Welcome to Jim's Picture Page

The following pictures are of some of the observatories that I have worked or observed at, as well as a couple of pictures I took around Jackson Hole during the Third Tetons Summer School in 1992 - the pictures are given in the order that I was at the observatory. All of these pictures were taken by me and are not in the public domain. Each picture is shown as a thumbnail, click on the small image to see the full size picture. The short captions around the pictures gives you some idea of what you are looking at in the picture, as well as general information about the site.

Quick-Index:
Apache Point Observatory / Kitt Peak National Observatory
Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory / Complejo Astronomico El Leoncito
Other Pictures (Jackson Hole)

Right now I don't have pictures up for three observatories (other than the token picture of the Yerkes 40-inch refractor to the left) where I worked. As an undergraduate I gave tours and experimented with taking plates at the University of Rochester's Mees Observatory using the 24-inch reflector, unfortunately I cannot find any good pictures of the observatory (despite the fact I had my wedding reception there!). As a first year graduate student I spent much of the summer at Yerkes Observatory, I also spent the next few years remote observing with the Yerkes 40-inch reflector (to test software for use at Apache Point Observatory). I also have to add shots of Dearborn Observatory, where I now work (although I do have a few shots of the telescope being refurbished available).

Apache Point Observatory

Apache Point Observatory and the neighboring National Solar Observatory at Sac Peak are located in southeast New Mexico near the town of Alamogordo and the White Sands Missile Range (where the first Atomic bomb was set off at Trinity Site in 1945).

First is a view of the mountains where Apache Point Observatory and the National Solar Observatory at Sac Peak are located from the valley floor (in the town of Alamogordo) at dawn. Sac Peak is in the center of the image. Next (right) is a view off of the enclosure of the 3.5-meter telescope at Apache Point Observatory during the middle of the monsoon season when a thunderstorm was building over the mountains. This picture was taken before construction began on either the NMSU 1-meter or SDSS telescopes.

The vacuum tower telescope at the National Solar Observatory on Sac Peak can be seen from the top of Apache Point. It is a relatively short walk through the woods away (although watch out for the bears wandering through the area!). Finally (right) we have a picture of the enclosure of the 3.5-meter telescope at Apache Point Observatory during a beautiful Fall day.

Kitt Peak National Observatory

Kitt Peak National Observatory is located in Arizona near the city of Tucson; KPNO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc.(AURA) as part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO). Sharing the mountain are telescopes from a number of other observatories, including the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory, the National Solar Observatories McMath-Pierce Facility, and the WIYN telescope (one source for information on this telescope is Indiana Universities WIYN page and the WIYN Images page at NOAO).

To the left is a view of the telescopes on the summit of Kitt Peak (taken from the road up the mountain not far from the entrance to the Michigan-Dartmouth-MIT (MDM) observatory, while to the right is a close-up view of the KPNO 4-meter Mayall enclosure.

These pictures show views of one side of the mountain (where the 4-meter Mayall, the Steward Observatory 2.3-meter, and several other telescopes) taken approximately 6 years apart. To the left is the view from the site of the WIYN telescope in 1992 (construction of this telescope was just starting when this picture was taken), to the right is a view taken in 1998 from the catwalk of the KPNO 2.1-meter.

To the left is a view of the "other side" of Kitt Peak taken from the base of the Mayall telescope; the dome in the lower right corner is the Steward Observatory 2.3-meter, the large dome in the distance in the center of the frame is the KPNO 2.1-meter, and the structure to the far left is the McMath-Pierce Facility. This picture was taken while the WIYN telescope was under construction, the site for this telescope is to the right of the KPNO 2.1-meter. The other picture is a view of the KPNO 36-inch (0.9-meter) and WIYN enclosures.

This is a picture of the McMath-Pierce Facility taken at sunrise from the catwalk of the KPNO 2.1-meter.

Finally, we have a close-up of the Coudé Feed Telescope; the flat mirror to the left in the picture is pointed at a star, the light bounces off this mirror across the road(!) to a mirror (which is covered by a rectangular cover in this picture) which focuses the light down through the tube in the foreground and into the Coudé spectrograph. This telescope is mounted on the roof of the 2.1-meter building.

Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory

Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory is located in Chile near the city of La Serena; CTIO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc.(AURA) as part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO).

First (left) we have a view through the slit of the 4-meter Blanco telescope at dawn. The top of the telescope is on the right hand side of the image. To the right is a picture of the telescopes at the summit of Cerro Tololo; the Blanco telescope is in the large dome to the left of the frame.

The last picture is of the 1.5-meter telescope at CTIO with a number of tourists on the catwalk. It was very surprising to wake up one afternoon, drive up to the summit from the dorm, and suddenly see a tourist bus and a bunch of people with cameras walking around the telescopes, especially when you consider how twisty the road is to the top of Cerro Tololo.

Complejo Astronomico El Leoncito

The Complejo Astronomico El Leoncito (CASLEO) is located near the town of Barreal in San Juan Province, Argentina in the Reserva Nacional El Leoncito. It has a 2.15-meter telescope with a variety of instruments, including several spectrographs.

First (left) is a view of the complex from a nearby ridge; the 2.15-meter is housed in the dome on the right hand side of the picture. The observatory is located in a nature preserve which have these are Ñandú (pronounced "nyandoo") which are large flightless birds (a type of Avestruz, aka Ostrich) live in the reserve, they move around in the area below the Observatory. You can also see a larger view which shows more of the surrounding hills.

The picture on the left is a view of the 2.15-meter telescope enclosure at dusk with the Andes behind the dome; the clouds moving in are a winter storm. While I did not have the best weather while I was at CASLEO, the observatory staff were wonderful people to work with and I enjoyed my time there very much. The last picture (right) is the 2.15-meter telescope at CASLEO, with the echelle spectrograph hanging below (more of the spectrograph can be seen next to my wife on my personal info page).

Other Pictures

First (left) is a picture of the Grand Tetons from the porch of Jackson Lake Lodge where the conference was held. To the right is another picture of the Grand Tetons, which was taken from the shores of Jackson Lake which I was out hiking (after the conference was done for the day).