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A GUIDE TO VISITING THE
ISAAC NEWTON GROUP OF TELESCOPES FOR SCHOOLS AND GROUP OF STUDENTS Chris
Johnson, March 2000 Contents:
Way above the clouds
of La Palma… Several years
ago, astronomers in the U.K. began to search for a site that This
booklet is designed to help you to answer these questions - and to encourage
you to come and see our astronomers and engineers in action. Whether you are a group of students or
tutors thinking about an educational holiday, we’ll offer you a warm welcome
and show you around these superbly engineered telescopes. Introduction Despite recent Hollywood movies, the days of the lone scientist making a brilliant discovery by himself are long gone. These days it requires a team effort from many different disciplines for an astronomer to collect the data he or she requires. These disciplines include mathematics, physics, mechanical engineering, electronic engineering, optics, climatology, computing, software writing, and information technology. A visit to the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes has much to interest those students wondering what options to take at school, as well as to those already involved in these subjects at A-level or university. We hope that the information in this booklet will help you to plan such a trip, and to give you some idea of other activities that can be enjoyed here in the superb weather of the Canary Islands. Whether your interests lie in diving into the depths of the ocean, or standing high above the clouds gazing into deep space, this will certainly be a trip to remember. The Telescopes Many people wonder why British telescopes came to be situated on Spanish soil on a tiny island in the archipelago of the Canary Islands. But this remote island of La Palma has the ideal conditions that astronomers need. The main problem the scientists face is light pollution, so an island, surrounded by sea with no other major land mass in close proximity is perfect.
Spanish law protects the dark skies of La Palma so that even the streetlights of the nearest town have to wear a strange type of hat to direct the light downwards. Although it is a small island, with a surface area about the size of Greater London, its highest point is above 2,000 metres – that’s twice as high as Ben Nevis. It’s at the highest point of the mountain that the many different national telescopes are situated - at a place called El Roque de los Muchachos. Because of its height, El Roque de Los Muchachos enjoys clear skies throughout the year. Clouds normally stop at a height of 1,300 – 1,800 metres and El Roque is above this. The stable atmosphere provide what astronomers call good “seeing”. This is the parameter they use to measure the quality of images they obtain, and which is related to air turbulence. The “seeing” on La Palma is excellent and is one of the best worldwide. The Isaac Newton
Group of Telescopes, or ING as it is always known, consists of three
telescopes. Both the British and the
Dutch governments collaborate in running them, and the telescopes are named
after three of their most famous astronomers.
The largest is
the William Herschel Telescope, which has a mirror 4.2 metres in diameter, the
Isaac Newton Telescope with a 2.5 metre mirror, and the smallest at 1 metre is
the Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope. If an
astronaut walking on the moon were to shine a torch towards earth, someone
looking through the William Herschel Telescope would be able to see it! Such dark skies
and powerful instruments attract astronomers from all over the world as well as
Holland, Spain and the U.K. Over the
last decade since the setting up of the telescopes, they have made some
startling and quite eerie discoveries.
One recent cosmological finding is that the universe will expand
forever. There isn’t enough mass in the
universe for its gravity to slow the expansion, which started with the Big Bang. It was while
using the William Herschel Telescope that scientists discovered the first black
hole in our Galaxy. This telescope is
one of the most powerful optical telescopes outside the Americas. It can see objects 10,000 million light
years away on a clear night. This is
indeed amazing when you consider that one light year is equivalent to 6 million,
million miles. Weighing
200 tonnes, the telescope floats on a layer of oil 0.1 mm thick. It is so finely balanced that the telescope
can be pushed around by one hand. Another
recent development is a new instrument called the NAOMI natural guide star
Adaptive Optics facility for use with the William Herschel Telescope. This instrument will use a technique called
Adaptive Optics to yield high-resolution images of astronomical objects by
negating the blurring effect of the Earth’s atmosphere. In
an effort to study from the ground objects first revealed so clearly in outer
space by the Hubble Space Telescope, it is necessary to compensate for the
distorting effect of the air above a ground-based observatory. By using an Adaptive Optics system such as
NAOMI it is possible to image celestial objects with greater resolution and, in
fact, at less expense than by using the orbiting telescope. The latest films
have helped to heighten interest in comets.
Could we be wiped out in the same way as the dinosaurs millions of years
ago? Research into the origin and
nature of comets may be important for understanding the history of life on
Earth. These pictures of the fragments of
the Shoemaker-Levy comet about to collide with Jupiter, and comet Hale-Bopp, brightly
visible in the night skies in early 1997, were taken with the Jacobus Kapteyn
Telescope.
Comet Shoemaker-Levy
Comet Hale-Bopp The 2.5 metre
Isaac Newton Telescope with its Wide Field Camera is at the heart of a new
survey to study faint objects. Each
image obtained is roughly the size of the full moon. The survey results will provide detailed information on the
nature and distribution of stars within the Milky Way Galaxy, faint objects
within our solar system, and information on faint objects outside the Milky
Way, such as galaxy clusters, quasars, and faint dwarf galaxy companions to our
own Galaxy. The Isaac Newton Telescope used to be situated at the beautiful site of Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex. As the science of astronomy and astrophysics became more and more complex, it was obvious that darker and clearer skies were needed than could ever be found in the United Kingdom. So the whole mechanical structure, weighing a total of 109 tonnes, was shipped in 1982 to La Palma and re‑erected within a new dome on El Roque de Los Muchachos. The fact that the telescope was dismantled and re-installed at a height of 2,000 metres is testimony to the great British engineering involved in its manufacture. To find out more The ING operates these telescopes on behalf of the Particle
Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) of the United Kingdom and the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) of
The Netherlands. The observatory
itself is the responsibility of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC)
on behalf of Spain. If
you’d like to find out more about all these organisations, these are their
websites: (the
site is mirrored for faster access to U.K. users at http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/ING/ ) The Canary Islands It may be an idea
to combine an educational trip to the La Palma telescopes, making it a two-site
holiday with Tenerife or Gran Canaria for activities like diving or
caving. The following are the addresses
for tourist offices in the islands: Patronato de Turismo de Tenerife, Plaza de España, s/n (Cabildo Insular), E-38003 S/C de Tenerife, Canary
Islands Tel: +34 922 239 592 – 239 800 Fax: +34 922 239 781 Patronato de Turismo de Gran Canaria, C/León y Castillo, 17, E-35003 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands Tel: +34 928 219 660 Fax: +34 928 219
601 PATRONATO DE TURISMO Tel: +34 922 42 33 40 Arranging a Trip to the Isaac
Newton Group of Telescopes La Palma is still
quite a remote island, so you must be prepared for several stages to your
journey. The following is to give you some idea of what the journey
entails. There are direct
flights from Madrid or you can fly to Tenerife or Gran Canaria, and from there
take a further flight to La Palma. Recently
it's possible to reach La Palma directly from U.K. but only in some months a
year. Ask your travel agency about this possibility. To La Palma from Tenerife
Flights to
Tenerife from U.K. destinations take about 4 hours and go to the airport in the
south, the Reina Sofia airport. The
cost of return flights varies between £100 - £300 depending on the time of year
you come, which airport you fly from and whether you take a charter or
scheduled flight. Just outside the
Reina Sofia airport are the stands for the local bus, taxi or hired coach to
take you to the north airport about an hour away. It is then a short 20-minute flight in one of the small Binter
planes that take you to La Palma. This
costs about £80 and is half price to students.
You can hire a coach or take a taxi or bus at the airport in Santa Cruz
de La Palma to take you the 10-minute journey into town or to your hotel
destination. There are a few
flights from the south airport in small 14-seater planes. They are very infrequent and subject to
change. It is worth checking on their
availability, however, to see whether they fit in with the days you want to
travel. A cheaper way to
travel from Tenerife to La Palma is to go to the port of Los Cristianos in
Tenerife and take the ferry, a journey of about 6 hours. This costs about £16 per adult and there are
discounts for groups. You will disembark right in the centre of the capital,
Santa Cruz de La Palma. So far, there are
no direct flights from the United Kingdom.
However, work is under way to extend the capacity of the north airport
on Tenerife to take international flights.
It may be possible to fly straight to this airport in the near future. To La Palma from Gran Canaria
Flights are not
so frequent as from Tenerife. There are
two a day from Gran Canaria and the journey time is 50 minutes. The advantage here is that although you will
have to change aeroplanes, you remain within the same small airport. Please keep in
mind that this booklet is intended as a guide only, and some of the information
given will change. It may be easier to leave arrangements to a travel agent in
the U.K., although agencies in Tenerife or Gran Canaria are helpful and
generally speak excellent English. It’s always a good idea to make all communications
by fax if you can, as you then have a record of your requirements to hand. Useful Travel Agencies The following agencies in Santa Cruz de La
Palma have employees who speak English, and can advise on up-to-date prices and
availability of accommodation, excursions and tours around the island: Viajes Tanausú, Urbanización Los Rosales, Local no
8, Playa de Los Cancajos, 38712 Breña Baja, Canary Islands Tel:
+34 922 434 314 Fax: +34 922 434 669 Viajes Insular, Plaza de España, 2, 38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma, Canary Islands Tel:
+34 922 411 110 Fax: +34 922 415 644 These agencies will arrange for coaches to
take groups of students to the Observatory.
There are no local buses that go to the top of the mountain. Tours of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes Groups of
students will receive a warm welcome at the telescopes situated on El Roque de
los Muchachos. This means ‘Rock of the
Young Lads’, which gets its name from the rocky formations that look like a
group of boys. As you travel upwards
and through the clouds, you will go through four different climatic zones with
corresponding vegetation. At the
bottom, you will be in the sub-tropical area with banana plantations and orange
trees, and then you will travel through vast tracts of laurel and fir forest.
Above the tree line there is an area of small shrubs and scrubland, while at
the very top it is quite arid and bare of any vegetation. Once inside the
domes you will be able to see the precision engineering involved in the
construction of the telescopes. When
you stand beneath one of the rotating domes, a powerful visual illusion makes
you think the dome is stationary and the building is spinning. Many visitors marvel at the work undertaken
in establishing such huge and complex buildings so high up. Incidentally, the telescopes are actually
sitting on a dead volcano! Visits last for approximately two hours, and so students will be able to see all the telescopes in the Isaac Newton Group. During the day students will be shown around by an expert guide who will be able to supply all kinds of information about the domes and telescopes, and answer questions. The visit encompasses looking round the research facilities, talking to the astronomers, and watching the engineers at work as they install the different scientific instruments and ready the telescopes for the night’s observing. The telescopes
are working scientific establishments and requests for visits and tours must be
made well in advance. These are free of
charge but you will need to hire a coach to get your group to the top of the
mountain at El Roque de los Muchachos.
The tours take place in the daytime. ING has facilities to offer tours
to groups of people but regrettably visits by individual tourists travelling on
their own are so far not possible.
Accommodation Accommodation ranges from the most expensive
new Parador de Turismo to a pension or a block of apartments with own bathroom
and balcony. Prices for this type of
accommodation are reasonable. For
example an apartment for 2 people in Santa Cruz is about £15 and for 5 people
sharing a room it will be £25 per night. Please see ING website http://www.ing.iac.es/PR/lapalma/
for more information about accommodation on La Palma, or contact the ING
site receptionist, Mavi Hernández, tel: +34 922 405 655, e-mail: mavi@ing.iac.es Food Food and eating out are still remarkably
cheap on La Palma. Typical food is
grilled meat or fish with ‘papas arrugadas’ – small potatoes cooked until the
skins are wrinkled – and salad. The
bars will serve small portions of food or snacks called ‘tapas’. These can be any specialty of fish or meat
or vegetables. Currency The Canary
Islands are an autonomous region of mainland Spain, therefore the currency is
the Spanish peseta and it has the same exchange rate. Currently the rate is about 250 pesetas to
the pound. The banks are very efficient
and you can use your bankcard to get pesetas out of the cash machines. From the year
2001 both the peseta and the euro will be the currency used in La Palma as, in
common with most countries in the European Community, Spain will start to phase
out the peseta for the euro in 2002.
You can find out what the rate is for the amount of euros to the
£sterling at your local bank. Shopping Visitors are
often caught out by Spanish opening times.
Shops open about 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and close again at 1 p.m. They open again at 5 p.m. and you can shop
until 8 p.m. Bars and cafés are open
all day and often until 2 a.m. when, according to law, they must close. Clothing La Palma has a
wonderful climate and because of its situation, is slightly cooler than the
other islands. You must bring good
hiking boots or trainers with a good gripping sole. Remember that you can start off in a T-shirt at sea-level, but
will need a jacket to withstand the cool winds at the top of the mountain. Youth and Student Identification If you are a
student, you should get an International Student Identity Card (ISIC). With this you will be able to get discounts
for train, ferry and aeroplane travel, as well as cheaper museum entrances,
etc. The ISIC card costs £5. People who are under 26 years old, who are
not students, can obtain a ‘EURO<26' card that costs £7, which has similar
benefits. Contact STA Travel or Campus
Travel to find out how to get an ISIC or ‘EURO<26’ card. Museums and Educational Activities on La Palma There are two interesting museums in the capital, Santa Cruz de La Palma. There is the Museo de Historia situated in an ancient monastery within the beautiful and recently restored square of San Francisco. It contains an eclectic mixture of art treasures and artifacts, aborigine culture and anything anyone has thought worth collecting over the years. A truly amazing sight is to see a huge concrete replica of Christopher Columbus’ boat, the Santa Maria, sailing down the middle of a street in Santa Cruz. This houses a maritime museum and is well worth a visit. Going from Santa Cruz and through the mountain to the other side of the island will take you through the small town of El Paso. En route there is the official Visitors’ Centre which gives information about the national park, the Caldera de Taburiente, and about the history, geology, flora and fauna of the region. They will also issue permits for groups who wish to camp in the Caldera. At the southern tip of the island is the area of volcanoes at Fuencaliente. It is not often that we get the chance to see the site of a volcano that last erupted as recently as in 1971, creating the Volcano of Teneguía. Other Activities on La Palma
La Palma is
attractive to those young people and adults who enjoy outdoor pursuits, and the
wonderful climate encourages this. It
must, however, be remembered that the island has a very precipitous terrain and
some trails are not suitable for those who are inexperienced hikers. The
beautiful national park of the Caldera de Taburiente can be dangerous and you
are generally advised to go in with a guide, who can be found through one of
the local travel agencies. The guides
will gear the length and difficulty of the walk to the age group and previous
experience of their charges. Geology students
and volcanologists are fascinated by the fact that La Palma still has the
capability of erupting from time to time.
The last eruption took place at the Volcano of Teneguía in 1971. Those
scuba-diving aficionados will find that the island is surrounded by huge
numbers of different types of fish.
Many swim not far below the surface and can be seen with a simple
snorkel and mask. All kinds of water
sports are available as well as trips and mini-cruises around the islands of
the archipelago. Speleology, spelunking or plain pot-holing. This volcanic island is a paradise for those
who enjoy the arduous sport of caving.
It’s a sport that also attracts those students involved in geology,
physics, chemistry and biology, technical drawing and mathematics, geography
and history. All these
activities and more can be combined with a trip to see the telescopes and,
incidentally, have a thoroughly enjoyable time. Names and
addresses of companies offering activities in La Palma: Mountain biking Bike 'n' Fun, C/ Calvo Sotello 20, Los Llanos de Aridane Tel./fax +34 922 401 927, Bike Station La Palma Web: http://www.bike-station.de/eng/ Hiking
Senderos Canarios, S.L., Plaza San Fernando, 9, Santa Cruz de La Palma, Tel: +34 922 417 284, Fax: +34 922 412 843, Web: http://www.lp-b.com/senderos-canarios/ La Palma Trekking Playa de Los Cancajos, Breña Baja. Tel: +34 922 433 001 Fax: +34 922 433 011 Web: http://www.natour-trekking.com/ Scuba-Diving Atlantic 28, La Palma, Las Caletas, 25 Fuencaliente, Tel/fax: +34 922 444 047, La Palma Diving Center, Centro Comercial Los Cancajos, Local 227 Breña Baja, Tel: +34 922 181 393 Fax: +34 922 420 697 Web: http://www.la-palma-tauchen.de/English/ Tauchpartner La Palma, S.L. Crta. Puerto Naos, 438, Los Llanos de Aridane. Tel/Fax: +34 922 408 139 Web: http://www.tauchpartner-lapalma.de/ Paragliding
Club Parapente Balayo, C/. La Cruz 2, Barrio de los Quemados, Fuencaliente Tel. +34 922 444 034, Fax: +34 922 444 303, Palma Club, C/. Maximiliano Darias, Montesinos, 32 - ático. Playa de Puerto Naos, Los Llanos de Aridane, Tel. +34 922 411 087 Speleology Grupo de Espeleología Junonia, Carretera Martín Luís, 32, Puntallana. Tel/fax: +34 922 430 392 Pre-Trip Information and Events It may be worthwhile planning a day trip to
the Planetarium in London or such small telescopes like the Norman Lockyer in
Sidmouth, Devon. The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research
Council offer an enormous range of teacher’s packs, wall charts and activity
sheets for children. “Astronomy and
Space in UK Schools and College – a resources guide for teaching” by Kerry
Parker and Margaret Penston lists information for different age groups of
children and is extremely useful. The Royal Astronomical Society has a series
of excellent leaflets with easy explanations of such concepts as the expansion
of the universe, quasars, galaxies and so on. The Royal
Observatory Greenwich, part of the National Maritime Museum and home of the
Prime Meridian of the world, has recently established a public inquiry
service. They accept astronomy
inquiries by post, telephone, fax or e-mail. Public Understanding of Science Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) Polaris House North Star Avenue Swindon Wiltshire SN2 1SZ Tel:
01793 442 030 Fax: 01793 442 002 Email: pr_pus@pparc.ac.uk The Education Committee Royal Astronomical Society Burlington House Piccadilly London W1V ONL Tel: 0171 734 4582 0171 734 3307 The Astronomy
Information Officer Tel: 020 8312 6735 Web: http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/ Remember that the world wide web is a
wonderful source of information, all in the public domain. Use search engines like http://www.yahoo.co.uk/ or http://www.excite.co.uk/ for items about astronomy or astrophysics. Magazines
such as ‘Astronomy Now’ and ‘Sky & Telescope’ have websites you can
visit. The latter offers mailing lists
with the latest updates on astronomical subjects of particular interest. Books
There are so many
wonderful books on astronomy that it is almost impossible to make a choice. Some are very expensive and it is probably
better to borrow from a library before buying.
Have a look first on the internet at booksellers like http://www.amazon.co.uk/. ·
‘Reaching for the Stars’
(interactive book for younger children), (Kingfisher Books) ·
‘Skywatching’, by David Levy
(Co-discoverer of the Shoemaker-Levy Comet) (HarperCollins 1995) ·
‘Images of the Cosmos’ by
B.W. Jones, R.J.A. Lambourne and D. A. Rotbery. (Hodder and Stoughton in
association with the Open University 1994) ·
‘Star-Hopping’ by Robert
Garfinkle (Cambridge University Press 1994) ·
‘Visions of Space’ (artists’
impressions of the cosmos) by David A. Hardy (Dragon’s World 1989) ·
‘Philip’s Atlas of the
Universe’ by Patrick Moore (Philip’s 1999) Books and Guides on La Palma
Again, the
following are just a selection of what is available. ·
‘Landscapes of La Palma and
El Hierro’ by Noel Rochford (Sunflower Books 1993) ·
‘Discovering
La Palma’ by J. J. Santos Cabrera and C. J. Taranilla de la Varga (Editorial
Everest 1989) ·
‘Canary Islands’ by Paul
Murphy (a Thomas Cook Travellers Guide) (A A Publishing 1995) After the Trip
Remember to bring
your camera with you when you come to La Palma. It well merits its nickname of ‘La Isla Bonita’ which means the
‘Beautiful Island’. The view from the
top where the telescopes are situated is spectacular. A display of your photographs taken from the telescopes will
amaze and interest fellow students.
Most local newspapers will be happy to print a photo and take details of
your trip for the next edition. Try to
get sponsorship from local firms in the area.
They will appreciate involvement if you can give them a little publicity
on your return. You can buy
souvenirs, posters, stickers and T-shirts of the Isaac Newton Group of
Telescopes either while you are here, or through the virtual shop on the ING
website at http://www.ing.iac.es/PR/ We look forward
to seeing you! Acknowledgements: Chris Benn and Tom
Gregory for providing additional information about the WHT. Conny Spelbrink for providing information on
what to do in La Palma.
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