You know I've got a new camera lens recently, and have been dying to try it on a subject other than Bryson (no offense, Bryson, you can still give me a Blue Steel any day).
So, when fellow photography/corgi enthusiast mrjoro invited us to the open house at the University of Califiornia Lick Observatory with promises with photo ops like this one, we showed up with all my camera gear (which isn't much) two hours before the event, totally psyched!
But as with all my best laid plans, there's always a fatal flaw.
I forgot to charge my camera's battery.
Yep, last time we went out I forgot my memory card. This time I double-checked on the card, but then sadly, neglected the juice factor. I didn't even get to use the tripod I just bought that day and lugged around with us the whole entire evening. *Kick self repeatedly*
Given my lack of preparation, I have precious few photos to show for it, below are a few of my fav's, and you can check out the rest here. For better coverage of the day, you can check out mrjoro's album here.
This is the main entrance at dusk. It's only about 20 miles from metropolitan San Jose, but it's situated way above the city in a totally remote part of Mt Hamilton, so it can get away from all the light pollution from civilization. The dome to the left is where one of the observatory's century-old telescope is housed, which is mostly kept for its historical significance and not used for research any more.
We got a chance to get in to the larger dome for a public lecture about its history (above). And when the lecture was over, this wooden "floor" was raised about 20 feet by a century-old hydraulic lift, so we can step up to and look through the ginormous 57-feet telescope (below) that purportedly was used in the discovery of Jupiter's "5th moon" over a hundred years ago. (See the sliver of light? That's where the dome opens. It was quite a site to see it in action)
I'm no astronomy buff, but this place's colorful history and beautiful setting can totally sweep you off your feet.
Left: Me taking a photo of mrjoro snapping a pic :D
Right: Mrjoro taking a photo of me snapping a pic :D
