Latham says that the response to Kirshner's fundraising shows the merit of the Magellan project and Kirshner's enthusiasm for it.

"If Captain K can get a telescope with other people's money, you know it's worth it," Latham says. "Donors are always very discriminating.

Kirshner says he has made many trips to Chile to show the site to possible benefactors.

Earlier in the spring, Kirshner had to leave for Chile for one week, leaving the lectures for his Core class Science A-35, "Matter in the Universe," to the head TF.

"I hate to leave, but I missed two out of 26 lectures," Kirshner says. "I suspect that's a better attendence record than most of the students."

Campanas Cabanas

Although the Carnegie Las Campanas Observatory rests on an arid, uninhabited mountain range 100 miles away from a city, astronomers find it an ideal spot to set up camp.

Still air, fair weather and the 8,000 foot elevation provide perfect conditions for viewing the heavens.

Also, the scientists working at the string of observatories there have made the site into "a bit of a resort" according to Kirshner.

"There is only one road there and it is pleasant, in a way. The buildings are very comfortable, like a little hotel," he says.

He jokes that because the seasons are opposite, Harvard astronomers might head down to a Chilean summer during a Boston winter.