Sunrise on Research

Steven Hale from the University of Birmingham has been named overall winner of the #TechniciansMakeitHappen competition. The winning image captures a sunrise over the world-famous Mt Wilson Observatory in Los Angeles. The competition was launched in 2016 by The Gatsby Foundation to encourage more young people to consider a career as a technician, as over 70,000 roles go unfilled each year in the UK. More than 300 photos were entered into the competition, showcasing the amazing things technicians build, make and create – from space equipment to sports kit, concerts and cars.

Image caption: "Sunrise above the clouds at Mount Wilson Observatory in California marks First Light on a new automated solar telescope. The image shows a new robotic mount installed at the top of the observatory 60-foot tower, where two telescopes capture light from the Sun. The telescope on the right houses a camera using intelligent machine vision to guide the mount following the movement of the Sun. The telescope on the left transmits sunlight along an optical fibre into a solar spectrometer in the observing room below. The system measures solar oscillations – sound waves that pass through the very core of the Sun and reveal the secrets of its deep interior that would otherwise be hidden behind the bright solar surface."