As I said before, I went from Yosemite to observing. The first four nights of observing were spent at Mount Wilson. I had just been there in May. This time, I was there with my advisor, one of his post docs, and his other graduate student. A collaborator also came up one night. It was rather crowded.
Of the four from UM, I was the last one to show up. That meant that I got housed in the nice accommodations at CHARA (Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy). I had a nice cottage (built in 1901) all to myself. It had a stunning view of the valley below. Unfortunately, LA fills the valley with lights. Fortunately, the marine layer minimizes the effects and I observe in the infrared wavelengths.
Here is a view of one of the six CHARA telescopes, well the open dome and secondary mirror. One of the solar telescopes is seen in the back on the right. Behind the small dome is one of Mount Wilson's historic telescope domes, where the 60-inch telescope is housed. For revenue, Mount Wilson allows people to come up the mountain and rent the telescope for the night. The renters get a guide that points to pretty things all night for $1700/night. $1700. (OK, they also do half nights, and groups can be up to 25 people. However, I've run observing sessions for classes and smaller groups are better. It is a better use of money than buying a star.)
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