Baha’i astronomer at work

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet and a webcam I can watch my astronomer daughter, Angharad (aka Hari) at work at the James Clark Maxwell Telescope, 13,000 feet up Mauna Kea, in Hawaii.

James Clark Maxwell Telescope

According to the telescope’s website:

With a diameter of 15m the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) is the largest astronomical telescope in the world designed specifically to operate in the submillimeter wavelength region of the spectrum. The JCMT is used to study our Solar System, interstellar dust and gas, and distant galaxies. It is situated close to the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, at an altitude of 4092m.

Angharad’s there for a week’s observation as part of her PhD research into the formation of high mass stars.

This webcam sequence was taken at around 4.30 a.m. in Hawaii (which was around 3.30 p.m. in the UK). As you can see, Hari is suffering from sleep deprivation (astronomers on observation are necessarily night workers) and lack of oxygen - well, you would lack oxygen at 13,000 feet. According to her posts on Facebook, she felt really stupid and sluggish at first. And the work can be pretty boring through the long hours of the night.

Being an astrophysicist is not all Brian May and glamour!

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