Speaking at Corning

In just two weeks I will be giving a talk at the Corning Museum of Glass, the birthplace of Palomar's 200-inch mirror.

I am looking forward to having the opportunity to see their new Mirror to Discovery exhibit and to visit again with the first, failed disc that was cast for Palomar.


The talk will not be on the history of the creation of the glass giant, nor on the construction of the 200-inch telescope or the 1000-ton dome that houses it. Instead, the talk will focus on what the astronomers at Palomar have done and are doing with the giant telescope that was made possible by Corning Glass Works.

I am told that the talk will also be available on line. I will post details of how to catch it as soon as they come in.

Palomar History Photo of the Week - Corning Glass Works

March is a good time to celebrate the contribution that Corning Glass Works made in creating Palomar Observatory's 200-inch mirror. 77 years ago this month they made their first attempt at casting the 200-inch. It was unsuccessful, but you can check out a previous post on it here.

If you get the chance you really should see the first disc, which is on display at the Corning Museum of Glass. You can also check out their Mirror to Discovery exhibit, at which can be seen until the end of October in their Rakow Library.


Our "photo" this week is a detailed drawing of Corning's factory as it was set up for casting the 20-ton disc. Click on the image or this link to see a huge and richly detailed version of the drawing from the June 1934 issue of Popular Science Monthly.

This month also marks the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the trip westward for their second, successful disc. I will be posting other images this month that fit with both anniversaries.

Another Day. Another Sunset.

Here is tonight's sunset from two vantage points. Looking toward the west:


and the light of the sunset illuminating the dome of the Hale Telescope:


As the Sun goes down everyone inside the dome is just getting started for 11 hours or so of work.

Hale Telescope Sunset - March 4, 2011

Here is tonight's sunset from the catwalk of the dome of the 200-inch Hale Telescope:

Open

The word is that Palomar Observatory will be open today for our regular daytime visiting hours.

Observatory Closed

Yup, we got dumped on with snow last weekend and are currently closed to the public.

Major Winter Storm Headed Toward Palomar

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for Palomar Mountain from 4:00 a.m. Saturday morning until 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning. As such Palomar Observatory will be closed for at least this weekend.

Anyone considering travel to the mountains of southern California this weekend should carefully consider (or maybe reconsider) their plans. From the winter storm warning:

A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW MEANS SEVERE
WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. SIGNIFICANT
AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE FORECAST THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS.
ONLY TRAVEL IN AN EMERGENCY. SNOW...BLOWING SNOW...AND DENSE FOG
WILL CAUSE LOCAL VISIBILITY NEAR ZERO AT TIMES. TRAVELERS
THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR HAZARDOUS WINTER
WEATHER CONDITIONS. MOTORISTS ARE URGED TO CHECK THE LATEST ROAD
REPORTS BEFORE DEPARTING. ALWAYS CARRY CHAINS AND TAKE EXTRA
FOOD AND CLOTHING IF YOU MUST TRAVEL INTO THE MOUNTAINS.
SNOWFALL WILL IMPACT TRAVEL ON INTERSTATE 8 THROUGH THE SAN
DIEGO COUNTY MOUNTAINS. THIS WEATHER COULD BE DEADLY FOR
UNPREPARED CAMPERS OR HIKERS.

Palomar History Photo of the Week - Plowing Snow

More winter weather is due on Palomar Mountain this weekend and I am overdue in posting a History Photo of the Week, so let's combine the two with this photo:

It was taken February 9, 1939 by Lee A. Farnsworth, Jr as he took a break from plowing snow to capture his tractor with the dome of the 200-inch telescope in the background.

From the looks of the current National Weather Service forecast for Palomar Mountain, it is likely that history will repeat itself with snow plows again being called into action at the observatory this weekend. If that is the case, it is a good bet that the observatory will be closed to the public for the coming weekend (Feb 26 & 27).

Observatory Open

More winter weather may be bearing down on us this weekend, but the observatory is open to the public again today.

A Heavier Hale

The Hale Telescope is about 1 ton heavier today than it was yesterday. Extra weight was added to the top end to help it achieve balance when the new PALM-3000 adaptive optics system is installed in about 1 month.

This afternoon it was put through the paces with some extreme pointing to help make sure that it smoothly handles the extra weight. Early indications are that all is well. Here is a photo from today during the pointing exercise:

PALM-3000 will not be on the telescope all the time, so to compensate extra weight was also added to the Cassegrain cage. The weights are then removed when the PALM-3000 is not on the telescope.

PALM-3000 should allow the Hale Telescope to take the sharpest visible-light images of any telescope. Look for more posts on this in the future.