raise the roof

ok! i have to show some pictures of the naval observatory. we saw two telescopes (12" and 26") and the Master Clock. on the way up to the 12" telescope, almost everyone piled into the elevator - but there were a few of us left, and the guide said we could take the stairs, which turned out to be a marble spiral stair only wide enough for one.

the 12" was cool - we got to see the nebula in orion's knife and saturn with rings. then we went to the master clock, which is, naturally, just banks of oldish computer equipment with a couple of red readouts of numbers - with and without leap seconds. then it was time for the 26" telescope. it was in a large domed room, maybe 40ft in diameter. maybe 35. let's say 12m. (yes, i just paced off my apartment with marching band steps). we were all ready to climb up a little rolling staircase to get to the eyepiece, as we had with the 12 incher, when the guide pushed a button on a remote and THE WHOLE FLOOR MOVED UP. with all of us on it! then, as people of different heights went to look in the telescope, he would adjust the FLOOR.








it was awesome. i don't have a better word than that. we saw the saturn and the same nebula through that telescope, and they were a bit clearer and - er -more nebulous. but the floor was the best. note in the picture that the floor is at doorknob level.