Asteroid 596 Scheila Becomes a Comet

Over the weekend it was reported that main-belt asteroid 596 Scheila was experiencing a comet-like outburst. Solar system astronomers Michael Hicks and Kenneth Lawrence from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory happened to have observing time on Palomar’s 200-inch Hale Telescope last Saturday night and early Sunday morning they captured this image of "asteroid" 596 Scheila looking very much like a comet:


The two main ideas behind Scheila’s cometary outburst are that it is either a rare comet with an orbit inside the asteroid belt that started out gassing or that it has recently suffered a collision like the one in 2009 that befell an asteroid known as P/2010 A2.

Stay tuned.

Thanks to Mike & Ken for being kind enough to share this raw image of the event so soon after it was acquired!

For a related post see also, The Asteroid that Became a Comet and the Comet that Became an Asteroid.

Hale Halo

From earlier this week:



Ice crystal clouds forming a halo behind the dome of the 200-inch Hale Telescope. The clouds parted enough to allow for over 12 hours of observing that night in the study of distant frozen worlds in outer solar system in a region known as the Kuiper Belt.

Astrophoto Friday - Eris Discovery

Astrophoto Friday returns today with an animated gif of the discovery photos of dwarf planet Eris. Can you spot it?

Eris is the moving object near the left-hand side of the image.

The discovery of Eris was made by Caltech's Mike Brown and his partners. They first imaged this distant world of the Kuiper Belt using Palomar's 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope. The discovery rocked the astronomical world and helped to bump Pluto out of its planetary status. Both Pluto, Eris and some other worlds discovered by Mike at Palomar share a new category, that of dwarf planet.

The discovery and the turmoil that followed is the subject of a new book by Mike Brown which will be available on Tuesday, December 7 (both Gerard Kuiper’s birthday and Pearl Harbor day).


Of course, Palomar Observatory's gift shop will be stocking the book - which happens to make a great gift.

2 Short Mirror Wash Videos

Here is a short video showing the 200-inch mirror as it looked just before it was washed nearly two weeks ago:

And another short clip showing the wash in progress:

I recorded a *much* longer video showing the entire wash. Hopefully, I'll get a time-compressed version of that posted soon.

Under the Big Eye

Here's a rare view of the Hale Telescope that was taken during last week's mirror wash:


The photo was taken from under the telescope (with the camera on the observing floor) when the mirror was pulled out and the mirror cover partially open. On the left (south) is the coudé arch and on the right (north) is the horseshoe.

More photos from the mirror wash engineering run will be posted later in the week.

Black Friday Tours Return

It is the holiday season and we are celebrating by offering special daytime tours of the 200-inch Hale Telescope on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), Friday November 26.


Our regular public tours do not resume again until April, so this may be your last chance to get a guided tour of the Big Eye for some months.

Tour tickets will be sold in the gift shop the day of the tour on a first-come, first-served basis. No prior reservations are taken. Tour tickets are $8.00. The tours are not recommended for children under six years of age.

Do keep in mind that it is COLD inside the dome. Temperatures inside, where the hour-long tours take place, are expected to be around 40F. So bundle up!

Rough Weather for the Weekend

Dense fog, high winds, heavy rain & snow are all in the forecast for Palomar Mountain this weekend. The National Weather Service has issued a Special Weather Statement.

Travel to Palomar Mountain is likely not a good idea for the weekend.

200" Mirror Wash - Update

The washing of the 200-inch mirror was completed on Thursday and the Big Eye is now back in the telescope.

I took several hundred photos of the event and it will likely be sometime next week before the best of them are posted here. In the meantime, let me show you what it was all about with a before and after photo of our 14.5 ton glass mirror.

That is a dramatic difference and a job well done by the Palomar crew.

Mirror Wash 2010 - Day 1

The engineering run to wash the 200-inch mirror is going well. Yesterday the mirror was successfully pulled from the telescope. Here are some photos from the first day of engineering.

The Hale Telescope with the Cassegrain instrument and Cassegrain cage removed.

A view of the mirror cell. The 36 mirror supports, serviced earlier this year, are visible.


The mirror cart under the Hale Telescope, ready to receive the 200-inch mirror.

The Palomar crew pushing the mirror cart, loaded with the 200-inch mirror, over to the washing area in the dome northwest of the telescope.

For more immediate updates & photos be sure to follow palomarskies on twitter and/or "like" Palomar Observatory on Facebook.

Watch the Webcam Today

Here is a capture from the Hale Telescope webcam taken early this morning at the end of a long (12.8 hour) observing session.


Today should be an interesting day to watch the Hale Telescope webcam as we are pulling the 200-inch mirror out of the telescope today so that we may wash the mirror tomorrow.

I'll be posting pictures of the event as they come in.