Saturday, January 31, 2009

First Light Follow Up

Long before the 200-inch telescope was completed, Collier's magazine paid Caltech for the exclusive rights to be the first to publish the pictures.

Edwin Hubble's first images (described in Monday's post) were published in the May 7, 1949 issue of Collier's and thankfully someone has scanned the article and placed it on the Web.


In addition to the astrophotos, there is an article written by David O. Woodbury, author of The Glass Giant of Palomar. The cover of the magazine was done by none other than the legendary space artist Chesley Bonestell. The original painting is now in the collection of the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. I hope to see the orginal painting in person one day.
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2009 at 9:45 PM

    Very cool Scott
    DR

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 3, 2009 at 12:27 PM

    An interesting look, especially at the people there at the beginning. You can sense the excitement at the prospects of exploration and the unease of living in the dawn of the nuclear age. Is the house identified as Byron Hill's residence (observatory in the back yard)still there?

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  3. Palomar ObservatoryFebruary 3, 2009 at 12:50 PM

    Yes, indeed Byron Hill's former residence is still standing and used.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2009 at 4:09 AM

    Superb article which gives an insight on the life at the Observatories. It's also interesting to see some pictures of galaxies as seen through the 200 inch ( 5.02 meter ) telescope.
    Philip

    ReplyDelete