Day 3731

Today was basically a free day with no star parties or tours, so I decided to drive down to Marfa and look around. I drove south to Alpine and then West to Marfa, passing the Marfa Lights viewing center along the way. Marfa is a weird place. It's an old Texas ranch town turned into a hipster mecca, all because of Donald Judd. When this famous New York minimalist moved to town, it quickly became a destination for art aficionados around the world. I wanted to visit the old Army base that Judd acquired as his studio and gallery, but it was closed because of the coronavirus. I has to settle for wandering through the town's many small shops and galleries. They all smelled strongly of disinfectant. If this little town in the middle of nowhere is worried about the coronavirus, we're all in big trouble.

The entire loop from Fort Davis to Alpine to Marfa and back again is only 69 miles. It doesn't take long for the landscape to change from the volcanic Davis Mountains to the arid Chihuahuan desert. The landscape is majestic. If you like solitude and wide open spaces, this is where you need to be. It was nice to have a change of pace from my work duties, but I made sure I was back at the Astronomer's Lodge by dinner time. Nobody misses meals at the Astronomer's Lodge. The cook should start her own restaurant. She's from Mexico and speaks no English, but make the best Guacamole, Tacos, Enchiladas, and Fajitas I've ever had. Even the Tortillas and chips are made from scratch.

It started raining right after dinner and since the telescopes couldn't be used tonight, an astronomer I met at one of the star parties asked me if I would like to take a closer look at the huge 433 inch Hobby Eberly Telescope located at the top of Mount Fowlkes. This revolutionary telescope is the second largest in the world and doesn't use an eyepiece. Instead, it uses a sophisticated fiber optic network to send light from the mirror straight to a bank of virus spectrographs. No, this is a different kind of virus. The name is just an acronym for Visible Integral-Field Replicable Unit Spectrograph, whatever that means. This telescopes is used to look for the source of gravity waves, find planets orbiting distant stars, and to do fundamental research on black holes. Not only was I able to go inside the room where the telescope was housed, I was able to go inside the telescope itself. I don't think OSHA would approve, but it was amazing to climb through the huge structure and get so close to the enormous mirror that I could touch it. I didn't touch it of course. That's another thing that would have gotten me banned from the mountain.

Tomorrow it's back to work for the remainder of my stay. The weather is pretty bad now, but I hope we still have a few more clear star party nights. Sometimes I wonder if we'll have any more star party nights at all. We're far from the eye of the storm out here in West Texas, but news about the spread of the coronavirus keeps changing by the day. I wouldn't be surprised if the University of Texas decided to cancel the rest of the event. They're certainly canceling everything else.

I hope the event continues. I'm enjoying myself and have already had some amazing opportunities that few people who enjoy astronomy will ever experience. McDonald Observatory is a remarkable place. It is a world class research center located in the middle of nowhere. The place is completely self sufficient with it's own water and sewage system. There are enormous back up generators in case the power goes out. If there's ever a zombie apocalypse, this is the place to be.

It's going to be hard to get back on a daytime schedule. The astronomers here stay up really late and then sleep really late the next morning. Not a lot happens before noon. This is fine by me. I've always been a night owl anyway. I can see why people come here for a two week project and end up staying for twenty five years.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day