Date: June 5, 2010
Title: The Unknown Face of Baja: High End Astronomy
Podcaster: Edgardo Molina
Organization: Pleiades. Research and Astronomical Studies A.C. www.pleiades.org.mx (web site soon to be presented also in English)
Description: Far from the well known activities of luxury yatching, wine yards, retiring to Rosarito, sailing, off road vehicle races, whale watching, beach vacations, and Marlin fishing adventures, Baja also is the homeland of Mexico’s National Astronomical Observatory. This observatory is located in the forest, high at 2,830 meters above sea level, on the high mountains located in the north part of the peninsula. Baja geographical location is considered a Meca for stargazing. In fact if you look at a current satellite light pollution map, you will immediately notice that Baja is one of the darkest spots in North America. Pristine skies abound there.
Bio: Edgardo Molina. B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Anahuac University in Mexico City. Post graduate studies in IT Engineering and a Masters Degree in IT Engineering. Working for IPTEL, an IT firm delivering solutions to enterprises since 1998. Space exploration enthusiast who participated in several Mexican space related activities. Licensed amateur radio operator with call sign XE1XUS. Amateur astronomer since childhood and actual founder and president of the Pleiades. Research and Astronomical Studies A.C. in Mexico City, Mexico. Avid visual observer and astrophotography fan. Public reach through education in exact sciences, engineering and astronomy. Lectures and teaching in several universities since 1993.
Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by Elizabeth Forbes Wallace. Paying it forward! Thanks to the supporters of StarryTelling podcasts. From Giraffe ‘n’ Ant Productions. www.giraffenant.com
Transcript:
Hi again! This is Edgardo Molina, from Pleiades. Research and Astronomical Studies A.C. in Mexico City, Mexico, having the pleasure of hosting you again in this episode of the 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast.
Today I am guiding you to Baja as most of the people outside Mexico calls our state Baja California. Baja is located on the Pacific coast of northern Mexico. It is a peninsula extending down from the border with the USA into the Pacific ocean. Baja is a virgin state full of natural diversity and ecosystems. You can find different geographical scenarios from beautiful beaches, deserts and forests. Plains, dunes and mountains. Our podcast will concentrate on the high altitude forest and mountains in Baja.
Far from the well known activities of luxury yatching, wine yards, retiring to Rosarito, sailing, off road vehicle races, whale watching, beach vacations, and Marlin fishing adventures, Baja also is the homeland of Mexico’s National Astronomical Observatory. This observatory is located in the forest, high at 2,830 meters above sea level, on the high mountains located in the north part of the peninsula. Baja geographical location is considered a Meca for stargazing. In fact if you look at a current satellite light pollution map, you will immediately notice that Baja is one of the darkest spots in North America. Pristine skies abound there. The observatory main instruments have been moving from Mexico City about 125years ago to the San Pedro Martir Sierra in Baja in 1974. Even though Mexico has two other observing sites as part of the National Astronomical Observatory run by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM for short), San Pedro Martir in Baja holds the observatory’s best skies and equipment.
Most of the astronomical and astrophysical work in Mexico is carried there. Even though the infrastructure for research is modest in today’s terms of a big observing facilities, the potential of the site is enormous for the future generations in Mexico or collaborating countries who seek for a high quality dark sky astronomical site in the northern hemisphere. There are even laws that restrict the night time illumination of the nearby small towns and cities, to preserve the quality of the night sky in San Pedro Martir. This law is the first of it’s kind in Mexico, and it is called “La Ley del Cielo” “Sky Law”.
The observatory is located in a reserve or national park that is both taken care by the federal government and by the National Autonomous University of Mexico. This assures that the actual and future conditions for this site will remain up to the task of delivering what an astronomical observatory needs today. The weather there is warm in summer and it even gets snow in winter time. The air is mostly dry and precipitation is always at minimum.
Please allow me to describe a little bit of what can be found in terms of infrastructure at San Pedro Martir. There are 3 domes hosting telescopes ranging from 0.84m to 2.12m in diameter. The optical design of these telescopes is Ritchey Chretien flat field optics for all of them. All of the telescopes were made in Mexico with the help of national and international designers.
All of the telescopes have their own instrument setup for the studies conducted through them. Among these instruments we can find: spectrographs, interferometers, photometers, nitrogen cooled CCD based imagers and the support for weather monitoring for the micro climate present at each dome.
As the observatory location is completely far away from any big city, an operations center at the city of Ensenada about 4 to 5 hours driving time is located. From there all the food, water, transport, fuel, and telecommunications are provided. The local telco recently provided a high speed clear channel dedicated Internet access link via microwave and fiber optics to the observatory from Ensenada.This allows online operation of the observatory, real time monitoring, Voice over IP telephone system connected to the main public switched telephone network and the possibility of sharing the observatory site servers information online with the rest of the country or abroad.
The observatory has a 2,000 square meter lodge with a computer room and a gym, to allow research personnel to live comfortably for weeks or even months. There are also specialized machine shops to do the infrastructure maintenance and a rich astronomical and astrophysical library on the grounds. All of the electricity used at the observatory is generated there by 5 internal combustion engine generators totaling around 900kW capacity.
The site is visited throughout the year by national and international scientists and researchers and the telescope time availability is most of the time very restricted. However it is always nice to know that if you want to visit the observatory during daytime, the personnel will guide small groups through the observatory. As there are no main roads leading to the site, all of the transport to and from the observatory has to be arranged in advance at the headquarters in Ensenada. The location of the observatory on top of a mountain and in the middle of nowhere, will allow to keep the site safe from civilization and light pollution for the years to come. We have learned that San Pedro Martir grounds are irreplaceable, there is practically no better dark site within Mexico or in the north part of the continent if a new observatory has to be built.
Just recently there is a very interesting collaborative project taking place at San Pedro Martir observatory. The National Autonomous University of Mexico is working side by side with the University of Arizona and the University of California in the construction of a big infrared telescope 6.5 meters in diameter, to be permanently placed at San Pedro Martir. The mirrors just started the polishing work and will be ready by 2015, the whole telescope is expected to be operational by 2019. This clearly shows the potential of the site and the collaborative spirit of the mexican astro-scientists who also recently got a 5% share of the Grand Telescope of the Canaries run by Spain. Mexico designed several instruments for that particular telescope, but I might leave these interesting projects for a detailed description in future podcast of these series. Count on me for it!
There are other pending future projects such as an international network node of robotic telescopes for gamma ray burst observation from and collaborative projects with telescopes from Taiwan who wishes to observe from this hemisphere.
For now I wish (as many amateur astronomers in Mexico) that the authorities in charge of the San Pedro Martir observatory, would open up for supporting serious amateur astronomy activities with a good level interest and enthusiasm for doing research with their own instruments under such pristine sky conditions. This sounds difficult in Mexico nowadays with no previous experience as open visitor opportunities, such as the public programs found in observatories nearby such as Kitt Peak in Arizona. As soon as my wish comes true, I will surely let you know by posting it here. Who knows if some day an alternate site near the observatory could host an advanced amateur astronomy and astrophysics community site with serious supportive people who will also play “good neighbor” with the “boys with the big toys”?
The next time you plan to visit Baja, don’t forget to bring a good quality grab and go telescope. You won’t regret it!
For the 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast this is Edgardo Molina, from Pleiades. Research and Astronomical Studies in Mexico City, Mexico, wishing you clear skies! Thank you for listening.
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
=====================
The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Astrosphere New Media Association. Audio post-production by Preston Gibson. Bandwidth donated by libsyn.com and wizzard media. Web design by Clockwork Active Media Systems. You may reproduce and distribute this audio for non-commercial purposes. Please consider supporting the podcast with a few dollars (or Euros!). Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org. Until tomorrow…goodbye.