(editor’s note: Potomac Death Wave arrived on my desk today, as promised. I’ve decided to hold it off until tomorrow and instead finish with France)
Hi Mike,
The French do seem to have a “thing” about towers. From the bottom, Meudon solar Tower looks like a flying saucer balaced on a stick–an anomalous structure in the midst of traditional domes. It was built high to get above the ground turbulence so the solar astronomers could take good pictures of the sun. And it does provide a place to take good pictures, but it’s no longer-state of-the-art.Â
A few of us at the Meudon meeting wanted to go up there for the view, and the organizers obliged. After looking at the spectrograph at the bottom of the tower, we took the elevator up to the top to see where the mirrors reflect sunlight downwards.
The top is a flat disk with a blindingly white roof. In the middle of it are two mirrors (a heliostat or siderostat) that rotate to catch the sunlight and reflect it downward to the spectrograph, where the light is split up into its colors, so that images showing two spatial dimensions and one color dimension can be made.
I took a picture of the group studying the mirrors, then spotted myself in the double reflection.
–rakkity
BIrdBrain
I also have also noticed the thing the French have about towers….always thought it was a Machismo thing…
Love the description of this and your photo. Could the average-joe-tourist go here? Or just special people, like yourself?
rakkity
Unfortunately the average Jacques or Juliette is not allowed unexcourted into the area of the domes at all. They really aren’t equipped to handle visitors. However, the next time you’re in Paris, let me know, and I can give you some names of people to ask for permission to visit.