Tuesday, September 18th - Happy Chilean Independence Day!
Day one at CTIO and we hit the road running, making connections with the telescope operators of many of the mountain’s telescope facilities. We spent a good part of the morning at the 4-meter telescope at the top of Cerro Tololo, getting some good footage of telescope movement. Thanks to the operator, Ricardo, we were able to get into the control room and have complete control over the movement of the telescope and the dome. We used both of the HD cameras to maximize the time that we were given inside of the telescope, shooting from both sides of the telescope as it tilted and rotated. Scott was also given the opportunity to stand on the moving platform that moves with the dome, giving him a great pan shot around the outside of the telescope. The last shot of the morning before breaking for lunch was a dual indoor and outdoor shot of the opening of the dome. Scott went downstairs to the outside of the dome while we watched from the outdoor catwalk around the upper part of the facility. Standing about 75 feet off the ground, we took in the breathtaking view of the Chilean Andes.
Lunch was an unusual treat for both the staff and administration of Cerro Tololo and the production crew. We walked into the mess hall to see a long table set with formal place settings for 15 people. Outside, one of the chefs was cooking up steaks, sausages, ribs and seafood empanadas (mmmmm!). We could not resist sitting outside, enjoying the view from the deck towards the Andes while breathing in the aromatic scents of the barbecue. Lunch was a delightful affair, enjoying the company of the staff of the mountain on the Chilean Independence Day. The holiday celebrates Chile’s independence from Spain in 1810. Wine and traditional foods of the country were served, giving us a cultural education beyond our travels to the telescopes.
Following lunch, we were invited to visit the SOAR telescope on Cerro Pinchon, the neighboring mountain. We were given exclusive access to the facility like we were at the 4-meter earlier in the morning. Our friend Hugo introduced us to an old friend of his, Patricio who is the Observer support for the facility that is operated remotely by astronomers from La Serena, Brazil and the United States. We got some great footage of the 4-meter mirror of the telescope as well as its actuators on its underside thanks again to our two-camera setup. We left the SOAR telescope in time to make it back to the Cerro Tololo mess hall to meet up with the night’s observers at the 4-meter telescope, Sarah and Will. We followed them up to the 4-meter telescope after dinner to get some sunset shots (again, one camera inside and one outside) as the dome rotated and the dome and vents opened for the night. The color against the outside’s reflective dome gave the view a nice warm orange glow that even the night’s observers were taking footage and pictures of with their own personal cameras. Tomorrow we prepare to interview our astronomer friends from the 4-meter telescope and get some more footage of the smaller domes at the top of the summit.