After reading the book, The Perfect Machine: Building the Palomar Telescope by Ronald Florence, we wanted to visit the Palomar Observatory. We signed up for an evening of viewing along with a lecture and made the eight hour drive to southern California.
Palomar Observatory is owned and operated by Cal Tech. It’s located in the Palomar Mountain Range in San Diego County. There are several telescopes at Palomar, but the 200 inch Hale reflecting telescope is the largest and was the largest in the world from 1949 until 1975. The story of its construction, beginning with the concept in 1928 to first light of the Hale telescope in 1949 is fascinating. It was truly one of the most monumental engineering projects in our country’s history.
Palomar Observatory is owned and operated by Cal Tech. It’s located in the Palomar Mountain Range in San Diego County. There are several telescopes at Palomar, but the 200 inch Hale reflecting telescope is the largest and was the largest in the world from 1949 until 1975. The story of its construction, beginning with the concept in 1928 to first light of the Hale telescope in 1949 is fascinating. It was truly one of the most monumental engineering projects in our country’s history.