Exhibition: The Canary Island's Mountains

From 20th June to 19th July, 2008
Casa Principal de Salazar, O'Daly 22, Santa Cruz de la Palma
Open Mon-Fri, 10 am to 1 pm and 5 pm to 8 pm
Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm.

You know, I think "Mountains" is a mistake in translation, because the exhibition is about forests (and "monte" can mean either forest or mountain side.)

I don't care. It's a fun exhibition. My son enjoyed the hands-on bits, like turning a pump handle to see the water being pumped up. (Did you know an oak tree can pump anything up to 600 litres of water from roots to leaves on a summer day?) I enjoyed the photographs of microscopic pollen. And we were both astonished to find out how long worms live (16 years), and how much they eat.

So I recommend it. If I'd paid 5€ I'd have felt I got my money's worth, but actually, it's free.

Calle O'Daly is the cobbled main street running from near the port to the concrete ship. Casa Principal de Salazar is a rather lovely old building on your left (as you go from the port to the ship) with barley-sugar columns flanking the door.

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Observatory Open Days for 2008

Traditionally, the observatory has been open to visitors about 4 days per year, with perhaps 6 groups for each day. This year, they're going to have 20 open days, but most of them will only have one group. Each visit starts at 9:45 with a visit to the MAGIC gamma-ray telescope, followed by one other telescope, and finishes before 12.00.

DATE	Day	2nd telescope
8th July	Tues	WHT or INT
10th July	Thursday	Galileo
12th July	Saturday	GranTeCan
15th July	Tues	Mecator and Liverpool
17th July	Thursday	Galileo
19th July	Saturday	GranTeCan
22nd July	Tues	WHT or INT
24th July	Thursday	Mecator and Liverpool
26th July	Saturday	GranTeCan
29th July	Tues	WHT or INT
31st July	Thursday	Galileo
7th August	Thursday	Galileo
12th August	Tuesday	WHT or INT
14th August	Thursday	Galileo
15th August	Friday	GranTeCan
19th August	Tuesday	WHT or INT
21st August	Thursday	GranTeCan
22nd August	Friday	Garafía residents only
26th August	Tuesday	Mecator and Liverpool
28th August	Thursday	Mecator and Liverpool
30th August	Saturday	WHT and Galileo

Friday 15th of August and Saturday 30th August will have several groups.

Visits must be booked in advance, by calling the receptionist at the Institute of Astronomy on (00 34) 922 425703 And yes, the receptionist speaks English. Book early -- most of the places for July have gone already.

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