"All Good Things . . ."

As the saying goes "All good things must come to an end" and so it is that my time here at Palomar Observatory has finally come to an end.

For the last eight years I have had the honor of serving as Palomar's Public Affairs Coordinator. During that time I have immersed myself in the observatory's history and current operations. I have worked to help spread the message of the observatory in a variety of ways. The Palomar Skies blog, which I began in late 2007, has been a forum for me to share news, photos and interesting stories from the observatory. I hope that this project has been informative and enjoyable. I have certainly enjoyed blogging about the observatory.


Starting in August I will be working as the Director of Public Affairs for the International Dark-Sky Association. Preserving dark skies is important not just for professional observatories, but for wildlife and much more. A star-filled night sky has been a tremendous source of inspiration for most of human history and now it is vanishing for almost everybody. In my new role I will work hard to raise awareness for this cause and hopefully bring the Milky Way back for many.

I will likely be blogging there about dark skies. If you are interested, please look me up sometime in August. As for Palomar Skies, it shall remain here, but I will be stepping aside from it. At some point someone will hopefully pick up the keyboard and resume posting here. After all there are many great stories still to share and more discoveries about the universe yet to come.

So long.

Astrophoto Friday - A Marvel in the Darkness

Antonin Mrkos discovered seven comets. These photos of his brightest comet (1957 D) were taken in August 1957 with Palomar Observatory's 48-inch Schmidt Telescope (now called the Samuel Oschin Telescope) by Charles Kearns, George O. Abell and Byron Hill.


Be sure to click on the image to make it larger to see the wonderfully detailed structure of the comet's tail.

Ride the Dome

We don't often get to turn the Hale Telescope's 1000-ton dome for people while giving a tour, but when we do the video cameras are usually out and running. The turning of the dome is so smooth that it looks and feels like the telescope is rotating. Here is a short video that nicely shows off the effect.

Astrophoto Friday - Colliding Galaxies

This pair of spiral galaxies are on a collision course with each other. The galaxies lie some 90 million light years from our Milky Way Galaxy. Collectively they are known as Arp 271 and individually as NGC 5426 and NGC 5427. Over the next several million years they will continue the slow gravitational dance that may eventually cause them to merge into one galaxy.


This image of Arp 271 was captured using the wide-angle 48-inch (1.2-meter) Samuel Oschin Schmidt Telescope. This is a crop of a much larger image. It was taken as a part of the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) survey and comes to us from Jason Surace and the PTF collaboration.

For a much more detailed shot, taken by a much larger telescope, be sure to check out this image of Arp 271 taken with the 8-meter Gemini South Telescope.

Celebrate Your Independence with a Tour of the Hale Telescope

To celebrate Independence Day our regular program of weekend tours of the 200-inch Hale Telescope will be extended to include tours on Monday, July 4th.


The Hale Telescope is an icon of American science, so why not come up and see it for the 4th.

Astrophoto Friday - Crab Nebula

It is nearly Independence Day here in the States. That is traditionally a time for fireworks. It also seems to be a tradition of mine to post a Palomar photo of the Crab Nebula which was created by one of nature's biggest fireworks displays - the collapse and explosion of a massive star (See my post from 2009 and 2010).

The supernova explosion that produced what is now known as the Crab Nebula was first observed on July 4, 1054 A.D. - 722 years before the American Declaration of Independence.


This image of the Crab Nebula was captured using the wide-angle 48-inch Samuel Oschin Schmidt Telescope. This is a crop of a much larger image. It was taken as a part of the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) survey and comes to us from Jason Surace and the PTF collaboration.