MY (PHOTOGRAPHIC) NEWS SECTION:

Welcome to my news photo-blog! Below there is a selection of images, related to my trips, work and other activities that I have carried out or participated in, either in Chile or abroad. All photographs have been taken by myself (© R. Demarco, 2014-2022), unless explicitly stated otherwise.

December 3rd, 2017: Tob: a magic inhabitant of Cerro Tololo, "Chispita", the gnome. It has been seen all around the mountain, even on Cerro Pachón. In the photograph, Chispita is posing by the road to the summit and the dome of the Blanco 4-m telescope can been seen in the brackground. Bottom: a panoramic, but partial, view of the top of Cerro Tololo. The domes, from left to right, correspond to the following telescopes: the 1-m "Yalo", the Schmidt camera, the 4-m "Blanco", the SMARTS 1.5 meter, and the SMARTS 0.9 meter.





December 2nd, 2017: An amazing and unusual (for an astronomer) sight can be seen in the top-three images: the Magellan-Clay telecope completely horizontal, moment that allowed me to capture the reflected images of my friend and observatory staff Victor Meriño and myself on both the main and secondary (inverted images) mirrors of the telescope. A truly unique experience! The fourth photograph from the top shows a panoramic view of ESO's Las Campanas Observatory in the middle of the Atacama desert as seen from a van coming down from the nearby Las Campanas Observatory. The last two pictures at the bottom portrait the Blanco telescope on Cerro Tololo near sunset and getting ready to start a new night of exploration.





December 1st, 2017: Top: a piece of northen Chile showing an unusually green Atacama desert due to the increased amount of rain during the winter. This image was captured on the way to the Las Campanas Observatory. One of the oldest international observatories installed in Chile, the ESO's La Silla Observatory, can be seen at the far left mountain edge. The largest dome corresponds to the 3.6 meter telescope. Bottom: Dr. Maren Hempel verifies the correct positioning of the fibers on to one of the masks to be observed with the APOGEE spectrograph of the SLOAN-IV collaboration. The mask, once fully prepared, will be positioned on the 2.5-meter Du Pont telescopes at the Las Campanas Observatory to obtain the spectra of a large number of stars whose light is transmitted to the spectrograph through the fibers shown in the photograph.





November 21st, 2017: Cerro Tololo Inter-american Observatory at night. This image, obtained with my 8-mm fisheye lens as part of a time-lapse movie, shows the 4 largest telescopes on the summit in action. From left to right, these are: the 1-m "Yalo", the 4-m Blanco, and the SMARTS 1.5-m and 0.9-m telescopes. The greenish hue near the horizon is due to atmospheric emission known as airglow. The outer disk of our Galaxy and the Magellanic clouds are clearly seen.





November 20th, 2017: On the way to Tololo's summit. An easy walk leads to the mountain top from the hotel and through the "favela" (as the locals call it) of telescopes that includes the 1.3 m (former 2MASS), 1.6 m (from KASI), the T-80 (from Brazil), the PROMPT and LCOGTN telescopes, among a few others. The hotel and the administration building ("la redonda") can be seen to the left of the telescopes. In the background: the magestic Chilean Andes.





November 19th, 2017: Arriving to the top of Cerro Tololo, being welcomed by its momentous inhabitants. From left to right: the former USNO UCAC, 1.0-m Yalo, 0.9-m, 4.0-m Blanco, and 1.5-m telescopes.





November 14th, 2017: VIP visitors in the control room of the Gemini South telescope during an observing run of the GOGREEN survey. Members of the AOC-G, including the directors of the Gemini and LIGO observatories, interact with the observers (Kristi Webb, Pierluigi Cerulo, Erich Wenderoth and myself) to get a first-hand experience of the base facility operations in La Serena.





October 26th, 2017: Participants at the GGC2017 conference in La Serena organized by the Universidad de La Serena. The 4-day meeting gathered experts on groups and clusters of galaxies from several continents, specially from Argentina and Brazil. Both theory and observations were presented to review the state-of-the-art of galaxy evolution in different environments. In the picture, the participants pose at the balcony of the Intendencia Regional's building in the city's center.





October 25th, 2017: A visit to the Gemini South telescope on Cerro Pachon in the Chilean Andes. In the valley that leads to the observatory, the moon makes an appearance just above one solitary tree at the ege of a rocky formation (top); nearing Cerro Pachon, a panoramic view (middle-top) of the large telescopes on its summit can be obtained: SOAR (to the far left), Gemini South, and the under-construction LSST (to the far right); inside the Gemini South dome, a group of visitors (from the GGC2017 conference; see above) pose for a picture with the telescope (middle-bottom); outside Gemini, an spectacular view of Cerro Tololo and its cluster of telescopes can be grasped (bottom). The group photo at the Gemini South telescope was taken (with my 8 mm fisheye lens) by Manuel Paredes from Gemini.





October 22nd, 2017: Two important windows to the universe in the Chilean Andes: the Cerro Tololo Inter-american Observatory (bottom) and the Cerro Pachon complex (top). The latter is comprised by the SOAR (left), Gemini South (center), and LSST (right) telescopes. The photographs were captured from a flight to La Serena shortly before initiating final approach.





July 28th, 2017: The Tre Cime di Lavaredo, in the Dolomiti, northern Italy. A nice 2.5 hours hike from near the town of Moos (about 1,300 meters above see level) leads to the alpine hut Dreizinnenhütte/Locatelli (bottom photograph) at 2,405 meters of elevation. From this place, the "Tre Cime" can be seen in all their splendor (when not covered in fog), as the pictures below show. The hike goes up along a valley dominated by spectacular rocky peaks, large alluvial fans, and alpine meadows. Very beautiful! The Tre Cime remind me of the Torres del Paine in the Chilean Patagonia.





March 3rd, 2017: The Aero Spacelines Mini Guppy on display at the Tillamook Air Museum in Tillamook, Oregon. This is a large, wide-body cargo aircraft used for aerial transport of outsized cargo items. While operated by Aero Spacelines, this aircraft was used to transport contract cargo, including NASA's Pioneer 10 spacecraft. In the background, the "Hangar B", a Navy blimp hangar constructed during World War II for Naval Air Station Tillamook can be seen. This is the largest clear-span wooden structure in the world!





February 18th, 2017: A visit to NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas, home of Mission Control, and commonly referred to as "Houston" by astronauts since Gemini 4 in 1965. JSC is NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center in charge of human spaceflight training, research and flight control. With special permission I had access to the entrance hall of building No. 7 that shows three historic space suits, as shown in the top photograph (taken by Rena Schlachter); from left to right: Gus Grissom's Mercury suit, Jim Lovell's Gemini suit, and Ed White's Gemini EVA suit (first American to walk in space). Truly amazing! JSC's visitor center has also an extraordinary collection of space items. The middle photograph shows the cockpit of Space Shuttle Mock-up Independence on top of one of NASA's Boeing 747 used as Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The bottom photograph shows a real Apollo A7L suit wore on the lunar surface by Apollo 12 commander Pete Conrad. Also amazing!





February 5th-10th, 2017: A visit to Kansas to participate of the GOGREEN science collaboration meeting in Lawrence. In addition to work, and a visit to the extraordinary Art Museum, one of the highlights was to come in close proximity to the original two pages with the rules of Basketball. The top photograph shows an enlarged reproduction of the first page, posted a few meters away from the display that shows the original document. The rules were created by James Naismith in 1891, and are on display at the DeBruce Center of the University of Kansas in Lawrence. The bottom pictures shows the departure from Kansas City International Airport back to Oregon. A sunny but cold day for flying.





January 8th, 2017: A cold and white day in Eugene, Oregon. The main entrance of the University of Oregon after a snowfall that painted the city with real winter colors. Difficult to walk, specially in the icy parts.