The Machinery of Night

Posted 9:57 PM by Angie Schultz

Foto Friday: From Mees to You

(Yes, the title sucks. I have a headache. So deal.)

This is my favorite photo of the Mees:

Mees Solar Observatory, Maui
September 2008

By that you may infer that I have other pictures of the Mees, and, yes, you'll be seeing them.

I put a bunch of photos, including this one, on my computer at work today, and it looked fine. On my laptop screen it looks washed out, but I resisted the temptation to tart it up. While I was in Houston I spent hours adjusting the colors on my photos with our old Hitachi CRT monitor, so they ought to be pretty good.

The Mees is a wonderful old observatory in the classic style, smelling of machines, old books, dehydrating wood, and dust.

And it has a nice picture of Mees. Sadly, the International Photography Hall of Fame does not. (But here's one.)

The telescope was named after Mees because he donated a bunch of Kodak stock to get a satellite tracking station (and thus, astronomy) started on Haleakala. Note that the tracking station was completed (except for the camera) in early '57, whereas the surprise launch of Sputnik did not take place until October of that year. Hmmm.

Anyhow, here we come full circle, for the above photo was taken with my last (or next to last) roll of Kodachrome.

Labels: Foto Friday, Hawaii