A History of Palomar Observatory

I always thought the mount for the palomar telescope looked badass, nothing against the mounts for other large telescopes, they are all engineering masterpieces in there own way. But palomar is this intimidating battleship gray equatorial mount, a very cool design I have seen no where else.

If in the area I highly recommend taking the pilgrimage to visit a temple of science like palomar, it is very neat to see the beast with your own two eyes.

I thought the 10 month cooling period to anneal the blank was incredible, but then I read it took 13 years to grind and polish away 4½ tons of glass to make it parabolic (originally estimated to take 7 years). Project of a generation!

“The Perfect Machine” by Ronald Florence is the definitive history of Palomar. It’s surprisingly gripping.

Remarkably, the 200” was the largest telescope in the world for half a century!

I remember going to the Palomar Observatory as a kid on a field trip and they showed us the footage of Shoemaker–Levy 9 colliding with Jupiter. That is probably my earliest memory of my interest in science and space. I also remember thinking it was so cool that they sent Shoemaker's ashes to the moon. The things that will stick with you decades later.

"The Glass Giant of Palomar" was an early history of the Observatory that told the story of Palomar and the earlier observatories built by George Ellery Hale. Important book for a young kid in kindling an interest in astronomy and science in general.

Visiting the Mount Wilson Observatory and seeing the plate steel and riveted construction of the 100 inch telescope and seeing the Palomar telescope with its smooth welded construction illustrated for me the rapid advance in technology during that period.

The last time my buddies and I rode up the mountain the observatory was closed :-[. Still worth it for the great twisties and views!