Skip navigation

New Mexico 2006

Glenn Jackson and Louise Barbish discussing pieces of the ancient sea bed that existed millions of years ago at Chaco Canyon
1
l-r Steve Hubbard, Mike DiToro, Glenn Jackson, and Louise Barbish at Chaco Canyon
2
Rick Lynch explaining the ceremonial uses of the kivas in Chaco Canyon
3
Tom Barbish
4
Ruins at Chaco Canyon
5
Skyscrapers making the ascent up the volcanic boulder strewn hill to view the La Cienega petroglyphs at the top
6
The National Solar Observatory: The Vacuum Tower (Dunn Solar Telescope). This picture shows the Vacuum Tower telescope (known formally as the Dunn Solar Telescope). All the way at the top you can just see a round thing, and there is another one connected to it at the back. This structure contains an entrance window and two mirrors that guide the light of the Sun down the tower in a tube from which the air has been removed. The light travels through the 329 ft (100 m) long tube in a vacuum, and that's why the tower is called the Vacuum Tower. The light is made to go through a vacuum because a vacuum cannot change the light. If there were air inside the tube, then the sunlight could heat it up and then the air could make the image of the Sun appear to shimmer, just as when you look across a hot road in summer. Because the telescope magnifies the image of the Sun, it would also magnify the shimmering. The tower is an impressive 136 feet (41.5 m) tall, but the building has 228 more feet (69.5 m) below ground, so most of the building is in fact not visible. After the light has hit the two mirrors at the top, it goes straight down the tube at the center of the tower, all the way down until it hits the primary mirror, 188 ft (57 m) below the ground. The primary mirror is 64 inches (163 cm) in diameter. It focuses the light and sends it back up to ground level, where it exits the vacuum tube and can be guided into the scientists' experiments on the optical benches.
7
Skyscrapers assembling the rental telescope at the hotel in Albuquerque
8
Skyscrapers assembling the rental telescope at the hotel in Albuquerque
9
Skyscrapers assembling the rental telescope at the hotel in Albuquerque
10
Skyscrapers assembling the rental telescope at the hotel in Albuquerque
11
Tom Barbish
12
Louise Barbish at Carlsbad Caverns
13
The National Solar Observatory: inside The Vacuum Tower (Dunn Solar Telescope)
14
Apache Peak Observatory
15
Louise Barbish inside of Carlsbad Carverns
16
Carlsbad Carverns
17
Carlsbad Caverns
18
Carlsbad Caverns
19
Carlsbad Caverns
20
Carlsbad Caverns
21
New Mexico 2006
22
16
23
The Albuquerque Astronomical Society
24
New Mexico 2006
25
New Mexico 2006
26
Fajada Bute in Chaco Canyon
27
Chaco Canyon
28
Chaco Canyon
29
Chaco Canyon
30
Kivas at Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon
31
Chaco Canyon
32
Bruce Gillespe gives Skyscrapers members of personal tour of Apache Point Observatory
33
Apache Point Observatory
34
The National Solar Observatories visitor center: L-R Jack and Joe Sarandrea, Maria and Marian Juskov
35
The National Solar Observatory: Evans Solar Facility. The telescope inside the Big Dome is mostly used as a coronagraph. You can study the faint outer layers (the corona) of the Sun by covering the bright solar disk, and that is what a coronagraph does. With a coronagraph, it is as if you create your own solar eclipse.
36
The National Solar Observatory
37
Fred Swain at the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site
38
Three Rivers Petroglyph Site
39
Three Rivers Petroglyph Site
40
Three Rivers Petroglyph Site
41
New Mexico 2006
42
The VLA (Very Large Array): The Very Large Array, one of the world's premier astronomical radio observatories, consists of 27 radio antennas in a Y-shaped configuration on the Plains of San Agustin fifty miles west of Socorro, New Mexico. Each antenna is 25 meters (82 feet) in diameter. The data from the antennas is combined electronically to give the resolution of an antenna 36km (22 miles) across, with the sensitivity of a dish 130 meters (422 feet) in diameter.
43
The VLA
44
Our tour guide Dale at Acoma Pueblo, Sky City
45
Acoma Pueblo
46
Acoma Pueblo
47
Acoma Pueblo
48
Beware the rattle snake!!!
49
New Mexico 2006
50
Dust devil at the VLA
51
New Mexico 2006
52
Panoramic view of Fajada Bute in Chaco Canyon. Look, there are two Louise Barbish (left) and two Maria Juskov (right)!
53
Mike DiToro
54
Climbing down from Acoma Pueblo Sky City on Friday, April 26.
55
Skyscrapers at General Nathan Twining Observatory, April 22.
56
National Solar Observatory: Hilltop Dome. This telescope is used for taking patrol images of the whole Sun. Such images are taken for discovering when something interesting is happening on the Sun, such as a solar flare, and to have a record of what the Sun looks like every day.
57
Viewing the VLA from the control center. April 27.
58
Skyscrapers at General Nathan Twining Observatory, operated by the Albuquerque Astronomical Society. April 22, 2006.
59
Skyscrapers at General Nathan Twining Observatory, operated by the Albuquerque Astronomical Society. April 22, 2006.
60
Skyscrapers at General Nathan Twining Observatory, operated by the Albuquerque Astronomical Society. April 22, 2006.
61
Skyscrapers at General Nathan Twining Observatory, operated by the Albuquerque Astronomical Society. April 22, 2006.
62
Skyscrapers at General Nathan Twining Observatory, operated by the Albuquerque Astronomical Society. April 22, 2006.
63
Skyscrapers at General Nathan Twining Observatory, operated by the Albuquerque Astronomical Society. April 22, 2006.
64