I was observing on the 1.5 meter. Here is a pic of myself standing in front
of the 3 story structure (31K).
Here is a picture of the telescope itself on the 3rd floor of the previous
dome structure. You should be able to see a lot of "stuff" at the bottom of the
telescope. This is the instrumentation we use to collect our data with (51K).
All of the instrumentation is controlled from several computers in the
control room. Here are two pics showing the computers we use to control
both the telescope (here controlled by our night assistant, Mauricio
Fernandez) (51K).
and the instrumentation (controlled by me) (51K).
The sleeping quarters for the staff and astronomers on the mountain
is just several hundred meters away from the domes themselves. The rooms
are built at the edge of the mountain and so afford rather nice views. Here
is a picture out of the sliding glass door of my own room (69K).
Finally, the observatory is in the process of building a new telescope. This
is going to be one of a set of 8 meter twins which make up the
Gemini project. The other telescope is to
be built in Hawaii. Here is a picture taken in early December of
some of the construction. You can see that the base has been poured. Thanks
are due to Nick Suntzeff for allowing me to tag along (44K).