A magical trip to Mees

Well today is off to a slow start... Why? Because last night was our field trip to Mees Observatory!!! We decided to essentially repeat last year's trip because it went so swimmingly, though we did make a couple changes. Instead of going to Sticky Lips ahead of time (since that was a bit of a boondoggle...) we ordered trays of BBQ and headed down to Mendon Ponds Park to eat.

Oddly enough, these interns are not big eaters, so we had way too much food.

Just look at how spread out we were - the whole place was ours!

This gave us much better control over both timing and budget, though with all the beautiful room to roam I did notice that us old fogies didn't get to bond with the interns as much as we did last year. But that hardly matters, because the interns got to chill with each other, and we're the outsiders anyways. Which, by the way, there were fewer of this year - we did not have additional REU or summer students with us this time, or even Joe or Maria, just the interns. I did bring Matt along again this year though, and since we told other people they could join at the observatory if they provided their own transportation, in fairness we drove separately. This also helped with the logistics of transporting all the food, but it did mean we were cut off [blissfully?] from all the action on the bus.

Anyways, the ever-enjoyable scenic drive down to the observatory didn't seem nearly as long this year, since being at Mendon Ponds actually already got us a decent portion of the way there. That, and this year we actually got to stop at the Gannett House first! (Another benefit of reining in how much time was devoted to dinner.)

On the patio of the Gannett mansion, overlooking Canandaigua Lake

While there, we got an introduction to the observatory, and took a (fun) astronomy pop quiz.

This year we had two presenters/guides from ASRAS (Astronomy Section, Rochester Academy of Science), Larry and Karen. They were fantastically entertaining, and their passion for science and astronomy was inspiring! During the slideshow and Astronomy quiz in the house, the sky grew dark, and - believe it or not - cleared up! Clouds and rain were forecasted all night long, but as luck would have it, the conditions were perfect for some star (and shooting star!) gazing. So we grabbed flashlights and trekked up the hill to Mees. (Well, the interns did; Matt and I drove up, as did Roger who joined us at the house.)

Obligatory group picture - only took roughly 34734 tries...

And what a beautiful evening it was - we purposefully planned for the trip to take place during the peak of the Perseid meteor showers, and they delivered! If you stared at a patch of sky for only a few minutes, sure enough a shooting star would eventually fly by. It was breathtaking! Meanwhile, using the telescope we observed a number of astronomical phenomena, including a binary star, a globular cluster (my favorite), and the Ring Nebula.

Oh, sure, my flash was useless when I was trying to take the group picture - some Imaging Scientist I am - but step inside where it's supposed to be dark and it accidentally goes off. Sorry, night vision.

Anyways, I'll let some of the interns sum it all up for me:

"Keep in mind I’m from Washington DC which has a lot of light pollution so I only get to see the Big Dipper on a good night. I was flabbergasted by the millions of stars out there. ... So anyways I was on the deck of the observatory and there was a meteor shower in its peak at the time. Occasionally you would hear the joyous “LOOK OVER THERE!!!!!” From the other interns who spotted meteorite"

"Our tours guides were very nice, giving us the history of the Observatory and testing our knowledge of stars and galaxies. The forecast was not great, but we got very lucky and the sky ended up being clear. We looked at double stars, the Ring Nebula, and other amazing things. I thought that the Ring Nebula was the coolest, it looked like a smoke ring floating through space. Last night was also the peak of the Perseid meteors and we were able to see some from on top of the Observatory. The sky was so clear of clouds and light pollution that you could faintly see the Milky Way. It was an amazing experience."

"Once it got dark, we headed up to the observatory and had the chance to see, close up, some cool astronomical oddities (my favorite was the globular cluster) through the telescope.  But just stargazing with the naked eye was equally impressive that night, as it was clear (clear enough to see the Milky Way dimly), and there was a meteor shower going on.  I find myself very lucky to have had the chance to see a few shooting stars and, if you want to see them, there should be more entering our atmosphere tonight.  All things included, it was a very enjoyable evening."

Check out more Intern reactions at their blogs.

To cap off the night, Larry gave us a printout of an NPR blog that coincidentally just came out and does a really fantastic job of putting things into perspective. I highly suggest you follow that link and give it a read.

All in all, another spectacular and awe-inspiriting Mees field trip for everyone involved. What an absolute pleasure to be a part of this! #bestjobever Oh and PS, I <3 space.