400 Years of the Telescope

We woke yesterday morning from our naps and made our way back over to UA College of Optical Sciences at 9:30 AM to tape their extensive collection of early telescopes. The curator of the collection is Dr. John Greivenkamp; he was extremely helpful and excited that we were taping the wide variety of instruments for the production. The forty or so pieces range from small 1700 Galilean draw-tube telescopes to late 19th century astronomical telescopes. Our favorite pieces were the “Opera” telescopes that featured ornately etched tubes of silver and gold. These small, delicate instruments are a far cry from the massive and complex LBT telescope, but they all share a heritage that start with two small pieces of glass back in 1609.

After the shoot we stopped by one of our underwriters, Starizona (http://www.starizona.com), to thank the owners Dean and Donna for their hospitality before we started on our fourteen-hour drive back to Chico. Dean is the model ambassador for getting out and looking at the sky at night. He has launched many of astronomical adventures along Oracle road, the busy four-lane road that his business can be found on. Stop by some weekend night and catch a glimpse though one of the many telescopes setup out front. You won’t be disappointed.

We returned to Chico at 4 AM this morning. It’s nice to be home. The weekend ahead will see us logging and capturing the footage from the past two weeks and prepping for our next adventure that starts Monday morning - the Lick observatory. Now where is my bed?