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SouthwestBlend.com presents the Palomar Observatory at Palomar Mountain, California. |
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Just two hours from San Diego and three hours from Los Angeles, is one of the most amazing scientific attractions in the world--the Palomar Observatory, home of the famous 200 inch Hale Telescope. (It also houses the 48 inch Oschin Telescope, the 18 inch Schmidt telescope and a 60 inch reflecting telescope.)
The history behind this valuable contribution to support the study of asteroids, comets, stars and galaxies beyond our own, is truly remarkable. At the time of the building of the Hale telescope, it was the largest telescope ever created. Techniques to develop the casting of a 200 inch Pyrex glass disk (the size of the mirror used in the telescope) had to be investigated. The 20 ton glass disk took eight months to cool and had to be shipped by rail from New York to Pasadena. Once there, the glass had to undergo grinding and polishing to transform it into the precise shape necessary for astronomical observations. This process was interrupted by World War II so was not completed until 1947. At the end of the process the finished mirror weighed 14.5 tons. In the meantime, construction of a building to house the telescope was completed on Palomar Mountain. This housing including a 1,000 ton rotating dome. By June 3, 1948, the Hale telescope was tested, adjusted, working and dedicated to the memory of George Hale. Now, astronomers use the telescope on every clear night, investigating the universe, searching for answers. Palomar Mountain is a beautiful place to visit and visitors may tour the observatory and see the Hale telescope. The observatory is open daily (except December 24-25) from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. The gift shop is open daily from July 1 to August 31and then open only on weekends the remainder of the year. Palomar Observatory is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology and is a research facility dedicated to that function.
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Palomar
Observatory, Palomar Mountain