Hey, that looks like fun!!! -- Joe --- On Wed, 5/20/09, Rodger C. Fry <rcfry@comcast.net> wrote: From: Rodger C. Fry <rcfry@comcast.net> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Tropical Telescopic Tour To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2009, 2:30 PM Yesterday we made our visit to the observatories at the summit of Mt. Haleakela.  What a view and an amaizing experience.  First the group toured the US Airforce telescopes including the largest at about 9 meters with adaptive optics.  This was incredeble.  We then toured some of the other telescopes (there are about 13 on the summit) including the Faulkes and the solar telescope.  JD Armstrong from the University of Hawaii (a Utah native) and Rob Rokawski gave us the tours.  When we arrived at the summit, the wind was howling at about 40+ MPH.  It started to ease up a bit by sunset and it was quite cold (39 degrees plus the wind chill).  At dusk, the mountain came alive with all of the domes opening including the Faulkes.  We were going to have a viewing session on the Faulkes but the internet connection went down and is required to run the scope. The group had a nice meal while the skies got dark and then we viewed many objects through a 10 inch SCT and binoculars.  I was pleased to see Omega Centauri (on a scale of 1-10 it is 10 with Hercules Globular at about 4).  We also looked at the Eta Carinae nebula and other things around the Southern Cross. We will go back one of the next two nights to try again on the Faulkes scope Here are links to some of the photos taken: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1916 http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1912 http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1919 Thank You, Rodger C. Fry Consulting Geologist _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com