Over-The-Hill Observatory
Builder/Owner: Rich Lohman, Woodacre, CA
“Take a breath and enjoy receiving trillions of atoms of oxygen—most of them the gifts of an exploding Star.” Rick Hanson, Ph, D. neuropsychologist/author of "Buddha’s Brain"
This workshop was funded through a generous grant from the Codelco Copper Company, one of the largest in Chile. The grant was secured through the combined efforts of Dr. Carl Pennypacker and his Chilean colleagues, Carmen Jimenez and Sergio Cabezon. As is common in Chile, we started the workshop with a ceremony put on by Codelco. In the earlier images you will see several of us honored with gifts from the company. Afterward I was interviewed by the local media.
It is easy to see from the pictures that this workshop was considerable larger than the previous events--approximately 50 teachers from many parts of the country. These teachers represented from upper elementary to the high-school level.
Once again we counted on significant Chilean participation. We were indebted to our 4 "teaching assistants", Elizabeth Villanueva, Jorge Munoz, Cecilia Fernandes and Victor Rocha. In addition we had presentations from Pedro Sanhueza (Chilean Office for Protection of Sky Quality), Juan Seguel (astronomer, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory) and Michel Faye (France),
Left: Colleagues at lunch in the fascinating desert town of San Pedro de Atacama. Above: Mi amigo, Hector, with whom I exchanged hats on that same trip.
One evening we were invited out to the small desert town of Chiu Chiu to visit their amateur observatory. Left: Silvia leads a blessing of the site to honor the indigenous ancestors. Right: Luis serenades us with his Andean Flute on the bus ride out.