→ Widely unknown Exoplanet Astronomer

The dwelling of the HARPS intrument

One of today’s highlights was seeing the room where the HARPS instrument is being kept. For it be able to achieve accurate radial velocity measurements the instrument has be kept at a constant temperature and pressure. I was fortunate to be shown the room where the instrument is kept locked inside a carefully monitored subroom. Due to us humans emitting heat, the visit had to be rather quick and we had to remember to close the door after us to make sure this nights observers did not loose any measurement accuracy.

Here the HARPS instrument lies locked inside. The HARPS room is kept at a very precise temperature and pressure. If it were to be opened it would take days for the temperature to return to the stable conditions required for measuring radial velocities at the 1 m/s level.

"First Light" - A little bit of history written on the whiteboard inside the old abandoned control room.

The La Silla observatory is located in Chile and is ESO’s original observing site. It is located in the southern part of the Atacama desert at an altitude of 2400 meter.

A few of the telescopes at the La Silla observatory

La Silla sadly shows signs of economic cut backs with many smaller telescopes decommissioned. I was surprised at the sheer amounts of telescopes here.

The main hotel and restaurant

The site itself is very beautiful and has spectacular views.

View from La Silla observatory

The sun setting and giving way to the spectacular night sky

The astronomer himself enjoying the sunset

The ESO Guest House

The ESO guest house in Santiago is lovely colonial looking place.. It is a quiet haven perfect for astronomer who has had a long travel. It has nice grounds, a fountain, a swimming pool and a coffee machine. For more info on the guest house see ESO’s website.

General view of the La Silla observatory, as seen from the road that leads to the Las Campanas Observatory.

This week I will be travelling to Chile to observe with the New Technology  Telescope (NTT). I plan to share my experiences here.