Location:    Palomar Mountain, California

Living and working in the "shadow" of Palomar Mountain has afforded me many trips to the Palomar Observatory.  The observatory is one of the most awesome places I have ever been.  Even if you are not an astronomer, you will still be awe inspired in the presence of the Hale Telescope.   These are just a few of the pictures from various visits and tours I have been lucky to have been a part of.  Enjoy!

A terrific image of the telescope dome with the shutters open. (photo not taken by me)

A fisheye image of the entire inner dome.   At one time, this was the largest telescope in the world.  It is truly an impressive testament to human engineering! (photo not taken by me)

This is a photo taken from the "catwalk" that runs along the outer rim of the telescope dome.  In the trees you can see the top of one of the other smaller telescopes.  Below is part of the interferometer that is currently being tested.

This is me sitting at the old console of the telescope.  This is where the "night assistant" would control the movement of the telescope throughout the night's observing run.

Nowadays, the telescope is operated by a series of computers in a separate control room away from the telescope itself.

This photo was taken during a luncheon to celebrate the 50th anniversary of "first light" for the telescope in 1948.   It was quite an experience eating lunch beneath the giant mirror support structure.   The temperature inside of the dome is maintained at the normal night-time temperature to optimize the operation of the telescope.  It was so cold inside the dome that warm canned sodas and water were simply placed out on a table but became as cold as if they were found in the depths of a refrigerator!

This is a close-up of the spectrograph attached to the cassigrain opening of the telescope.

This is Mike, he was one of the technicians that frequently is our host for the Astronomy 197 class tours of Palomar Observatory. (photo not taken by me!)