QUICK FACTS
Created Jan 0001
Status Verified Sarcastic
Type Existential Dread
Keywords
palomar mountains, san diego county, california, jet propulsion laboratory, yale university, hale telescope, bta-6, first light

Palomar Observatory

“For the instrumental track, see Declaration of Conformity (Wellwater Conspiracy...”

Contents
  • 1. Overview
  • 2. Etymology
  • 3. Cultural Impact

Palomar Observatory: A Beacon of Astronomical Discovery

For the instrumental track, see Declaration of Conformity (Wellwater Conspiracy album) .

Observatory Overview

Palomar Observatory, a premier astronomical research facility, stands majestically in the Palomar Mountains of San Diego County, California , United States. Owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the observatory has been a cornerstone of astronomical research since its inception. Research time at Palomar is granted to Caltech and its research partners, which include the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Yale University , and the National Astronomical Observatories of China .

Telescopes and Instruments

Palomar Observatory is home to several cutting-edge telescopes, each contributing uniquely to the field of astronomy:

  • Hale Telescope: The 200-inch (5.1 m) Hale Telescope is the crown jewel of Palomar Observatory. It was the largest telescope in the world from 1949 until 1975, when the Russian BTA-6 telescope saw first light . The Hale Telescope has been instrumental in numerous discoveries, including quasars and the study of stellar nucleosynthesis .

  • Samuel Oschin Telescope: The 48-inch (1.2 m) Samuel Oschin telescope is dedicated to the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). It has been pivotal in the discovery of dwarf planets such as Eris and Sedna .

  • Palomar 60-inch Telescope: The 60-inch (1.5 m) telescope operates fully robotically and has been crucial in the discovery of the first brown dwarf . It currently hosts the SED Machine integral field spectrograph instrument used as part of ZTF transient followup and classification.

  • Gattini-IR Telescope: The 30-centimetre (12-inch) Gattini-IR telescope is designed for near-infrared observations, contributing to the study of transient astronomical events.

History

Hale’s Vision for Large Telescopes

The visionary behind Palomar Observatory, astronomer George Ellery Hale , was renowned for building the world’s largest telescope four times in succession. In 1928, Hale published an article proposing the 200-inch Palomar reflector, inviting the American public to learn about how large telescopes could help answer fundamental questions about the universe. Hale followed this article with a letter to the International Education Board of the Rockefeller Foundation dated April 16, 1928, requesting funding for this ambitious project. In his letter, Hale stated:

“No method of advancing science is so productive as the development of new and more powerful instruments and methods of research. A larger telescope would not only furnish the necessary gain in light space-penetration and photographic resolving power, but permit the application of ideas and devices derived chiefly from the recent fundamental advances in physics and chemistry.”

Hale Telescope

The 200-inch telescope is named after astronomer and telescope builder George Ellery Hale . It was built by Caltech with a $6 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, using a Pyrex blank manufactured by Corning Glass Works under the direction of George McCauley. Dr. J.A. Anderson was the initial project manager, assigned in the early 1930s. The telescope saw first light on January 26, 1949, targeting NGC 2261 . The American astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble was the first astronomer to use the telescope.

Architecture and Design

The Art Deco architecture of the Observatory’s buildings, including the dome of the 200-inch Hale Telescope, was developed by Russell W. Porter . Porter was also responsible for much of the technical design of the Hale Telescope and Schmidt Cameras, producing a series of cross-section engineering drawings. Porter worked on the designs in collaboration with many engineers and Caltech committee members. Max Mason directed the construction, and Theodore von Karman was involved in the engineering.

Directors

The observatory has been led by a series of distinguished directors:

Palomar Observatory and Light Pollution

Much of the surrounding region of Southern California has adopted shielded lighting to reduce the light pollution that would potentially affect the observatory. This effort is crucial for maintaining the observatory’s ability to conduct high-quality astronomical observations.

Research

Palomar Observatory remains an active research facility, operating multiple telescopes every clear night and supporting a large international community of astronomers who study a broad range of research topics.

Hale Telescope Research

The Hale Telescope remains in active research use and operates with a diverse instrument suite of optical and near-infrared spectrometers and imaging cameras at multiple foci . The Hale also operates with a multi-stage, high-order adaptive optics system to provide diffraction -limited imaging in the near-infrared. Key historical science results with the Hale include cosmological measurement of the Hubble flow , the discovery of quasars as the precursor of Active Galactic Nuclei , and studies of stellar populations and stellar nucleosynthesis .

Oschin and 60-inch Telescopes Research

The Oschin and 60-inch telescopes operate robotically and together support a major transient astronomy program, the Zwicky Transient Facility .

The Oschin was created to facilitate astronomical reconnaissance and has been used in many notable astronomical surveys —among them are:

POSS-I

The initial Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS or POSS-I), sponsored by the National Geographic Institute, was completed in 1958. The first plates were exposed in November 1948, and the last in April 1958. This survey was performed using 14-inch 2 (6-degree 2 ) blue-sensitive (Kodak 103a-O) and red-sensitive (Kodak 103a-E) photographic plates on the Oschin Telescope. The survey covered the sky from a declination of +90° (celestial north pole ) to −27° and all right ascensions and had a sensitivity to +22 magnitudes (about 1 million times fainter than the limit of human vision). A southern extension extending the sky coverage of the POSS to −33° declination was shot in 1957–1958. The final POSS I dataset consisted of 937 plate pairs.

The Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) produced images based on the photographic data developed in the course of POSS-I.

J.B. Whiteoak, an Australian radio astronomer, used the same instrument to extend POSS-I data south to −42° declination . Whiteoak’s observations used the same field centers as the corresponding northern declination zones. Unlike POSS-I, the Whiteoak extension consisted only of red-sensitive (Kodak 103a-E) photographic plates.

POSS-II

The Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II, sometimes Second Palomar Sky Survey) was performed in the 1980s and 1990s and made use of better, faster films and an upgraded telescope. The Oschin Schmidt was upgraded with an achromatic corrector and provisions for autoguiding. Images were recorded in three wavelengths: blue (IIIaJ. 480 nm), red (IIIaF, 650 nm), and near-infrared (IVN, 850 nm) plates. Observers on POSS II included C. Brewer, D. Griffiths, W. McKinley, J. Dave Mendenhall, K. Rykoski, Jeffrey L. Phinney, and Jean Mueller (who discovered over 100 supernovae by comparing the POSS I and POSS II plates). Mueller also discovered several comets and minor planets during the course of POSS II, and the bright Comet Wilson 1986 was discovered by then-graduate-student C. Wilson early in the survey.

Until the completion of the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS ), POSS II was the most extensive wide-field sky survey. When completed, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey will surpass POSS I and POSS II in depth, although the POSS covers almost 2.5 times more area on the sky.

POSS II also exists in digitized form (that is, the photographic plates were scanned) as part of the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS).

QUEST

The multi-year POSS projects were followed by the Palomar Quasar Equatorial Survey Team (QUEST) Variability survey. This survey yielded results that were used by several projects, including the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking project. Another program that used the QUEST results discovered 90377 Sedna on 14 November 2003, and around 40 Kuiper belt objects. Other programs that share the camera are Shri Kulkarni ’s search for gamma-ray bursts (this takes advantage of the automated telescope’s ability to react as soon as a burst is seen and take a series of snapshots of the fading burst), Richard Ellis ’s search for supernovae to test whether the universe’s expansion is accelerating or not, and S. George Djorgovski’s quasar search.

The camera for the Palomar QUEST Survey was a mosaic of 112 charge-coupled devices (CCDs) covering the whole (4° × 4°) field of view of the Schmidt telescope. At the time it was built, it was the largest CCD mosaic used in an astronomical camera. This instrument was used to produce The Big Picture, the largest astronomical photograph ever produced. The Big Picture is on display at Griffith Observatory .

Current Research

Current research programs on the 200-inch Hale Telescope cover the range of the observable universe, including studies on near-Earth asteroids , outer Solar System planets, Kuiper Belt objects, star formation , exoplanets , black holes and x-ray binaries , supernovae and other transient source followup, and quasars /Active Galactic Nuclei .

The 48-inch Samuel Oschin Schmidt Telescope operates robotically and supports a new transient astronomy sky survey, the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF).

The 60-inch telescope operates robotically and supports ZTF by providing rapid, low-dispersion optical spectra for initial transient classification using the for-purpose Spectral Energy Distribution Machine (SEDM) integral field spectrograph .

Visiting and Public Engagement

Greenway Visitor Center at Palomar Observatory, with a gift shop

Palomar Observatory is an active research facility. However, selected observatory areas are open to the public during the day. Visitors can take self-guided tours of the 200-inch telescope daily from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The observatory is open 7 days a week, year-round, except for December 24 and 25 and during times of inclement weather. Guided tours of the 200-inch Hale Telescope dome and observing area are available Saturdays and Sundays from April through October. Behind-the-scenes tours for the public are offered through the community support group, Palomar Observatory Docents.

Palomar Observatory also has an on-site museum—the Greenway Visitor Center, containing observatory and astronomy-relevant exhibits, a gift shop, and hosts periodic public events.

For those unable to travel to the observatory, Palomar provides an extensive virtual tour that provides virtual access to all the major research telescopes on-site and the Greenway Center and has extensive embedded multimedia to provide additional context. Similarly, the observatory actively maintains an extensive website and YouTube channel to support public engagement.

The observatory is located off State Route 76 in northern San Diego County, California , two hours’ drive from downtown San Diego and three hours’ drive from central Los Angeles (UCLA , LAX airport). Those staying at the nearby Palomar Campground can visit Palomar Observatory by hiking 2.2 miles (3.5 km) up Observatory Trail. Notably, Ben Burt , sound designer for the original Star Wars, recorded various sounds at the Palomar Observatory, including motors and the shutters on the dome, to add background sounds for the Death Star .

Climate

Palomar has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csa).

Selected Books

  • 1983 – Calvino, Italo . Mr. Palomar . Torino: G. Einaudi. ISBN 9788806056797 ; OCLC 461880054 (in Italian)
  • 1987 – Preston, Richard . First Light . New York: Atlantic Monthly Press.
  • ISBN 9780871132000 ; OCLC 16004290
  • 1994 – Florence, Ronald. The Perfect Machine. New York: HarperCollins.
  • ISBN 9780060182052 ; OCLC 611549937
  • 2010 – Brown, Michael E. How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming. Spiegel & Grau.
  • ISBN 0-385-53108-7 ; OCLC 495271396
  • 2020 – Schweizer, Linda. Cosmic Odyssey. MIT Press
  • ISBN 978-0-262-04429-5

See Also