a small (but growing!) photo gallery:

a pretty flower

I was walking around near Hale-Pohaku, the mid-mountain facilities on Mauna Kea (the sister mountain to Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii) when found myself in a field of these flowers. They're really eerie, 'cause they stand about 3 feet tall and look like something straight out of the X-files. They're really pretty close up, assuming they don't spew nerve toxins at you. Watch your back.

fog

Also shot from mid-mountain on Mauna Kea. Astronomers prefer to take data in conditions like these, because the fog helps keep the telescope optics lubricated.

orion

A photo of Orion I took in 7/95. This is actually 3 30-second images (since my camera has a max exposure of 30 seconds, and I don't yet own one of those "hold the button down forever" remotes). Just a 35-mm SLR on a clear night in Santa Fe.

Since I'm an astronomer, I'm supposed to tell you all kinds of fancy things about these stars now. The bright orange one in the upper left corner (Orion's right shoulder) is Betelgeuse, and it is a red giant. It's actually a system of three stars, although the other two are so dim you can't see them (one is so near to Betelgeuse that is kind of drags through the chromosphere and dust envelope of the main star).

The really red thing that is part of Orion's "sword" (he he) in the middle of the picture about 2/3 of the way down is actually the Orion nebula. There's a lot of stars forming in this region, as well as tremendous amounts of dust (although the nebula is still a far better vacuum than we can make anywhere on earth).

That white blob on the left edge that looks kind of like a dust speck is actually my mother ship. It was dropping off some supplies for my DNA splicing experiments with your species when I snapped this photo. Note that there's only one image of the vessel, indicating that it was moving --- it was only present for one of the 3 exposures.

a shot of waikiki

Took this one from a friend's apartment building (the Marco Polo --- yes, it has a swimming pool) across the Ala Wai (a smelly canal that leads out to sea) from Waikiki. A great time of night to hook up with the local working women.

CFHT

I took this from the top of Mauna Kea (13,700 feet - gasp!) on the Big Island of Hawaii near sunset. It's the Canada, France, Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) --- don't ask me how they got all those guys to cooperate. I think I took it from the catwalk on the 88" telescope. If you ever observe on the CFHT, bring your appetite, because their freezer is loaded with junk food, and they don't take American Express.

my friend Kris

This is right near the top of the Sacred Falls hike. We made the mistake of going on a Sunday afternoon, when there were a TON of people. I don't think I've ever heard so many people complaining about mud. It was beautiful up there, but I think I got some water in my mouth swimming in the waterfall pool (which was very cold) because I got EXTREMELY ill 24 hours later. We're talking fever, vomiting, diarrhea and even hives. Yuck. But the hike was fun!

my friends Kris and Elizabeth

This is also near sacred falls. I'm not quite sure what Elizabeth is doing there, but it looks like she's having fun. I guess Kris doesn't like to smile for pictures. That's okay, because we still love him.

Chad Trujillo
email: trujillo at gemini dot edu