Mount Wilson Observatory | | | Organization | Carnegie Institution of Washington | | Location | Mount Wilson, Los Angeles County, California | | Coordinates | N 34 13' 21.2873", W 118 03' 42.0624" | | Altitude | 1,742 m (5,715 ft) | | Weather | (# of clear nights, humidity) | | Webpage | http://www.mtwilson.edu/vis/index.php | | Telescopes | | Hale Telescope | 60" reflector | | Hooker Telescope | 100" reflector | | Infrared Spatial Interferometer | 3 65" reflectors | | CHARA | 6 40" reflectors | The Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO) is an astronomical observatory in Los Angeles County, California. The MWO is located on Mount Wilson, a 5,715 foot (1,742 m) peak in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, northeast of Los Angeles. Image File history File links Information_icon. ...
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Image File history File links Download high resolution version (554x904, 147 KB) The 100 inch (2. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (554x904, 147 KB) The 100 inch (2. ...
Edwin Hubble Edwin Powell Hubble (November 20, 1889 – September 28, 1953) was an American astronomer, noted for his discovery of galaxies beyond the Milky Way and the cosmological redshift. ...
Accelerating universe is a term for the idea that our universe is undergoing divergent rapid expansion. ...
Image File history File links Mount_Wilson_California_Map. ...
Image File history File links Mount_Wilson_California_Map. ...
MolÄ—tai Astronomical Observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial and/or celestial events. ...
Los Angeles County is a county in California and is the most populous county in the United States. ...
Mount Wilson is one of the more prominent peaks in the San Gabriel Mountains, part of the Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County, California. ...
San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains are located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, USA. The mountain range forms a barrier between the Greater Los Angeles Area and the Mojave Desert. ...
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. ...
Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area City 1,290. ...
Mount Wilson has naturally steadier air than any North America location, making it ideal for astronomy and in particular for interferometry. The growth of greater Los Angeles has limited the ability of the observatory to engage in deep space astronomy, but it remains a productive center with many new and old instruments in use for science. A giant Hubble mosaic of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant. ...
This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...
The Greater Los Angeles Area is the suburban area around the city of Los Angeles, California. ...
It was first directed by George Ellery Hale, who had built the 40 inch (1 m) telescope at the Yerkes Observatory. The Mount Wilson Solar Observatory was first funded by the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1904, two years after its own founding, but that foundation is no longer a financial supporter of the observatory.[citation needed] George Ellery Hale, Sc. ...
The Yerkes Observatory is an astronomy observatory of the University of Chicago, in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. ...
The Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) is a foundation established by Andrew Carnegie in 1902 to support scientific research. ...
1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...
60 inch (1.5 m) Hale telescope George Ellery Hale received the 60 inch (1.5 m) blank mirror, cast by Saint-Gobain in France, in 1896 as a gift from his father, William Hale. It was a glass disk 7 1/2 inches (191 mm) thick and weighing 1900 pounds (860 kg). However it was not until 1904 that Hale received funding from the Carnegie Institution to build an observatory. Grinding began in 1905 and took two years. The mounting and structure for the telescope was built in San Francisco and barely survived the 1906 earthquake. Transporting the pieces to the top of Mount Wilson was an enormous task, and a special electric truck was built to carry the material up. 'First light' was December 8, 1908. It was at the time the largest operational telescope in the world. St. ...
1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
William Hale, the so-called King of the Osage Hills, was a cattleman and murderer. ...
1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...
1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...
This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...
1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...
An earthquake is a phenomenon that results from and is powered by the sudden release of stored energy in the crust that propagates seismic waves. ...
The first light is the moment when a telescope is first used to take an astronomical image after its construction. ...
December 8 is the 342nd day (343rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...
The 60 inch (1.5 m) reflector became one of the most productive and successful telescopes in astronomical history. Its design and light-gathering allowed the pioneering of spectroscopic analysis, parallax measurements, nebula photography, and photometric photography. Though surpassed in size by the Hooker telescope nine years later, the Hale telescope remained one of the largest in use for decades. Spectroscopy is the study of spectra, ie. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
The Triangulum Emission Nebula NGC 604 lies in a spiral arm of Galaxy M33, 2. ...
Photometry is a technique of astronomy concerned with measuring the flux, or intensity of an astronomical objects electromagnetic radiation. ...
In 1992 the 60 inch telescope was fitted with an early adaptive optics system, the Atmospheric Compensation Experiment (ACE). The 69-channel system improved the potential resolving power of the telescope from 0.5-1.0 arc sec to 0.07 arc sec. ACE was developed by DARPA for the Strategic Defense Initiative system, and the National Science Foundation funded the civilian conversion. 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...
A deformable mirror can be used to correct wavefront errors in an astronomical telescope. ...
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technology for use by the military. ...
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), commonly called Star Wars after the popular science fiction movies of the time, was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983[1] to use ground-based and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic...
The logo of the National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. ...
Today the 60 inch telescope is used for public outreach. Eyepieces are fitted to its focus instead of instruments. It is arguably the largest telescope in the world which the general public can look through freely.
The George Hale Solar Telescope is a National Historic Landmark. Another telescope, the 200-inch telescope at the Palomar Observatory, is also called the "Hale Telescope". USS Constitution. ...
Palomar Observatory is a privately-owned observatory located in San Diego County, California, 90 miles (145 km) southeast of Mount Wilson Observatory, on Palomar Mountain. ...
100 inch (2.5 m) Hooker telescope
 The 100 inch lens on its way up, 1917. Hale immediately set about creating a larger telescope. John D. Hooker provided crucial funding for it, along with Carnegie. The Saint-Gobain factory was again chosen to cast a blank in 1906, which it completed in 1908, After considerable trouble over the blank (and potential replacements), the 100 inch (2.5 m) telescope was completed and saw "first light" on November 2, 1917. Image File history File links MtWilsonGlass-1917. ...
Image File history File links MtWilsonGlass-1917. ...
1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...
1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...
The first light is the moment when a telescope is first used to take an astronomical image after its construction. ...
November 2 is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 59 days remaining. ...
1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ...
The mechanism incorporates a mercury float to provide smooth operation. The Hooker telescope was equipped in 1919 with a special attachment, an optical astronomical interferometer developed by Albert Michelson, much larger than the one he had used to measure Jupiter's satellites. Michelson was able to use the equipment to determine the precise size and distance of stars, such as Betelgeuse. Henry Norris Russell developed his star classification system based on observations using the Hooker. 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
Diagram showing a possible layout for an astronomical interferometer, with the mirrors laid out in a parabolic arrangement (similar to the shape of a conventional telescope mirror). ...
Albert Abraham Michelson. ...
Betelgeuse (Alpha (α) Orionis) (also written Betelguese and Betelgeux) is a semiregular variable star located 427 light-years away [1]. It is the second brightest star in the constellation Orion, and the ninth brightest star in the night sky. ...
Henry Norris Russell (October 25, 1877 – February 18, 1957) was a US astronomer who, along with Ejnar Hertzsprung, developed the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (1910). ...
 Workmen assembling the polar axis of the Hooker telescope. Edwin Hubble performed his critical calculations from work on the 100 inch (2.5 m) telescope. He determined that nebula were actually galaxies outside our own Milky Way. Hubble, assisted by Milton L. Humason, discovered the presence of the redshift that indicated the universe is expanding. Image File history File links Assembling_hooker_polar_axis. ...
Image File history File links Assembling_hooker_polar_axis. ...
Edwin Hubble Edwin Powell Hubble (November 20, 1889 – September 28, 1953) was an American astronomer, noted for his discovery of galaxies beyond the Milky Way and the cosmological redshift. ...
NGC 4414, a typical spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices, is about 56,000 light years in diameter and approximately 60 million light years distant. ...
The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Γαλαξίας (Galaxias), sometimes referred to simply as the Galaxy), is a barred spiral galaxy of the Local Group. ...
Milton Lasell Humason (August 19, 1891 – June 18, 1972) was as American astronomer. ...
Redshift of spectral lines in the optical spectrum of a supercluster of distant galaxies (right), as compared with that of the Sun (left). ...
The Hooker's long reign as the largest telescope came to an end when the Caltech-Carnegie consortium completed its 200 inch (5 m) telescope in 1948 at Mount Palomar, 90 miles (150 km) south, in San Diego County, California. California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (commonly known as Caltech) is a private, coeducational university located in Pasadena, California, in the United States. ...
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Palomar Observatory is a privately-owned observatory located in San Diego County, California, 90 miles (145 km) southeast of Mount Wilson Observatory, on Palomar Mountain. ...
Official website: http://www. ...
In 1986 the 100 inch (2.5 m) telescope was inactivated. It was restarted in 1992 and outfitted with adaptive optics, and the Hooker telescope remains one of the pre-eminent scientific instruments of the 20th century. 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...
The telescope has a resolving power of 0.05 arcsec. Arcsec is an abbreviation for either: arcsecond or arcsecant. ...
Solar telescopes There are three solar telescopes, two of which are now in use for science. The 60 foot (18 m) tower telescope was completed in 1908, and the 150 foot (46 m) tower telescope was completed in 1912. The Snow solar telescope, built in 1904 is used for educational demonstrations. The telescopes are used to study helioseismology and other changes in the sun's nature. 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...
1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...
1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...
A computer generated image showing the pattern of a p-mode solar acoustic oscillation both in the interior and on the surface of the sun. ...
The Sun is the star of our solar system. ...
Interferometry The extremely steady air over Mount Wilson is well suited to interferometry, the use of multiple viewing points to increase resolution enough to allow for the direct measurement of the size of details such as star diameters. Michelson performed the first measurements of other stars in the history of astronomical interferometry on the Hooker telescope in 1919. William Herschel knew as early as 1779 (Herschel 1805) that stars appeared much larger in telescopes than they really were but he did not know why. ...
1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
The Infrared Spatial Interferometer (ISI) is an array of three 65 inch (1.65 m) telescopes operating in the mid-infrared. The telescopes are fully mobile and their current site on Mount Wilson allows for placements as far as 70 m apart, giving the resolution of a telescope of that diameter. The signals are converted to radio frequencies through heterodyne circuits and then combined electronically using techniques copied from radio astronomy. ISI is run by an arm of the University of California, Berkeley. The longest (70m) baseline provides a resolution of 0.003 arcsec at 11 micrometers. On July 9, 2003, ISI recorded the first closure phase aperture synthesis measurements in the mid infrared. The Infrared Spatial Interferometer (ISI) is an astronomical interferometer array of three 65 inch (1. ...
In telecommunications, to heterodyne is to generate new frequencies by mixing two or more signals in a nonlinear device such as a vacuum tube, transistor, or diode mixer. ...
Microwave image of 3C353 galaxy at 8. ...
The University of California, Berkeley (also known as UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, and by other names, see below) is the oldest and flagship campus of the ten-campus University of California system. ...
July 9 is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 175 days remaining. ...
2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The closure phase is an observable quantity in imaging interferometry, which allowed the use of interferometry with very long baselines. ...
Aperture synthesis is a type of interferometry that mixes signals from a collection instruments to produce measurements having the same angular resolution as an instrument the size of the entire collection. ...
The Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) array is an interferometer formed from six 1 m (40-inch) telescopes arranged along three axes with a maximum separation length of 330 m. The light beams travel through vacuum tubes and are combined optically, requiring a building 100 meters long with movable mirrors to keep the light in phase as the earth rotates. CHARA is operated by the Georgia State University and began scientific use in 2002 and began "routine operations" in early 2004. In infrared the integrated image can resolve down to 0.0005 arcseconds. As of 2005 four of the six telescopes have been commissioned for interferometric observations. The CHARA Array is an astronomical optical interferometer operated by The Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) at Georgia State University. ...
Georgia State University (GSU) is an urban research university in the heart of downtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Founded in 1913, it serves over 28,000[1] students, and is one of the University System of Georgias four research universities. ...
For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...
2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
These and other astronomical interferometers are included in the List of astronomical interferometers at visible and infrared wavelengths. The history of the development of these instruments is given in History of astronomical interferometry. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
William Herschel knew as early as 1779 (Herschel 1805) that stars appeared much larger in telescopes than they really were but he did not know why. ...
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