however, is NEVER open to the public. We walked through the rotunda into Lowell's reading room. This is where he poured over his observations and talked to fellow astronomers back in the day. It had all original furniture, cushions included, and some really old telescopes that Lowell had used to find the dark site he built his observatory on. We then went and INTERRUPTED some of the professional staff members who were busy at work.

The one that really impressed me was named Kent Ford (I believe... I'll check and make sure that's right next time I go there) From the instant I peered in his office, I knew I would like this guy. He was hand designing systems for the Discovery Channel Telescope, the new telescope going up at Lowell, and his office was FILLED with pictures he had taken of Galaxies and Nebulae. As soon as I asked him if he had taken the pictures, he put away his work and proceeded to give me an AWESOME talk about how he had repaired an old, rusted out telescope and used it at home to take the pictures. He was very old school, designing by hand, and using film sheets instead of digital cameras. He explained that film has this unique quality that digital cameras can never emulate. There was a picture that was a wide enough field of view to see both the Orion Nebula and the Horse Head Nebula, and he told me that he could crop and blow up either of them to a large, wall sized poster, and all of the stars would still be round! Apparently the pixels of a digital camera make the stars appear square, due to the squareness of the pixels. I hope he'll be a good resource for my future telescope building goals! Though I don't want to bother him TOO much. 

After that, we descended down some steep, musty steps into the basement archives. This is where all of Lowell's original work and equipment rests. There were two cool things that happened down there.

The first, was getting to see the equipment and instruments that Lowell used while he was alive. He had most of the equipment he used built on site, so there aren't other versions of these mechanisms ANYWHERE. The current scientists are working on a project to categorize and photograph all the different small brass and aluminum pieces, and are later on going to post the gallery online and ask for help from amateurs around the world in identifying what they could be. Talked with the photographer, who ended up giving me this awesome lecture about how they could tell the rough age based on what materials they were made of and the precision of the craftsmanship. Basically, they started using aluminum much more than brass after WWI, and that's a pretty big indicator of when the pieces came about. I even got to step into his studio, where he was in the process of taking a picture of some kind of focal length extender (my best guess at what it was). The photographer was a "semi-retired" photography teacher, and ended up finding me later to pass on a little tidbit of trivia! Its awesome when someone can tell that you would listen to them talk about what they love for hours, cause I totally could have sat there longer, but the tour moved on!

The next cool thing was the glass plate archives. Lowell used to use glass plates instead of film to capture light and images, and it was these plates that led to the discovery of Pluto. There were over 35,000 plates in this room, and every single one was labeled with the utmost detail. From the date, to the size of the telescope, to the Right-Ascension/Declination measurements! Go scientists for being thorough! The guide then pulled out one particular slide and told us that it was THE slide that proved the existence of Pluto. I was INCHES away from the physical proof that Percival Lowell's search for the missing 9th planet wasn't in vain. We also got to see some glass plates of Jupiter, which was the clearest image I've ever seen of it (though it was black and white), and a glass slide of the Andromeda Galaxy. While she was talking, I kinda peeked around the room and found an old card catalog with NGC ___ (New General Catalog, its the catalog of galaxies, nebula, and globular clusters, as well as spots where there is nothing at all) written on it. I flipped through a few of the cards and sure enough, they were all hand written, NGC objects, with R-A/D coordinates on them and detailed descriptions of what they were. Scientists man! 

After and during the tour, I started talking to the other people around me who were also touring and found out that they were friends of a large donor to the observatory. It suddenly clicked that I had gotten a SUPER special tour, that pretty much no one gets. They were all really welcoming though, and I absolutely loved chatting with the bright youngster who was in amazement the whole time. He really knew more than they teach in the intro to Astronomy course that I took, and it was pretty impressive just how much of the concepts he actually was able to grasp. I got contact information for them, so that I could let them know of any children's programs at the observatory and mentioned that he should check out Universe Sandbox, a great free-for-all solar system creation program that gives detailed gravitational strengths, masses, distances, and velocities. Inspiring youngsters already and I haven't even started work!

All in all, a fantastic experience. I got really wrapped up in the idea that if I had started work today, I wouldn't have gotten to see all this. If I hadn't stopped on a whim to look at the mausoleum, I would have stayed with my initial tour group. And if I hadn't sent the quote to Tuna, I wouldn't have gotten left behind... Its funny the way things line up sometimes.

I can't wait to actually start work and put all my passion and knowledge to the test. Hopefully I'll be started by the end of this week or early next week! I should also be either fixing my camera or getting something I can take pictures with. It was such a bummer that I didn't get good photos of anything I saw today, seeing as I'll probably never see it again, but at least I have the memories... and those alone are pretty darn cool.

Embrace the chaos, it works out from time to time. :)

Be well, everyone!