The clocks went back an hour last night, which gives me time to write the second part of the Garching Open Day post. Although Pedro, if you’re reading this and comparing it with my timesheet, please be assured that each LiveBlog post really does take 8 – 10 hours and requires at least £50 in expenses. Honest.

DISASTER! The Galilean Nights poster has fallen off the ESO front door. This is a job for Catherine and I. What a team, one holding the poster and the other using sellotape (or non-branded equivalent). Mission: ACCOMPLISHED.

Next we raided the cafeteria and were overjoyed to find Mrs. Boffin’s Belgian waffles up for grabs. Two hands were required for consumption, so no photos exist of this period of gorging.

The queues to the children’s section were impenetrable. So sorry ESO science writing intern Claudia, as I was unable to keep my promise of visiting before 3pm. This photo was taken as evidence:

I’m not too sure why it’s all adults queuing up… They must love colouring-in too.

So, where within the bowels of ESO to go next? Hmm, an arrow, the universally accepted symbol for “follow”.

So follow I did.

It must be leading somewhere exciting.

And another. Oh no, is it actually leading me into a trap, or something?

Yes, it is a trap! It led to a small room where Pedro and Raquel were flogging copies of Eyes on the Skies. This film has the best subtitles ever seen on a DVD.

They seem to be enjoying it. But why haven’t they put subtitles on? Someone put the subtitles on. Then make them appreciate the split-second accurate timings. Yes, I said MAKE THEM APPRECIATE IT.

Thanks, Lars. I recommend Slovenian.

This guy set up shop in a corridor and was selling rocks. Is he allowed to do that?

Back to the main entrance. There’s Britt and Deputy Douglas on the right, manning the table. Britt’s Facebook status update said that 3800 people visited ESO for the Open Day. I wish I could get all my facts and figures from Facebook status updates. Britt makes a guaranteed success of any project she organises. Let’s hope she never decides to organise THE END OF THE WORLD.

Douglas is looking suspiciously at that little girl. Has she taken more than her fair share of ESO brochures? Call security, Douglas. Can’t have any trouble makers here today.

Another arrow? I just can’t bring myself to disobey them.

An infrared camera, cooool! I wonder if the ESO scientists use it to “play Predator”.

Looks like child labour was used to help with the print outs.

He’s on security duty, armed with scissors. That brochure-hoarding girl had best not try it on here.

It’s Team Hubble! Hello, Team Hubble. You may remember Sharkey (camera right) from such webcasts as “Around the World in 80 Telescopes”.

Right, let’s have another go at getting to the children’s corner.

Barging past aggressively worked well. Nadine, from the Cosmic Diary, was there. You may also remember her from such webcasts as “Around the World in 80 Telescopes”. The celebrities are all out the the Open Day! I photocopied some colouring-in sheets for Nadine. People actually gathered around the photocopier, thinking it was some astronomical device that I was going to explain. My impromptu paper table, (top of filing cabinet) also interested passers-by. One group even took a copy of each sheet, adding them to their collection of brochures.

The child may (or may not) be thinking, “I do not wish to be photographed if you are using a wide-angle lens, for I find the distortions to be unflattering.”

Just time left to check out some other Open Doors events nearby.

Must… resist… cafeteria…

The Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astrophysik were running lots of activities. Some were suitable for children:

Others were not suitable for children. Or LiveBloggers:

Telescopes proved to be very popular, despite the bad weather. A bit like English seaside holidays.

STOP TEMPTING ME:

6pm, the established end-time, was nearing. Cat and I legged it to Technical University of Munich’s mathematics department, to fulfil a long-time ambition of Cat’s: have a go on their slides.

Unfortunately the queue was both long and static. Never mind, this unfathomable exhibit kept us entertained:

I have absolutely no idea what it’s about.

We got back to ESO as the UK flag was being packed away. Is this a protest at the poor LiveBlog quality? We can only assume so.

THE END. That was an intense 8 – 10 hours of blogging. Plus £50 expenses.

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LiveBlog Navigation-a-Tron 5000

06 Nov: Well that’s that, then
06 Nov: The Bangalore Astronomical Society are this –> ACE
06 Nov: He called me Leo again
01 Nov: Hooray for Mrs. Tykoski
01 Nov: Two events for the price of one
01 Nov: Galileo-tastic
01 Nov: And relaaaaax
26 Oct: Hi ho! Hi ho! It’s off to the Presidential Observatory we go!
25 Oct: Science stayed in Garching a bit longer <– You’re on this page. True story.
24 Oct: Science has arrived in Garching
23 Oct: Remote astronomy: quite possibly the best idea ever
23 Oct: EurAstro: the society that never disappoints
23 Oct: Bucharest gets ready for a cup of hot tea and a journey to Jupiter
22 Oct: Astronomy on a budget
22 Oct: Onward, to Pune
22 Oct: The press release is out
22 Oct: Portugal: another possible holiday location
22 Oct: Stargazing at Blackrock Castle Observatory, Cork
22 Oct: Debra got a message through
22 Oct: Galilean Nights says THANKS to Alexander Prokofiev…
22 Oct: The Solar System, Scottish style
22 Oct: Delicious, delicious astronomy
20 Oct: Munich weather forecast
20 Oct: Mystery event
20 Oct: New Zealanders look UP
20 Oct: We’re not in Kansas anymore. Except we are.
19 Oct: It’s getting more exotic!
18 Oct: When gas-well drillers and astronomy collide
15 Oct: Just when you thought you were safe…

Confused? You should be. Go to the Galilean Nights website and see what the fuss is all about.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 9:33 am and is filed under Galilean Nights, LiveBlog, Loads of pictures, giga-post. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.