A Day of Protest

From all accounts it was a bit of crazy on the mountain today. I did not attempt to go up, even though I had originally been scheduled to do some training today for the summit crew. I have spoken with guys at HP and gotten fragmentary information here and there.

Mauna Kea Protest
Protests on Mauna Kea, June 24, 2015. Photo by Dan Birchall, used with permission.
Word is that the road is blocked in multiple places and will not be cleared until tomorrow morning. This was planned for, if worse than anticipated. The message went out early this morning that regular day crew was cancelled, and only a couple guys would stay to make the attempt if possible, if only to do the basic needed tasks. All I can do is say thanks to these guys! The Keck summit crew is a dedicated and professional organization, and it is amply demonstrated at times like this.

This is also the day I got called in to our HR manager’s office to discuss my blogging. It seems someone, who I will not name but is probably reading this, was not happy with my getting quoted on the BIVN website. Not that I gave David Corrigan the quote, he simply lifted it out of my Monday post about the ahu being constructed at the TMT site. Which is interesting as I was only noting the blindingly obvious fact that the protesters had assembled the ahu in the middle of the road as a dare to the construction crews. In response I simply noted that I had complied with observatory policy.

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Pineapple

Sitting in front of the computer eating a little dessert before bed. In this case that is a little ice cream and pineapple. The nice part is that this the first pineapple we have grown. The pineapple has been a strikingly attractive ornamental plant in the corner of the lanai and now a source of a very nice fruit.

I understand there is chance for another fruit from the plant. Deb has also prepped the top for rooting. Perhaps another plant? There is plenty of room for another plant on the lanai.

Pineapple
A ripe pineapple ready for harvest.

TMT Construction Restarts

With the announcement the TMT will restart construction everything seems headed for a showdown on the mountain. The protesters are clearly preparing for action. The day is Wednesday. I was scheduled to do a training session for our crew this Wednesday, I have cancelled this. This sort of thing is common as the rest of the observatories consider how we will deal with a possible prolonged blockage of the road.

Protest Rock
The rock to build an ahu passes through Hale Pohaklu on Monday, photo by Dan Birchall, used with permission
First move was by the protesters. Alerted by a message from Dan Birchall that trucks of rock were headed up the mountain, I took a look with one of our cameras. The protesters were building an ahu (stone altar) right in the middle of the TMT access road. Women, children and guys clothed in nothing but malo hauling rock down the access road while security looked on.

Dan confirms that the rocks were rounded boulders in mixed sizes. Rounded rock, as one would find in a stream bed, is particularly desirable in the building of a proper sacred structure such as an ahu or heiau. According to legend that the rock to build the great heiau at Puʻu Kohala was hauled all the way from Waipio Valley by a chain of men across the island.

Obviously they are daring the construction crews to dismantle the structure, then to be able to claim desecration when that happens. Whatever happens our crews will have a first hand view from our site overlooking the TMT site.

I hope for more updates as the situation evolves. With Wednesday cancelled I still hope to go up Friday to complete a few things, whether I do attempt to go up is a bit indeterminate at the moment. Will wait and see.

Venus and Jupiter

The dance of Jupiter and Venus continues in the evening sky. Over the next few days we will see the pair drawing closer. Currently an obvious pairing in the sky after sunset, the two are just 4.5° apart today. With Venus shining at -4.4 and Jupiter somewhat dimmer at magnitude -1.8 it is hard to miss the pair.

The closest approach will be about 0.3° on June 30th at 16:14HST. Thus the evening of June 30th will see the pair at their closest for observer in Hawaiʻi. If you want to see the closest approach you can also try to observe the conjunction in the late afternoon sky. Both planets are bright enough to see in the daytime.

After this the pair will separate slowly and disappear into the sunset glow together.

At their closest the two will be easily close enough to bee seen together in the low power view of amateur telescopes. It makes a fascinating sight to see the two planets together in the eyepiece.

Summer Solstice

Summer solstice occurs today at 06:38HST. Today the Sun will occupy the most northerly position in the sky of the year. The term solstice comes from the latin terms Sol (the Sun) and sistere (to stand still). On this day the Sun seems to stand still as it stops moving northwards each day and begins move to the south. This is the first day of summer as marked by many cultures in the northern hemisphere. Alternately this is the first day of winter for those living south of the equator.

2015 Solstices and Equinoxes
  UT HST
Perihelion Jan 4 08:59UT Jan 3 22:59HST
Vernal Equinox Mar 20 22:45UT Mar 20 12:45HST
Summer Solstice Jun 21 16:38UT Jun 21 06:38HST
Apehelion Jul 6 12:59UT Jul 6 02:59HST
Autumnal Equinox Sep 23 08:20UT Sep 22 22:20HST
Winter Solstice Dec 22 04:48UT Dec 21 18:48HST
 
Source: NASA Sky Calendar

 

Scientists Discover Brightest Early Galaxy and Likely First Generation Stars

W. M Keck Observatory press release…

Astronomers using several of the largest telescopes on Earth and space have discovered the brightest galaxy yet found in the early Universe and have strong evidence that examples of the first generation of stars lurk within it. The results have been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.

Early Galaxy
An artist’s impression of a galaxy in the early universe, credit: David Sobral
The team’s expansive study was made using the 10-meter W. M. Keck Observatory, the 8.2-meter ESO Very Large Telescope and Subaru Telescope, as well as the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The team discovered — and confirmed — a number of surprisingly bright very young galaxies.

A team — led by David Sobral from the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences, the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon in Portugal, and Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands — peered back into the ancient Universe, to the reionization period approximately 800 million years after the Big Bang. Instead of conducting a narrow and deep study of a small area of the sky, the team broadened their scope to produce the widest survey of very distant galaxies ever attempted.

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Dome Control PLC Replacement

The time came.

Keck Dome
The Keck 1 dome lit by the glow of sunset
I pressed the button.

It moved.

700 tons of steel and aluminum smoothly rotated until I hit the stop button.

Nothing crashed or seriously broken.

It even moved the right direction.

The risk of breaking something was a real possibility. A mistake here could leave the dome damaged for days or weeks and the telescope useless. I reviewed my plan one more time before starting. A fully written plan with a step by step testing method carefully thought out and reviewed by the other engineers in the department. The plan also had a whole section of “what can go wrong” risk analysis, with risk mitigation steps. What if the brakes release but the motors do not come on? What if the old controller fails when removed from the system?

After a fitful night’s sleep and a long ride to the summit the moment came when I brought the new controller online. Swapping out the connections with the old controller and applying power, the correct indicator lights came on. Even better, as I tested each of the controls in turn the dome and shutters operated perfectly. It worked from the control panel, from the radio controller, under computer mode from the control room. I even tracked the telescope and dome together for an hour without trouble. The tracking was excellent, within 0.1° the whole time.

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