A Trip to Happy Jack

Dome of the Discovery Channel Telescope

Today was a busy day.  After stumbling out of bed, we met some of Lowell's staff for lunch.  I worked on our data from the night before while Linda prepared for her colloquia (talk given by a visiting astronomer).  She gave a talk on the English astronomers John Goodricke and Edward Pigott who discovered the periods of the first variable stars.  John Goodricke was deaf and died at age 21.


In the audience was one of Linda's former students from MIT.  He was working for the USNO, and was just hired by Lowell to be the chief scientist to interface with the engineers building the new 4.3-meter Discovery Channel Telescope in Happy Jack, about 40 miles south of Flagstaff.  Steven offered to take us down there on a personal tour, which we gladly accepted.



Steven told us that although slightly behind schedules, he expects the DCT to get first light sometime this year.  We got to see the aluminized mirror still in the container, the actuators which will keep the 4 inch thick mirror in perfect shape, and the mount as it is being assembled within the dome. We toured the control room and got to walk out on the catwalk to see the magnificant view.