Undergraduate ALFALFA Workshop Photos
July 6-7, 2005     Union College
Tom Balonek's collection

During the workshop, the students conducted a remote observing session with the Arecibo telescope, following the standard ALFALFA protocol. Here's the evidence....
Click on the image to see a larger version.


Martha explains how we position the telescope for ALFALFA.

Martha, Sabrina and Brian check that the telescope is in position.

Brian calls the telescope operator to get the ok to start observing.

Sabrina explains some of the practical details of observing.

We set everything up in the telescope control interface program CIMA.

Brian is all set and ready to go. The clock ticks down. We hold our breath...

The first drift scan starts. QUICKLOOK shows that we've got spectra!

We observe in ALFALFA mode for about 90 minutes.

Brian explains some of the subtleties of ALFALFA observing.

Sabrina keeps track of the observing and writes the log file.

Everyone watches as the data are calibrated and bandpass corrected.

Riccardo explains all the nuances of the reduction pipeline....
....Or perhaps he was telling another story about Joe the Photon and Rosamond the Cosmic Ray Electron...


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