La Palma Diary - Day One

This will be my home for the next seven days.

It's the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory - a collection of telescopes on the island of La Palma.

Most housed in gleaming white and silver domes, they loom over the Atlantic Ocean atop a volcano in the Canary Islands.

I'm here making films for an upcoming series called Deep Sky Videos.

The videos are still in production (that's why I'm in La Palma) but I thought it might be fun to share a daily diary of what's going on.

I arrived at lunchtime today. The first view of La Palma (below) was the island's peak and observatory poking through the mist and clouds.

The fact the peaks reach through the clouds is a major reason the observatory was built here.

The observatory is a collection of telescopes operated by different groups. But my host is the Isaac Newton Group (ING) of telescopes.

In the afternoon I met ING director Marc Balcells (right), who showed me inside the two main telescopes: William Hershcel and Isaac Newton.

I must admit being staggered by the size of the former. It was much bigger than I expected. Cavernous!

After recording some enjoyable interview clips with Marc (videos soon) he left and I checked into my accommodation on the volcano's flank.

But not before snapping the photo below, which I love.

As the sun sets, it shows the island's immense shadow being cast across the ocean.

You really should check out the detail on Flickr.

Over the next few days I hope to film much more of the telescopes and record some observations of objects in space.

I'm also considering going outside tonight to attempt some night-time photos, though the howling wind is making me think twice.

Stay tuned for more tomorrow.

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is run by The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. I am being hosted by the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. The videos from this trip will appear on Deep Sky Videos: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Click here for diary day one.
Click here for diary day two.
Click here for diary day three.
Click here for diary day four.
Click here for diary day five.
Click here for diary day six.
Click here for diary day seven.
Click here for diary day eight.