I went to Arizona in 2008 to observe at Kitt Peak National Observatory. There was this mysterious other peak with a few domes on it just to the side of Kitt Peak...MDM. It has one large radio telescope (not actually associated with MDM) and two smaller optical telescope domes. I had no business over there. MDM, it turns out stands for Michigan-Dartmouth-MIT. This tangent now makes sense. MIT no longer has a share in those telescopes, but some other schools have picked up their slack.
I got to go to MDM to help observe for a long-term project run by Ohio State (apparently they picked up some of MIT's slack). I thought this would be perfect as I applied for time on both telescopes using the same instrument that this campaign is using. I got more time than I requested (either because my proposal was that awesome or because Michigan has more time than they know what to do with).
Anyway, I spent another week on another mountain. I saw some pretty sunsets due to clouds that of course ruined observations. It was a good experience, except for the fact that I had way more homework to do than I originally anticipated having. There's also the fact that my skin was ridiculously dry even though I was actively trying to combat this issue.
I spent some time standing on a rock a short walk away from the telescopes. Below you can see the MDM telescope I wasn't using on the left and Kitt Peak in the distance.
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