Palomar Observatory happy snaps

[Peter Ward]

Through a well connected friend I consider myself very fouturnate to have been given the "cook's tour" last week. Some happy snaps here:

http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/galleyOS12.html

Caltech have improved their public outreach program significantly since I first visited this astronomy Mecca some 15 years ago.

If you are in Southern California and have a spare day, it's well worth the 3 hour drive from LA to the 200" as guided tours are also available to the public.

[TrevorW]

Thanks for sharing Pete

[AstralTraveller]

Very nice. :thumbsup:

[Peter Ward]

Glad to share the experience.

Unfortunately I only had a happy snap camera
so had to mosaic a lot of the shots as its lens wasn't all that wide.

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks for sharing Peter - very cool. Must have been a big kick to get that close to some awesome history. I'd pay good money for a tour like that!

Cheers, Marcus

[Omaroo]

A wonderful experience. When my ex-wife Jenny and I were living in Calif a few years ago we used to camp underneath the dome in winter, as well as up the road at Mt San Jacinto. Jim Gunn himself (Caltech - first person to employ CCD technology on the 200" during the mid-80's) took us around on our own cook's tour in the mid 90's. I got to go up to the cage as well. Very, very neat.

[renormalised]

Nice piccies:)

Would've been fun going over the old scope and the rest of the facilities:)

[Peter Ward]

It was indeed! :)

Despite it's age the 5.0 metre still holds up well, as it is reportedly extremely reliable when compared to ( much larger) Alt Az systems which are often troubled by computer glitches and the resulting downtime.

[multiweb]

Wow! Lucky so and so. Green with envy. Very cool pictures and interesting read. :thumbsup:

[CometGuy]

Love the top picture Peter. Thanks for sharing.

Terry

[RobF]

Wow - how great would that be to get in there.
Thanks so much for sharing Peter
Wonder if there's a Losmandy G11000 being considered now.... ;)

[Peter Ward]

Sorry, no new mounts from HGM. But you never know, Gemini is probably due for an update ;)

[seeker372011]

wow. what a buzz to tour Palomar

there are bigger telescopes today but for so many years it was Palomar and Jodrell Bank's Lovell in optical and radio respectively that ruled the roost

[Jen]

:eyepop::eyepop::eyepop: wow wow i could stare at that for ages nice pics im soooo jealous Peter you lucky bugger ;)

[ChrisM]

Peter, thanks for posting those pics and captions. Nice to have contacts, and your tour could be topped only by getting a look through the eyepiece!

Chris

[Peter Ward]

Actually this was discussed.

As far as I know this has not happened with the 200".....buuuttt... the 60" does occasionally get, believe it or not, an 80mm Tank sight eyepiece attached to it, which I'm told does clearly reveal colour in M42.

[Jen]

:eyepop::eyepop::eyepop: now that would be sooo worth the look :D

[Ric]

Great pictures Pete.

I'd love to get there one day and see it for real.

Cheers

[kinetic]

Thanks Pete for sharing.
The shot of you and Scott in front of the fork is fantastic.
So impressive! What a beautiful bit of engineering she is.

Steve