crown prince of spain observes at the william herschel ... · crown prince of spain observes at the...

No. 3, September 2000 THE ING NEWSLETTER

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O n 2 June the Crown Prince of Spain, His Royal Highness Don Felipede Borbón visited the observatory on La Palma to lay the first stoneof the Spanish 10-m telescope GranTeCan. This important event was

celebrated under the cloudless Canarian skies with many important spectatorspresent. The night before His Royal Highness visited the William HerschelTelescope not only to witness observing and meet astronomers, but also tocarry out observations himself ! He took an image of the nearby Whirlpoolgalaxy Messier 51 with the Prime Focus Camera. This was a memorableevent for all those present and ING.

The accompanying pictures were taken during the visit on 1 June to theWHT and the �First Stone� ceremony of the GranTeCan Telescope thefollowing day. ¤

Javier Méndez (jma@ing.iac.es)

Crown Prince of Spain Observes at theWilliam Herschel Telescope

Javier Méndez (Public Relations Officer, ING)

HRH Don Felipe in the WHT dome.Chris Benn (WHT Manager) explainsthe telescope optics and instruments.Picture credit: Fotos Dalda.

During the visit, HRH Don Felipe showedhis interest in astronomy by asking manyquestions. The visiting group alsoincluded Francisco Sánchez (DirectorIAC), José Miguel Rodríguez (GranTeCanProject Scientist) and Román Rodríguez(President of the Canary Islands). Picturecredit: Fotos Dalda.

Image of M51 Galaxy obtained by HRHDon Felipe using the new mosaic PrimeFocus camera on the WHT. The imagewas a 300s exposure through the B filter.

Following the visit to the dome, HRHDon Felipe met the observer for thenight, Prof Richard Ellis, in the controlroom. Picture credit: Fotos Dalda.

Richard Ellis explaining his observingprogramme to look for the CosmicShear to HRH Don Felipe. Picturecredit: Fotos Dalda.

10-m GranTeCan telescope ‘First StoneCeremony’. The dome of the WHT isvisible in the background. Picturecredit: IAC.

Chris Benn presents HRH Don Felipewith a collection of discovery imagesfrom the ING telescopes. Picture credit:Fotos Dalda.

Shown on the next page is theWhirpool, or M51, Galaxy. This is a

‘true-colour’ composite of B, V and Rimages obtained with the WHT Prime

Focus Camera. The B image is the oneacquired by HRH Don Felipe. Picture

credit: Javier Méndez and Nik Szymanek.

Arriving at the observatory. Picturecredit: IAC.