28 October 2011 The Road to Fan Mountain

The University of Virginia Astronomy department hosts two public nights a year at their research observatory on Fan Mountain, about 15 miles south of Charlottesville. We were fortunate enough to get (free) tickets for last night’s event. But unfortunately, the weather had other ideas. Rain in Cville and SNOW up on the mountain. No chance to see any stars or discover new galaxies. We went anyway and got a tour of the observatory and its various telescopes. Very cool. But very surreal to hear sleet and snow pelting the buildings while we were inside.

The drive up the mountain was interesting in and of itself. 3 miles of twisting, narrow dirt road, with a railroad crossing (pictured above) with no signal or barrier.