New Digs!

Lowell Observatory's Hall 42", located at
Anderson Mesa near Flagstaff, AZ

So, it has been a while since I've posted to my blog, and there have been some big changes. In the intervening time, I've taken a new job back in the US at Lowell Observatory. This has meant a relocation back to the states, and my family and I are now new residents of the lovely town of Flagstaff, Arizona.

An aerial view of the NOI & Anderson Mesa

In the end, there's little difference between this and rocket science:
it's all about the plumbing

Lowell is an interesting place for me, because it means that I have the opportunity to work on the Navy Optical Interferometer (NOI), a large telescope array located on Anderson Mesa near Flagstaff.  The NOI currently operates baselines in the visible up to 80m in length, which means resolving stars down to ~1mas in size is fairly straightforward; an ongoing upgrade means its longest 437m baselines will be open in ~12-24 months, with a corresponding increase in angular resolution.