Day #16 (2008/12/30) The eve of a new trip

The bad weather from yesterday is not over yet. Forecasts say weather will improve starting tomorrow. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and we must go down to a hotel at Puerto de la Cruz again, because the observatory will close once more for the holiday. We will again stay there for two nights, coming back on the 2nd of January. We will not have internet connection then.

To make planning matter more complex, Thomas has to catch the airplane at Tenerife South airport at 10:00, and that forces us to leave very early. Since there is only one car, we chose that all 4 of us (the two teams) will leave early in the morning (7:00) to go down to the airport, and then to the hotel.

Just now we learned that the highway has too much water due to rain, and we were advised to go via Vila Flor, which forces us to go through the crater of Teide. Leaving the observatory at 7:00 am is also challenging because we need someone awake (the cook) to open the "gate" for us.
We were advised to go as late as possible, so that any ice on the road would have melted. I think that, instead, we will go as slow (careful) as possible, to get to the airport in time.

Day #15 (2008/12/29)

After yesterday's wonderful day & night, it's hard to believe the sight outside: high clouds all over the sky.
This would not be a good day for observations, so we headed down-town for shopping.
When we arrived at the observatory again, we learned we are on an alert status due to bad weather. The wind is really pushing, with speeds over 90 km/h.
We have to stay at our house, and no wandering around is allowed!
PS : wind has just gone above 115 km/h, and it is the fastest that has blown this year (previous record was in April)

Day #14 (2008/12/28)

As a typical day after good observations night, the day started at around 12:30... We carried out normal house chores and attempted to visit IAC-80 later in the afternoon. It was closed.
At night, the weather was excellent, just as it had been during the day: low humidity (35%) and almost no wind.
This was the first real learning night for team #3 (night #0). Team #3 will be taking over the observations tomorrow on the 29th of December.
This night, both teams pointed to:
- WR 140
- HD 14134
- HD 45314
- HD 60848

Night #13 (2008/12/27)

This night was a short first tutorial night for the new enforcements that will be part of team #3 from Sunday onward. We showed them the telescope and observatory and started doing flats. Meanwhile, the Telescope Operator came by, warning us of the bad weather conditions, so we could not open the dome. She later called us giving green light to open the dome, but this happened too late for us to point at our usual first target of the night, WR 140, so we skipped this star.
We looked at HD 14134, Telluric star Alcyone at low air masses (near the zenith), Theta 1 Ori C (a curious case of a star with stellar winds that "flow" along its strong magnetic field lines), HD45314, and Alcyone again (but now at higher air masses, being nearly 30º in altitude).
Exhausted, we ended the night at 5:00 by calling the Telescope Operator so she could come inspect the telescope and mount, to certify we had not broken anything.
This daily inspection of the telescope, we learned, is a duty of the Telescope Operator, the person responsible for the telescope. However, it was only now the first time we had seen it happen. We may have come in a complicated time near Christmas, thus not seeing this before.

Day #13 (2008/12/27) New partners

Today, new enforcements arrived, and I went to the airport to pick them up. These are the 2 extra elements for the 3rd observing team. The third team will be made of me, Nelson Viegas, and Eva Santos, the first 100% Portuguese team.
The airplane arrived 15 minutes earlier than expected, and I did not manage to take a picture of it landing! They had some trouble with tickets in Barcelona and were forced to do a second check-in at that airport. However, because of this, they came in first class!
After picking them up, we headed to the nearest Cash & Carry, to buy essential goods for a long independent stay at 2400 m. With the car completely packed with plastic bags, we headed up hill to the observatory.