Palomar History Photo of the Week: July 19, 2010

An oak tree frames the skeletal dome for the 200-inch telescope in this 1937 photo. Pictures like this one were pretty common as it took quite a while to actually build the dome.


A much more unusual view, captured about the same time, is the photo below. It was taken from the top of the structure of the dome, looking down at the shadow of the of the dome framework. The large towers at the left and right are sections of the cranes that built the dome. They are easily seen sticking up through the dome structure in the photo on top.

Click to embiggen and you'll see a car and even a person. The crane at left is labeled "CONSOLIDATED" for Consolidated Steel, the contractor that was used to build the dome.