Happy New Year!

Here is the first sunrise of what we hope is a promising new year. It arrived exactly on schedule at 7:24 am with a certain amount of fanfare and flair. The Director, as is his wont, made the arduous climb up the 842 steps to the solar observatory in the very top of the East tower of the main building here at *The Institute to take the annual sunrise photograph. It being a tradition here at The Institute to record the ushering in of the new year with a photo taken to prove that sunrise did indeed occur and we can all rest easy.

Under an agreement with Lenny at the Better Business Bureau in Florence, Italy and Gino the guy that helped get the telescope out of the building without anyone seeing him at the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (renamed the Museo Galileo in 2010) in Florence, Italy, we have on permanent loan one of Galileo’s original telescopes. Yeah we know, quite a coup on our part.

Simply by duct taping a new D810 Nikon digital camera with 36 megapixels for prettier pictures and nice leather on the body to the eyepiece, we were able to make this image showing the sun peeping over the horizon. Seeing everything was all clear it continued its journey up into the heavens thereby officially starting the New Year. This is an Institute exclusive of which we are justly proud, and unavailable anywhere else on the Interweb. Below is a picture of the telescope prior to our duct taping our camera to it. Well, it does look a little ratty but remember this thing is 400 years old. Once we wrap some black electricians tape around it, it’ll look better.

So having done our duty yet once again, The Director, The Institute, and yours truly the author of this blog, wish you a very Happy New Year. May everything you hoped for this year become a reality. See you soon with a whole new year full of new and exciting adventures, journeys and observations as we continue to bring you all that *The Institute has to offer.

* Note: For those of you unfamiliar with The Institute and what it does, please see the page labeled The Institute on the Menu Bar above. That should explain everything. You shouldn’t have one single question remaining regarding The Institute after reading it. None. For those of you favored few who already know about the Institute, Nevermind. Return to your daily activities. Thank you for your support.