Last spring, 2007, the Society of Physics Students took a field trip up to Oregon's own Pine Mountain Observatory, located just outside of Bend. Five students and of course our wonderful advisor, Stan, made the trek up during the weekend of May 19th-20th. Our goal was to get the behind-the-scenes tour of the observatory and meet some of the researchers and staff that manage the telescopes. And of course, we all had our fingers crossed for a clear night sky. Eastern Oregon is one of the darkest areas of the country in terms of light pollution, and so we were all hoping to catch a glimpse of the amazing night sky far away from the city lights of Eugene.
It took a lot of prep work and organization, but we kept in touch with the PMO outreach coordinator, Rick Kang, and arranged to come up and spend the night during mid-May. Our group was small enough that we could all pile into Stan's camper, and early Saturday morning, we ventured off campus into the wild of Eastern Oregon! Along the way, we stopped at the headwaters of the McKenzie River, providing a much-needed break and the perfect opportunity for some group photos!
Alice, Kristen, and Stan admiring the view.
Drew, Alice, and Kenny
Drew contemplating the wilderness
Once we arrived at our destination, we quickly set up camp, made some supper, and met up with Rick Kang for the evening's presentations. We were able to tour two of the domes and hear Rick's presentation about astronomical distances and the various techniques scientists employ to measure these distances. Unfortunately, the entire evening, the sky was heavily overcast, and the chance seeing some stars seemed slim. We hung around the domes for a while, then slowly made our way back to the campground, intrigued with the facility, but disappointed by the lack of stars. But lo and behold, about one o'clock in the morning, as we were all sitting about the dying fire, one of us happened to glance up and the sky was perfectly clear! The stars were stunning and absolutely brilliant. We rushed back up the hill to the domes, just as some of the researchers and interpreters were pulling out their laser pointers and beginning to pick out some of the more prevalent constellations. Several telescopes were hauled out and throughout the next couple hours, we enjoyed the beauty of many planets, clusters, galaxies, and nebula. Eventually, the sky clouded up again, but it was enough to catch even a brief glimpse of the glorious night sky that Pine Mountain enjoys.
The next morning we woke up to snow! Rather bizarre weather all in all.
A chilly breakfast around the picnic table.
Kristen, Drew, and Alice
