Yesterday I showed you the views on the way up to Lick Observatory, and today I want to show you just one of the many telescopes on the mountain. The first photograph shows the main observatory building at sundown, showing two of the domes - one at each end of the building. The second photograph is of the Shane Telescope which has a 120" diameter mirror - it is an enormous instrument. The third photograph gives a sense of how large it really is, when you see the fork arm that holds the telescope itself, with three men at the bottom so you get an idea of size. The last photograph was taken when most of us took a stroll on the catwalk around the outside of the dome. The floor of the catwalk is an open metal grating, and some people were not completely comfortable walking on that, fifty feet above the ground. I just love the feeling I get when looking at the brilliant white dome, and the deep blue sky on the horizon. It sure is fun being around large telescopes.
4 comments:
Hi Ken- Was waiting patiently for the telescope pics! Gotta love that mid-century big-telescope engineering. If I'm not mistaken, the primary mirror (120" diameter) was actually cast as they worked up to the 200" Palomar mirror in the '30s. That looks like a really long Cass f-ratio - looks to be F/20, maybe longer. Wish I was there! -Dean
Beautiful building and lighting, but the size of telescope is crazy.
Joan
Hi Dean: Wish you were here too! You are absolutely right, of course about the 120 inch disk - one of the test castings for the P-200.
Lovely soft golden color of the Link Observatory! Love the contrast of the white building against the brilliant blue, then the mountains in the background. Exciting to be out on the catwalk! bsk
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