During June 25+26, our group was treated to an amazing night at Palomar Observatory. The 200″ observer, Thomas Kupfer, was incredibly generous with our group, and even trained students to operate the double spectrograph where they assisted him with his observations of binary systems – close binaries where a white dwarf star is heating up the atmosphere of its main sequence star companion. It was an amazing evening – with highlights that included watching sunset from the 200″ catwalk, watching the shutter of the 200″ opening with the telescope moving in the darkness as we spun around in the dome, and a great late night research round-table discussion about the students’ research projects. It was an amazing experience! Thanks to the great staff of Palomar and to Thomas Kupfer for hosting our group!
A few of the group made a tour of Huntington Library in San Marino before Palomar. Here are some photos with that group. Jay Pasachoff came along with us on this trip. Below are photographs of the Andromeda Galaxy taken by Edwin Hubble! 
