Plutologue: T-4 days: Sometimes occultation observing involves snowcats and rock climbing

[posted for Steph Sallum]

I'm Steph Sallum, a grad student at University of Arizona's Steward Observatory, and a former MIT undergrad. I started UROPing with the lab, running astrometry scripts, when I had no idea how to use a terminal or what right ascension and declination even meant. (Thanks Carlos for teaching me how to ls and cd, and Jim for giving me a UROP even though I had no idea what was going on.) Eventually I graduated to observing occultations, and got to do some pretty fun stuff. Like, ride in a snowcat up a mountain,

hike down the mountain because the snowcat broke,

unfreeze freezing camera electronics (here's a picture I took of Chip's turn with the heat gun),

and (somehow) get some data. These days I don't spend my research time thinking about occultations, Pluto, or its atmosphere, but the years I spent with PAL were exciting enough that I'm happy to come back for more.

Two days before the flight to Melbourne, anticipating the 15 hours of sitting, I took some time to get outside with friends. Michi Baubock, and Megan and Jordan Stone, other UofA grad students in astronomy (Michi & Jordan) and math (Megan), came up to Flag to get out of the heat, and to climb here. It was a little warm in the sun, but we got in some much-needed crack climbing. Like a true Tusconian, Michi forgot to pack any jackets, so camping out that night he snuggled with Chaco (see picture below; life is hard.)

Note: I didn't manage to take pictures of people climbing that day, so here are some Forks climbing pictures from previous trips.

Climber: Me, Belayer: Megan

Climber: Megan, Unseen belayer: Me

Climber: Michi, Belayer: Megan

Space Heater: Chaco

The next morning the four of us got on a couple climbs - Loose Lips and Queenfolia - and then headed back into town to get some work done. Stephen showed me how to troubleshoot stuck PICO shutters, while the Michi, Megan, and Jordan sent some emails from Macy's (not the department store). Later that evening, we all met at Lowell to head to the Discovery Channel Telescope for a tour and some eyepiece observing! The drive out to the DCT is beautiful; this was taken during our windows-down Beach Boys singalong (photo cred: Michi Baubock).

Left to right: Michi's arm, Megan, Jordan, Me

On the tour, Stephen showed us the re-aluminizing chamber, the inside of the pier, the control room, and finally the observing floor. Up there, Jordan found the emergency exit; he claims he was told to open it.

During the eyepiece observing, we got to see structure within Jupiter's zones and belts and see the OIII emission from the Cat's Eye with our own eyes. It was spectacular.

Here are pictures of the four of us in front of DCT,