Visiting the Observatory, 2008

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Visiting the Observatory

Visiting the Observatory, 2008

GranTeCan, the huge new Spanish telescope

La Palma is home to one of the three most important astronomical observatories in the world. (The other two are Hawaii and the Atacama desert in Chile.) The observatory sits at the top of the island, at the Roque de los Muchachos. It's a fascinating place to visit, but it's not normally open to tourists - they're too busy doing science. You can visit the mountain top and see the buildings from the outside any day of the year. But please note:

Days only, not nights. The William Herschel Telescope could see a candle on the moon, and the MAGIC telescope is even more sensitive. They really don't like car headlights. Some years ago there was an incident some years ago where a bus shone its lights right at the Herschel's dome. Now there's a barrier across the road which is shut a half an hour after sunset, and raised around dawn.
The road to the observatory is usually blocked for a few days each winter, by snow or landslides. Use your common sense. If the sign at the bottom of the mountain road says it's blocked, don't go up. I once rescued a couple of German tourists who'd spent the night in the car in the drainage ditch, after going past the sign, thinking that the weather couldn't be all that bad in the Canaries. It can. That night it was thick fog, 60 mph winds, and -5ºC. Thank God they didn't try to walk, because they'd have frozen to death for sure.

Since the MAGIC gamma ray telescope doesn't have a building, you get quite a good view from the outside. You can get fairly close by parking on one of the heliports (the bottom left as you go up the hill). From there, a footpath goes closer, and there's a display panel that explains how the telescope works.

If you want to see inside, you need to go on a guided tour. Traditionally, the Roque de los Muchachos 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 at noon.

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. They also hold private visits, usually for schools or visiting astronomers. You can email your request to adminorm@iac.es. Ana, who reads the email, speaks English. To be honest, they're unlikely to organise a visit for the average tourist, but if there's a visit organised anyway, you might be able to tag along. Cross your fingers!

The MAGIC telescope
The MAGIC gamma-ray telescope

If you have any questions or problems