A brief word of introduction is in order given that this is my first post to the Slooh SkyLog….. My name is Paul Cox and, besides other things, I design, construct and manage the Slooh Observatories at Mt. Teide, Chile and Australia - in the unlikely event that you’re interested, there’s more info about me here.
If you follow the Slooh Forums or the Twitter feed, you’ll know that I had to make an emergency visit to the 
Slooh Canary Islands Observatory on top of the 7,743ft high Mt. Teide on the island of Tenerife. I had hoped to post a “Beginners’ guide to Teide” today but I’ve run out of time - keep checking back here as I’ll post it soon but, in the meantime, here’s an update on my current visit….
We experienced very high winds at the Observatory last week - in excess of 50mph. Unfortunately, Dome 1 was open and consequently damaged. A few days later, the other dome (you guessed it - Dome 2) was damaged when we had to close it during some poor weather. However, the shutter was frozen solid which resulted in the mechanism breaking (see photo to the right). I was in Chile at the time, launching a very exciting schools access programme for the local students. Luckily, there was a last minute flight available to Tenerife for a few days. Thanks to a good inventory of spares, I was able to get Dome 2 ready for live Slooh operations the night after my arrival and Dome 1 followed the night after.
After my return to the Chile Observatory, the next Slooh project on my schedule is the 
replacement of the domes at the Teide Observatory. We’re replacing the existing “traditional” domes (they have shutters and rotate) with “clamshell” domes - similar to the one we installed at the Chile Observatory (shown left). There are of course pros and cons to both types, but we anticipate fewer vulnerabilities with the clamshell design. We also made the exciting announcement that this project would also include the installation of the new “Slooh Half Metre Telescope“! I’ll be taking the existing Teide Dome 1 equipment to the new Slooh Australia Observatory when the work at Teide is complete. At some point I hope to get back home to England - maybe in time to enjoy a Summer of flying!
Well, I’ll finish this inaugural post with some links to some new photographs I took during my visit to the Slooh Canary Islands Observatory:
- Photos of my latest visit here.
- Panorama views of Teide and from the inside of Dome 1 here.
- Probably the last photos of the existing domes before they’re replaced (I’ve tried to take some new views) here.
If you want to know what the view is like from the inside of Dome 1 (with the dome roof off!) then check out the Quicktime panorama movie below (click the image and then click/hold and drag your cursor - the panorama will move in the same direction - try it, it will make sense!):
Panorama from Teide Dome 1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Panorama movie from my fave spot at the Observatory.: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadThe second panorama movie above is taken from my favourite location at the very top of the observatory site - you look down to the coastlines on the East and West of the island as well as the obviously beautiful view of Mt. Teide (when you stand there, you’re also the highest person on Spanish Territory!). This is supposedly the spot where Brian May wrote a couple of Queen songs when he was working on his astrophysics dissertation here during the ’70s - just before he left Uni to join Queen full time. I wonder if he regrets leaving Uni 
The view to the island of Gran Canaria from Dome 1 - it’s a heck of a view to have from your “office”!
I’ll be heading back to the Slooh Chile Observatory tomorrow - arriving late on Tuesday. Make sure you check back here on the SkyLog, on the Slooh Forums and my personal Blog for regular news updates!
See you all in Chile!
Paul
Paul,
Your dedication and talents never cease to amaze.
Thanks for your work and posting the updates; very interesting.
Paul,
I am very interested to read your thoughts regarding the pros and cons of Clamshell domes as opposed to other available dome designs such as the traditional domes that you have had to repair and roll off roof designs. I am interested to read what preferences others at Slooh including Mathew Marulla might have on the various available observatory designs.
Does you preference for one type of dome vs another differ if it is to be used remotely rather than as an attended observatory (such as a backyard observatory)?
Thanks in advance,
Glenn
Hi Glenn - these are interesting (and often contencious) points of discussion that you raise and I’ve been surprised that someone didn’t raise them earlier when we published the original decision to go with clamshell domes.
The discussions between traditional “shuttered” domes versus clamshell versus roll-off are often “lively” to say the least. Personally, I could probably sustain an argument for or against ANY of them!
Mathew and I, together with the other members of the Slooh Team, made the decision following months of discussion (in fact these discussions started in 2005!). On balance, we believed that the clamshell domes would provide two key benefits for our particular operations:
1. Less downtime due to dome failures.
2. Better localised seeing conditions.
There is a huge amount I could write about these two items, let alone the other considerations and criteria for choosing the type of enclosure which will house and protect the often hard earned astronomical equipment! In fact, this is probably not the best place for such detailed info but I will put together a more comprehensive tome either in the Slooh Forum or on my chileastro.com blog.
I hope to also discuss these decisions, the choice of the Slooh Half Metre Telescope and Imaging systems on Slooh Radio soon. Keep an eye on the Radio Schedule for info (unfortunately, I won’t be appearing tonight - 29th May, as scheduled).
Best wishes,
Paul