400 Years of the Telescope

Picking up where we left off last night at the domes, we made arrangements with our friend Ricardo to get someone to escort us through some of the smaller domes on Cerra Tololo. This morning, we traveled back up to meet with Ricardo at the 4-meter scope to do some final shots from within the facility. In particular, we wanted to catch some of the action that takes place in the control room during the day prior to the night’s observation time. Again, Ricardo was an amazing help, giving us a first-hand look at how crises are averted within the world of Observer Support. After our visit with Ricardo, he hooked us up with his friend Arturo at the 60-inch telescope next-door to the 4-meter scope and we were greeted with the same hospitality at the 60-inch facility as at the 4-meter telescope. We climbed to great heights (about 20 feet) within the dome in search of the perfect shot, making our tripod look like an acrobat, hanging from odd angles from the high beams of the dome. We got some great perspective shots from the high points of the dome, shooting out through the opening in the dome while the telescope rotated. From below, Anita Berkow captured Arturo working at the control station within the dome, controlling the buttons that rotate the dome and telescope as well as recalling positions of the telescope at critical points within the shoot. We worked with Arturo to record the position of the dome and the telescope for a shoot later in the evening. We wanted to make sure that we could get a beautiful sunset shot from the high angle inside the dome, looking out towards the 4-meter telescope. Before leaving the dome for dinner, we got our existing light kit hooked up inside the dome to maximize the amount of light on the scope for our sunset shot. Using gaffer tape and some spare bars of steel from inside the dome, we were able to create stands for our lights to prop them at appropriate heights to catch the critical parts of the telescope with the warm lights.

We came down from the summit to the dining hall again just in time to catch one of the Observer Support crew from Gemini South. Marie Claire was extremely helpful and open to the idea of us coming up to Cerra Pinchon to film the opening of the Gemini Dome for sunset. In this case, our crew would be split for the evening, Scott Stender and Krista Shelby at the 60-inch while Anita Berkow and Kris Koenig went up to the other mountain to see Gemini’s opening. Krista and Scott were left at the dining hall around 5:15pm while Kris and Anita headed up the mountain to set up their perfect shot for the evening.

The domes opened simultaneously around 6:30pm and both mountains were illuminated by golden and coral tones as the sun made its descent below the horizon. Scott was perched inside the 60-inch telescope taking a shot of the glow on the 4-meter telescope while Krista was on the upper deck outside the same facility, shooting the surrounding telescopes and the movement of the 60-meter’s dome. Meanwhile, Anita and Kris were over on Cerra Pinchon shooting the exterior of Gemini South. They were also able to get inside the control room where the nightly astronomer, Etienne, was working. We look forward to seeing the shots up on the editing room monitor when we return to the office next week. Join us again tomorrow when we trek off to Las Campanas!