title SXR208: Observing the Universe, an Astronomy Residential, Mallorca - 19th-26th September 2009 intro Nosher - as part of what was intended to be a degree in physics - signs up for a week-long residential course doing Astronomy at the Observatorio Astronómio de Mallorca, up in the hills near the small town of Costitx. It's not exactly a holiday, as the course starts at 16:30 when the coach arrives to pick us up, and finishes at about 05:30 - 13 hour days, which don't leave a lot of time for anything else apart from sleep. It's good fun though, despite the variable weather, and there's even some added frisson given by the challenging conditions and the need to swing 12" Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain scopes on target with only a few minutes between clouds. imgp9748 Fred plays around outside The Windmill at Stansted imgp9750 Fred looks at planes imgp9753 A Ruinair flight gets q food load-up imgp9758 The engine says "no people", which is fair enough imgp9764 Fred and Isobel on the plane imgp9768 The coast of Mallorca imgp9770 A view of the fields and hills of Mallorca imgp9774 An Air Berlin Airbridge imgp9775 Fred and Isobel wait for bags at Mallorca Airport imgp9778 An abandoned bag does the rounds imgp9780 We arrive at the Planetarium imgp9783 We scope out meteorites at the observatory imgp9786 A view of the observatory imgp9791 The Mily Way in a ten-minute photo imgp9793 Scoping out Planispheres by torchlight imgp9795 The observatory is under the flightpath imgp9857 The Planetarium imgp9858 Students hang out imgp9871 Sunset-lit stormclouds on the horizon imgp9879 Sunset by the planetarium imgp9887 Inside the computer lab imgp9889 We make observations on a telescope imgp9960 Sitting around reading up on projects imgp9961 Nosher's group check planispheres imgp9967 Back on the motorway between Costix and Palma imgp0123 A view of Mallorca imgp0125 A reflected car on the way to Costitx imgp0126 Analysing data in the lab imgp0128 Some of the observing domes imgp0130 One of the telescopes imgp0135 The observatories in the olives imgp0139 Midnight snack in the canteen imgp0142 A 30-minute shot towards Polaris imgp0145 Another light trail on the motorway from Costitx imgp0147 Vibrating lights on the motorway imgp0159 Kids play in the street in Costitx imgp0161 Costix street life imgp0162 The coach has to squeeze through the narrow streets imgp0163 Olive trees imgp0165 A sign to the observatori imgp0166 Prickly Pear cacti imgp0168 The astronomy crowd imgp0171 The group after the photo imgp0177 The group mills around after the photo session imgp0180 Tutorial in the planetarium imgp0181 1.5 hour star trail pointing towards Polaris imgp0182 A much-needed beer imgp0183 Hotel balconies imgp0184 An end-of-course beer imgp0185 Post-course debriefing imgp0190 Hanging around at the hotel imgp0256 Headlights: what does it mean? imgp0258 A room at the airport is full of interesting stuff imgp0262 Ars(e)