This morning we had an eventful ride up the mountain, we were stuck behind a horsebox on its way up to the peak to ferry down the tourists. Jacob, our driver, did his very best to stay calm traveling at 5 mph for almost 20 minutes but we got here eventually. Don't these tourists know there are people working up here! Sheesh! We finished yesterday a little behind schedule since there appeared to be a problem with the telescope drivers (the hand paddles) talking to the computer and some circuit issues with driving certain parts of the 0.4m . Jacob and Wayne worked really hard on this yesterday and are hoping to solve all these problems this morning so we can get onto testing the focus and alignment of the little guys. At the moment, Edward and I are on standby as Mark (who kept us busy yesterday) is doing some really complicated software updates. The consequence of this is that he has to do every little step to keep track of all the tests he needs to do, oh and every now and then, a very loud alarm goes off. To while away the time, Edward is doing some website development, including linking up the webcam we installed yesterday to a public website so you guys can check out what the site is doing (and so the astronomers can check the weather conditions up here when they robotically control the telescope from the comfort of their office or home). I've been finalizing some proposal templates for astronomers to request use of the LCO facilities in the near future and now will do a bit of data analysis until Wayne and Jacob are ready to make use of us.
It really struck me yesterday, just how small the 0.4m guys are compared to their bigger, older brother, the 2m Faulkes Telescope North not just in mirror diameter but also the sheer size of the structure holding it up. Amazing. Have a look at this image, can you see the two 0.4m telescopes along with the huge FTN in the middle? You might also be able to pick out Jacob too.
