Did my push-ups and planks, cleaned and watered the batteries, and started the equalizer function on the inverter/charger, then we left for Sunspot, NM, a kind of astronomy campus of 5 buildings with live-in astronomers.
Arrived at Sunspot about 4PM, so only an hour until it closed. There is a small interactive museum on the basics of astronomy, as well as something like 5 buildings, 2 open to the public. I went straight to the Richard B. Dunn solar telescope, housed in a building about 350 ft. tall, with only the final 130 ft. above ground. The rest, 220 ft, is underground; it’s a long tube through which sunlight or starlight is directed by mirrors in a complex path to the telescope’s viewing screen.
I walked into a cavernous dark room, and as I passed by a small assemblage of scientists hovering over computer screens, one of them noticed me, and helpfully turned on the lights. Still dim, but I could see the domed ceiling with the light-directing tube in the middle, surrounded by a complex of machinery and computers with blinking lights that had me listening for Hal’s voice.
I’d been there about 15 minutes, happily exploring and taking pictures, when Leah walked in. No sooner had she walked past the same assemblage of scientists, than a female scientist broke off from the group, approached her and started talking about what they were doing. Hearing this, I walked over, and soon the woman was leading us on an impromptu guided tour of the facility, computer cradled in the crook of her arm, showing us the photos they’d taken in the last week—of stars, planets, an attempt at Comet Ison, and the Home Depot sign 20 miles away in Alamagordo! She said they sight on it each morning at 4:30 AM; apparently it is a convenient and reliably well-let target to help them calibrate the telescope for the coming day’s work. You could easily read the sign as if the picture had been taken out in the Home Depot parking lot! She also told us a story of being on Mt. Lemmon in Arizona many years ago, and how she’d frozen her feet while traipsing around in the snow, and that she rolled her jeep the same day, the day her parents came for a visit. She sheepishly confided that, to this day, she has not told her parents of the incident.
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| Richard B. Dunn Solar Telescope, Sunspot, New Mexico (130 ft high; another 220 ft below ground) |
I walked into a cavernous dark room, and as I passed by a small assemblage of scientists hovering over computer screens, one of them noticed me, and helpfully turned on the lights. Still dim, but I could see the domed ceiling with the light-directing tube in the middle, surrounded by a complex of machinery and computers with blinking lights that had me listening for Hal’s voice.
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| Where's Hal? |
I’d been there about 15 minutes, happily exploring and taking pictures, when Leah walked in. No sooner had she walked past the same assemblage of scientists, than a female scientist broke off from the group, approached her and started talking about what they were doing. Hearing this, I walked over, and soon the woman was leading us on an impromptu guided tour of the facility, computer cradled in the crook of her arm, showing us the photos they’d taken in the last week—of stars, planets, an attempt at Comet Ison, and the Home Depot sign 20 miles away in Alamagordo! She said they sight on it each morning at 4:30 AM; apparently it is a convenient and reliably well-let target to help them calibrate the telescope for the coming day’s work. You could easily read the sign as if the picture had been taken out in the Home Depot parking lot! She also told us a story of being on Mt. Lemmon in Arizona many years ago, and how she’d frozen her feet while traipsing around in the snow, and that she rolled her jeep the same day, the day her parents came for a visit. She sheepishly confided that, to this day, she has not told her parents of the incident.
Now, I relate all this is great detail, not because it’s incredibly interesting, but to document yet another instance of what I call 'Leah magnetism', the gravitational pull of her person that causes complete strangers to reveal private details of their life. It's just a natural thing, not something she tries to do. Really, a complete mystery.
Dinner at the well-reviewed ‘Big Daddy’s Diner’, a BBQ joint popular with the locals. The Green Chili stew was delicious, but the ribs were dry and overcooked, the bread plain, dry and white, the beans so-so. Not great. Nice people, though.
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