Some of you asked me already how do things work around here, what am I doing and how this place is. Well, after more than one month and almost three turnos, things look now a bit clearer to me, and I am able to answer.
How is this place?
Paranal has 4 optical Very Large Telescopes (VLTs) with the largest mirrors in the world (more than 8 meters and in theory able to recognize a man on the moon), 4 Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) which work together with the VLTs to perform interferometry (basically they see in infrared, which is good for the full moon nights), 1 Very Small Telescope (VST) and one other telescope (VISTA), both of them are optical and not yet operational. The VLTs are the most impressive, they have a startup procedure every night which lasts around 40 minutes. Their whole structure is able to rotate and the domes open, allowing for a field of view of 90 degrees in elevation and 360 degrees in azimuth. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!
How do things work around here?
The Observatory is divided into departments: maintenance, logistics, engineering and a few more I don't recall right now. I belong to the electronics group of the engineering department. Each group has its assignments, its car fleet, its people. The purpose of all these people is to assure that the telescopes are fully operational by the end of the day, so that the astronomers can work at night. And one night without observations has costs of something like 1M Euro.
What am I doing?
I came as an electronics engineer and am currently working on improving a control board, that is obsolete and no longer manufactured. This means performing digital electronic design and working with FPGAs. In short, something new for me! And for them! Apparently, this sort of design engineering is something unusual here. Normally, all design is done in the headquarters in Garching, Germany, and here only maintenance. People are friendly, the group has a positive vibe and I'm starting to make friends. Olga helped quite a lot! I am, definitely, happy!
How is this place?
Paranal has 4 optical Very Large Telescopes (VLTs) with the largest mirrors in the world (more than 8 meters and in theory able to recognize a man on the moon), 4 Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) which work together with the VLTs to perform interferometry (basically they see in infrared, which is good for the full moon nights), 1 Very Small Telescope (VST) and one other telescope (VISTA), both of them are optical and not yet operational. The VLTs are the most impressive, they have a startup procedure every night which lasts around 40 minutes. Their whole structure is able to rotate and the domes open, allowing for a field of view of 90 degrees in elevation and 360 degrees in azimuth. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!How do things work around here?
The Observatory is divided into departments: maintenance, logistics, engineering and a few more I don't recall right now. I belong to the electronics group of the engineering department. Each group has its assignments, its car fleet, its people. The purpose of all these people is to assure that the telescopes are fully operational by the end of the day, so that the astronomers can work at night. And one night without observations has costs of something like 1M Euro.What am I doing?
I came as an electronics engineer and am currently working on improving a control board, that is obsolete and no longer manufactured. This means performing digital electronic design and working with FPGAs. In short, something new for me! And for them! Apparently, this sort of design engineering is something unusual here. Normally, all design is done in the headquarters in Garching, Germany, and here only maintenance. People are friendly, the group has a positive vibe and I'm starting to make friends. Olga helped quite a lot! I am, definitely, happy!
5 comments:
Então também se trabalha no Chile?
Existe um homem na Lua? A fazer o quê?
Tu amostras a foto da Olga a toda a gente, menos a nós?
E os Ovnis, cadê?
Eu não amostrei a foto a ninguém, quem disser o contrário é calão! O homem na Lua assopra, para fazer a bandeira dos states ondular! Ovnis não vi, mas vinha hoje no jornal que caiu um meteorito do tamanho de um carro na Argentina... Fdx!! :s
Entao quand é que descobres 1 planeta? É que parece que andam ai muitos à espera de ser descobertos, ainda ontem anunciaram que apareceu mais 1.
Se descubrires mete o meu nome! Assim sou conhecido astronomicamente.
Cumprimentos.
Tiago Santos
Querido Tiago Santos,
Decide-te, pá! Ou bem que o planeta se chama Tiago, ou Anonymous...
Mas aqui entre nós: o Sadino se descobrisse um planeta, chamar-lhe-ía OLGA, não achas?
Não sei se teria o nome OLGA eu não vi a foto, mas é bom que ele mostre depressa.
Tiago
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