Half of 36

LeeAnne drove Mom and me to the Rancho Mirage Library today so we could go on the 3 p.m. observatory tour. Yes, the public library has an observatory!

First I bopped into the library to see if anything had changed. I think the aquarium which is part of the Children's Room is new, but I'm not sure.

 This self check out machine is outside of the Children's Room.

 Computer Room

 Quartz Exhibit in the case.

This lady on the right might have been working on a book (she had note cards) in the Local Authors nook.

 This is 50% of the view -- I didn't want to photo the other people who were reading and facing the camera.

 No question about the function of this desk!

 Here is half of the observatory. There is a small dome on the right, which is actually the rest rooms. But the design is supposed to look like a comet.

 The foundation of the building is quite interesting with cement piers that do down 20 feet in order to minimize movement.

 Entrance is up a ramp, making the whole observatory ADA compliant. One woman who was using a walker had no problems.

 First was a solar telescope.

 These cement pads all have a data port and an electrical port. It's the top of the concrete pillars. When they have solar scolars, they set up a telescope on each pad.

 Inside the cosmic (or celestial) office. Red lights keep the light low and is easier on the eyes at night.

 Work stations with screen saver photos taken by this telescope.

Still in the office, you can see the telescope through the window. The screen is the weather screen.

Can you see how dark the window is now? The tour guide was able to darken the window at a push of a button.

The big screen behind these telescopes is basically 'today's status of the telescope.' It was offline.

We had to go outside to get into the telescope room and this is the view looking over the railing on the ramp.

And finally, we were in with the telescope. Our group was 36 and the tour guide could only take half in at a time. We were in the second group, which was fine. It was a nice day (a bit nippy for the natives) and we chatted.

There is a periscope on the side of this telescope, which is not usual. But the library's mission is to engage and educate the public so the periscope was added for the public to look through the telescope. They have stargazing nights once a month (that fill up a month in advance) and an astronomer will focus on 'two or three interesting things' that the public can look at. 

 This is the office looking down through the window in the telescope room.

It was really interesting and fun. I learned about the difference between a Gallileoean and a Newtonian telescope. I learned that there is a dog house to get into the telescope room because you don't want there to be more than a 10 degree difference between outside and inside. They lower the temperature when the ceiling is open on a chilly desert night. The flooring is made of especially dense wood (so heavy that it sinks in water) in order to minimize movement due to temperature changes.

I'm sure I learned other things ... but the memory is not so good! It was a fun time. I highly recommend a trip to the Library!