Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2002 August 19 
Posted on 08/18/2002 11:21:10 PM PDT by petuniasevan
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2002 August 19
Explanation: Above the clouds, atop an island off the coast of Africa, a group of cutting-edge telescopes inspects the universe. Pictured above are telescopes at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma, one of the Canary Islands, Spain. The site is one of the premier observing locations on Earth. The telescopes pictured are, from left to right, the Carlsberg Meridian Telescope, the 4.2-meter William Herschel Telescope, the Dutch Open Telescope, the Swedish Solar Tower, the 2.5-meter Isaac Newton Telescope, and the 1.0-meter Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope. Pioneering observations made recently by these telescopes include stars and galaxies forming early in our universe, comets breaking up, and evidence for planets around Sun-like stars.
Astronomers like to locate telescopes atop mountains for the thinner air and lower pollution levels. A mountain on an island (such as this or Mauna Kea in Hawaii) is even better. That way the air currents are lessened - jet streams don't pass over such locales as a rule. Steadier "seeing" translates to better imaging. Also there will be little or no "skyglow" due to the remote location.
"Roque de los Muchachos" is Spanish for "Boys' Rock".
Get on the APOD PING list! 
Comet LINEAR Disperses
WOW! Great stuff! &;-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.