Category: Reveal

This image contains just 3 of the instruments in this expansive location at 3052m above sea level on the summit of the Haleakalā volcano. In addition to the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (shown), this site is home to the Mees Solar Observatory, Pan-STARRS and the TLRS-4 Laser Ranging System, Faulks Telescope North, and several others.

Those who located this Hawaiian gem before the hint:

• Martin de Bock
• Paul Voestermans
• Lighthouse
• Jesus Rodriguez
• hhgygy
• Graham Hedley
• Phil Ower
• David Kozina
• Andy McConnell
• Garfield
• Eloy Cano
• Robert
• Glenmorren
• Andreas Meister

and after the hint:

• Robin
• Bas van Limpt

Green Bank Telescope (aka GBT) is a fully-steerable radio telescope measuring 100M across, making it one of the largest such telescopes in the world.

GBT sits near the center of the US National Radio Quiet Zone, established in the late 1950s as a way to protect military and scientific radio listening sites. Radio emissions are tightly tracked and managed in the zone, even more so in the 20 mile radius around GBT. Cellphones are not allowed in this zone, radio traffic is limited to emergency, first responders, and law enforcement, and is kept at significantly lower power than one would find elsewhere. Wifi routers are discouraged, and a noisy microwave oven can net you a $50 fine from the FCC.

In addition to its role in project Breakthrough Listen (the search for radio signals indicating intelligent extra-terrestrial life), GBT was used in the discovery of the largest-yet-seen pulsar, PSR J0740+6620

Those who braved the silence to find this site before the hint were:

• Lighthouse
• hhgygy
• Martin de Bock
• Andy McConnell
• Paul Voestermans
• Garfield
• Graham Hedley
• Eloy Cano
• Andreas Meister
• Phil Ower
• Another Em
• Robert
• Bas van Limpt

and after the hint:

• Robin
• LawnBoy
• David Kozina
• Jesus Rodriguez

Built by the Austro-Hungarian military, this former fortress was built on Mount Trebević. The mountaintop provided views of the entire city, and was a key point in military observation. After World War II, this lookout point proved useful again, when the fortress was converted into an astronomical observatory.

By 1972, the site was a world-class research observatory. 3 domes with state-of-the-art telescopes, plus a full photo lab, reference library, and sleeping quarters for the scientists working there.

Then, the 1990s happened. The break up of the Soviet bloc led eventually to the break up of Yugoslavia, and the ethnic tensions that had been held in check for decades exploded in the shelling of Sarajevo. As the site was seen as having strategic advantages militarily, it was hit hard by the Serbian forces, destroying the only astronomical observation site in the country.

There have been a few campaigns to raise funds to bring astronomy back to Bosnia and Herzegovina, but no tangible progress has been made so far.

Those who found the site before the hint:

• Paul Voestermans
• Phil Ower
• Lighthouse
• Martin de Bock
• Eloy Cano
• Robert

And after the hint:

• Garfield
• hhgygy
• LawnBoy
• Jesus Rodriguez
• David Kozina
• Graham Hedley
• Robin
• Bas van Limpt
• Another Em
• Andreas Meister

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) can be found in Dawodang depression, a natural basin in Pingtang County, Guizhou, southwest China.

The telescope was first proposed in 1994, approved in July 2007 with construction beginning in 2011. It was declared fully operation in 2020. Construction involved moving about 9000 residents out of the area to creat a radio-quiet zone.

It has a novel design, using an active surface made of 4,500 panels to form a moving parabola of metal panels in real time. The cabin containing the feed antenna, suspended on cables above the dish, can move automatically by using winches to steer the instrument to receive signals from different directions. It observes at wavelengths of 10 cm to 4.3 m.

Karel used this location while it was under construction in 2014 for contest #369.

Those who found the site (some for the second time) were:

• Lighthouse*
• Eloy Cano*
• hhgygy*
• Andy McConnell
• Martin de Bock
• Paul Voestermans
• Graham Hedley
• Phil Ower*
• LawnBoy
• Gillian B
• Andreas Meister
• Garfield*
• Felix Bossert
• Jesus Rodriguez
• Jeather
• Robin
• Robert
• Bas van Limpt
• David Kozina

and after the hint:

• Ashwini Agrawal

A project of the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), The Kjell Henricksen Observatory (or KHO Svalbard), built starting in 1978, is the premier and northernmost observatory primarily targeted at studying the Aurora Borealis and related scientific endeavors. North of 78°, the observatory is designed to take advantage of the polar night, and thus it’s work is mostly limited to the period between October and May.

Those who froze their backsides off finding this site before the hint were:

• Paul Voestermans
• Lighthouse
• Martin de Bock
• Garfield
• Phil Ower

And after the hint:

• Gillian B
• hhgygy
• Eloy Cano
• Bas van Limpt
• Graham Hedley

Standing and watching like the animal the site is named for, the MeerKAT array is a precursor to the Square Kilometer Array, one of the largest radio telescope projects ever conceived. The current site has 64 coordinated dishes, each one 19.5 M high and weighing in the neighborhood of 40 tons.

But, of course, nothing I say could possibly describe the site better than the cartoon series that was designed by SARAO, the organization that runs the project. You can read all 5 issues here: https://www.sarao.ac.za/outreach/mission-meerkat/

Those who found the site (all before the hint) were:

• Paul Voestermans
• Lighthouse
• Martin de Bock
• Eloy Cano
• hhgygy
• Phil Ower
• Graham Hedley
• Garfield
• Robert
• Bas van Limpt
• Glenmorren
• Andreas Meister

Established in the 10th century, Austrått Manor is the oldest residence associated with Norwegian nobility. The current house was originally built in the mid 1600s, and was the setting for Henrik Ibsen’s third play, “Lady Inger of Ostrat”.

The main house was heavily damaged by fire in 1916. The restoration was not completed until 1961.

The house is open for tours during the spring and summer — it is a 1 hour ferry ride from Trondheim.

A unique feature of this location is it’s stone pyramid, erected in the late 18th century.

Those who found the location before the hint:

• Martin de Bock
• hhgygy
• Paul Voestermans
• Garfield
• Phil Ower
• Lighthouse

And after the hint:

• Graham Hedley

This concludes this series. Congrats to our perfect scorers: Martin de Bock, Paul Voestermans, Garfield and Lighthouse!!

This weeks location is Kennecott, Alaska.

In the summer of 1900, two prospectors, “Tarantula” Jack Smith and Clarence L. Warner, spotted “a green patch far above them in an improbable location for a grass-green meadow.” The green turned out to be malachite, located with chalcocite (aka “copper glance”), and the location of the Bonanza claim. This ended up being one of the mines in the Kennecott/Kennicott complex – the richest known concentration of copper in the world at that time.

The copper was shipped about 200 rail miles away to Cordova via the Copper River and Northwestern Railway. By 1938, the supply of copper was exhausted leaving the mine buildings to decay.

The community of Kennecott serves as a starting point for visitors who now come to see the old mines and what is left of the buildings.

Found the location before the hint:

• Lighthouse
• Martin de Bock
• Phil Ower
• Paul Voestermans
• Garfield

After the hint:

• hhgygy
• Graham Hedley

The Fife Earth Project was supposed to turn the St. Ninians Opencast Mine into Scotland’s biggest piece of landscape art until the money ran out.

Local developers approached American artist and cultural theorist Charles Jencks who has a history of numerous landscape artworks across Scotland: the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, Cells of Life at Jupiter Artland, Crawick Multiverse, and Ueda at the Edinburgh Gallery of Modern Art.

Unfortunately, like many grand plans, the project was forced to scale back due to funding problems. The owner, Scottish Coal, was bankrupted in 2013 and the project was put indefinitely on hold. What remains is a rather bleak and desolate landscape giving an eerie post-industrial feel.

Found before the hint:

• Paul Voestermans
• hhgygy
• Martin de Bock
• Eloy Cano
• Garfield
• Lighthouse
• Phil Ower

Carmel is internationally known for its roundabout network. Since the late 1990’s Carmel has been building and replacing signalized intersections with roundabouts. Carmel now has more than 145 roundabouts, more than any other city in the United States – and only about 15 sets of traffic lights!

Roundabouts move traffic more efficiently and reduce the number of fatalities and serious-injury accidents. They work because of their safety record, their compatibility with the environment, their aesthetics and their ability to make it easier for pedestrians and bicyclists to navigate.

The number of injury accidents in Carmel have reduced by about 80 percent and the number of accidents overall by about 40 percent.

One of the many in Carmel:

Finding the location in a round about way:

• Garfield
• Lighthouse
• hhgygy
• glenmorren
• Paul Voestermans
• Martin de Bock
• Andy McConnell
• LawnBoy
• Phil Ower
• Eloy Cano

And after the hint:

• Luís Filipe Miguel