Telescopes
John Johnson
Credit: NASA
Occupation: Astrophysicist & Professor of Astronomy
Year born: 1977
Research Areas: Exoplanets
Kevin Govender
Credit: IAU/Kevin Govender
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Occupation: Director of Office of Astronomy for Development
Year born: c. 1981
Research Areas: Nuclear Physics, Astronomy, Sustainable Development
Allan Chapman
Occupation: Historian
Year born: 1946
Research Areas: History of Science, History of Astronomy, Broadcasting
"Historians of astronomy…are… people with a broad and open-minded curiosity about those forces which drove human endeavour in the past."
Galileo Galilei
Credit: J Sustermans
Occupation: Astronomer, Mathematician, Engineer
Year born: 1564
Research Areas: speed, velocity, motion, astronomy, tides
Chandra X-Ray Observatory
Credit: NASA/CXC/NGST
Image Processing
showing that what appeared to be an elliptical galaxy is actually a spiral.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Caltech/SDSS/NRAO/L. Hagen and M. Seibert
Optics
Credit: Krishnavedala
Ground Telescopes
Credit:G.Gillet/ESO
Why Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos?
Credit: Nik Szymanek and Ian King.
The island of La Palma is a mix of sandy beaches, deserts, tropical forests, pine forests and volcanic mountains. All these on an island only around 100 km (60 miles) long and just over 30 km (20 miles) wide. It is one of the best places on Earth to put a telescope, for the following reasons:
