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Mount Wilson Observatory

Mount Wilson

In June 2001, Sally and I took a trip to the Mount Wilson Observatory. Despite the fact the the observatory is famous and relatively close to our house neither Sally nor I had ever been there. Mount Wilson is located in the Angeles Forest up route 2. The air around Los Angeles is very steady and back in 1908 when the observatory was built the mountains near Pasadena were an excellent location for telescopes. The Observatory is still functional today despite the light pollution of Los Angeles. Mount Wilson has the Snow Solar Telescope, The 60 foot Solar Tower and the 150 foot Solar Tower all dedicated to researching the Sun, the closest star to Earth. In 1908 a 60 inch (5 ft) telescope was built on top of Mount Wilson, making it the largest telescope in the world. Later, in 1917, the famous Hooker 100 inch telescope was built, making in the king of telescopes. The Hooker telescope attracted the cream of the astronomy world and was instrumental in some of the most important scientific discoveries. Edwin Hubble used the Hooker scope in the 1920s to prove that spiral nebulae were outside the Milky Way galaxy. His work laid the foundation for almost all modern theories of cosmology including the Big Bang. The Hooker telescope has recently be fitted with adaptive optics, which allow it to produce images that rival the Hubble Space Telescope.

If you go up the the Observatory remember to bring a jacket or sweater in the spring and fall. Even at June we could still see patches of snow at the top of the mountain. Unfortunately, Sally and I were unable to stay look at the Observatory. After we had been there for a couple of hours Randy called us to tell us that one of our cats ( the gutter cat) had been injured and need to be taken to the vet.