Our third-year physics students in the School of Mathematics and Physics went on a field trip to La Palma in the Canary Islands between the 14th and 21st of March 2024.
This field trip is in connection with the module “Physics of the Universe”, which is our third-year astrophysics module, and teaches students about a broad range of topics from exomoons to star formation and the universe.
While on the excursion, the students got to see the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory, which gets its name from the rocky mound it sits atop. At 2.42 kilometres above sea level, this location is the highest point on the island of La Palma. Because of its high altitude and dry atmosphere, this observatory has one of the greatest collections of professional telescopes in the world. Among these is the GTC (Gran Telescope Canarias), the biggest aperture (10.4m) telescope in the world.
Students got the opportunity to conduct their own astronomical observations under one of the world’s darkest skies in addition to seeing the observatories during the day. Our students saw a variety of celestial objects, including galaxies, star clusters and Orion’s Nebula.
While visiting the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory we eve got the opportunity to watch the Sunset from above the clouds.
There were plenty of opportunities to tour the island of La Palma, take in some of the local culture in the town of Santa Cruz, visit the neighbouring beach, Plata de los Cancajos, the recent lava flows from the 2021 volcanic eruption, the rainforest to the north east of the island, in addition to setting up telescopes and studying the stars.
Thank you to Ana from La Palma Stars for helping organizing our trips and stargazing during our visit to La Palma: https://lapalmastars.com/en/
Lincoln Astrophysics Team 
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