One of the great things about working in optical astronomy instrumentation was that I got to actually go to observatories.
Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos on La Palma is a wonderful destination since, firstly, you can’t swing a cat without hitting a telescope and, secondly, its within an hours drive of nice beaches , restaurants and bars.
These are a few pictures from a quick trip I took there in 2009.
Roque de los Muchachos – May 2009 
Caldera de Taburiente 
Outside WHT – May 2009 
WHT Instrument Package 
WHT running CANARY with early laser setup – May 2009 
Gran Telescopio Canarias (GranTeCan or GTC) – May 2009 
GranTeCam Secondary Mirror 
GranTeCam Mirror Segments 
GranTeCam Nasmyth Platform 
A patched together picture of the actual instrument