Reminder: The Journey to Palomar on PBS

Consider yourself reminded that The Journey to Palomar airs on many PBS stations tonight (June 22nd). Be sure to check your local listings and check out the trailer below:

The trailer was made for the first airing of the documentary, which is why it says "November 10th" at the end. Feel free to ignore that.

The Journey to Palomar Returns to PBS this Week

I am happy to report that The Journey to Palomar, a documentary about George Ellery Hale and the building of the 200-inch telescope, will again be shown on PBS. It is a moving and inspirational story that is not to be missed.

Follow this link to check your local listings.

A short clip is posted below.

Watch the full episode. See more The Journey to Palomar.

142 Years Ago Today

George Ellery Hale was born 142 years ago today. Why not celebrate by watching The Journey to Palomar?

Thanks to Palomar Observatory docent Roger for bringing in the cake!

In Other News . . . .

Here are some links for your Thursday.

An article on the PALM-3000 adaptive optics system coming to the Hale Telescope next year.

Some information on a recent Type Ia supernova discovery made with the Palomar Transient Factory.

For those who haven't seen it (and you should see it) the documentary film The Journey to Palomar is now on Hulu.

Visualizing the Future of Big Telescopes

You may remember Todd Mason from The Journey to Palomar. He and his wife Robin were the filmmakers who brought the career of George Ellery Hale to life in their fine documentary. If you saw the film you also saw some the 3-D graphics that Todd produced of the Hale Telescope.

While making the documentary Todd was also producing graphics for some of the big new telescopes that are now on the horizon. His new site Todd Mason Graphics has wonderful renderings of some future telescopes like the Giant Magellan Telescope, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and (our local favorite) the Thirty Meter Telescope.

Here is one of his of renderings of TMT:


There are plenty more on his new website. It is well worth the look if you are interested in any of these new telescopes.

If you have The Journey to Palomar DVD, you can see his work in the special features that describe some of these giant new telescopes.

More TV Premiers of The Journey to Palomar

The Journey to Palomar, the TV-documentary on the career of George Ellery Hale and the telescopes he built, is still having premiers in various PBS markets.

Look for it on KQED in San Francisco Wednesday, Dec. 17th at 10PM on regular and HD and also on KQED World on Dec. 19.

Viewers in Dallas can check it out on KERA next Monday, the 22nd at 9PM and in our nation's capital (Washington DC) it will premier it on WETA on Sunday, December 28 at 3:30 PM.

This Week: Journey to Palomar Finally on TV & 200-inch Aluminizing

The Journey to Palomar will finally be showing on PBS stations starting tonight. Sorry, if I have been promoting it too much in the blog.

On Wednesday of this week we will begin re-aluminizing the Hale Telescope's 200-inch mirror. Here's a time-lapse video preview from June 2005.

Journey to Palomar getting some good press

The Journey to Palomar is getting some coverage in advance of its TV premiere next week. The website for Sky & Telescope magazine has an article on the show that includes an audio interview with the filmmakers and an extended preview of the film. Check it out.

There is also an article about the 200-inch mirror in the December issue of Sky & Telescope, but I haven't seen it yet.

Here's a story on the movie from the Chicago Sun-Times.

Check Your Local Listings

Every PBS affiliate gets to choose their broadcast date and time for The Journey to Palomar. Because of this, you'll want to check your local listings.

Here are a few broadcast dates & times

WSKG in Corning, NY - Monday, November 10 @ 10 p.m.
KPBS in San Diego, CA - Monday, November 10 @ 9 p.m.
KCET covering Pasadena, CA - Saturday, Novmber 15, @ 9 p.m.

If you happen to be in Ketchum, Idaho this Sunday you can see an advance screening at the Magic Lantern Cinema with George Ellery Hale's grandson. How cool is that?

Journey to Palomar on Planetary Radio

This week the Planetary Society's on-line show Planetary Radio profiles The Journey to Palomar and interviews filmmakers Robin and Todd Mason. Check it out here.


Sunday's screening of the new documentary inside the dome of the Hale Telescope was a big hit. Above is a webcam shot from during the screening. That's Ronald Florence, author of The Perfect Machine, on the big screen. After the show, we opened the dome for our guests.

More shots later in the week.

p.s. Don't forget to vote today!

Seventy Years Ago Today

Seventy years ago this month the first parts of the 200-inch telescope began arriving on Palomar Mountain. Here are shots from October 28, 1938 as the horseshoe and other parts made their way up that mountain and were lifted onto the observing floor.





You can see more of this in The Journey to Palomar. We still have some seats left for our screening in the dome on Sunday, November 2nd.

See The Journey to Palomar at Palomar

You may already know that The Journey to Palomar will be broadcast on PBS on November 10 (check your local listings as stations will vary when they show it).

Before it is shown on TV, there will be an opportunity to see the film here at Palomar. The film will be shown on the observing floor under the Hale Telescope itself. The screening will be held on Sunday, November 2nd @ 1 p.m. Follow the link for the details.

All of the proceeds for the event will go toward a new wave of public outreach to take place here at Palomar. We have a new Outreach Center and the opportunity to install a historic telescope for the general public to view through.

Yes, you'll eventually get the chance to look through the same telescope, a 10-inch refractor, that Edwin Hubble is looking though in this photo (pipe optional). The big scope in the photo, the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope, will continue to be used for astronomical research, but the 10-inch refractor is no longer needed to guide the bigger one. The plan is to use the Outreach Center for all kinds of cool stuff including looking through this and other small telescopes.

Check out the trailer for The Journey to Palomar below and be sure to attend the screening if you can or at least watch the show on TV.

News & Events

Lots of things going on these days.

The November issue of Sky & Telescope magazine just hit my mailbox. Of possible interest to the readers of Palomar Skies is the article on Hale, Ritchey and Mt. Wilson's 60-inch telescope (which turns 100 years old this year). Also, at the end of the magazine you'll notice that there will be an article on The Journey to Palomar in next month's issue.

Speaking of The Journey to Palomar, they will be having a NASA webcast for students & teachers on Wednesday, October 8. During the webcast they will show off some of the achievements of Hale, the next generation of giant telescopes & a new mission to the Moon.

Friday, October 3rd @ 6 pm I'll be giving a visual tour of the universe at the Starry Nights Festival hosted by the Hi-Desert Nature Museum in Yucca Valley, CA.

On October 17th @ 8:30 pm I'll be giving a talk on the history of Palomar Observatory at the Bianchi Planetarium at Cal State Northridge.

UPDATE: (if this works) Here's a radio spot for the Starry Nights Festival.

The Journey to Palomar

The trailer for The Journey to Palomar, to be broadcast on PBS on November 10, is available below. Check out the trailer and mark the date on your calendar. You'll be glad you did.

Don't Stop Believing

The career of George Ellery Hale was one of the most remarkable in all of science. His unrelenting drive and determination brought forth the world's largest telescope four times. First at the Yerkes Observatory where the 40" refractor was completed in 1897.

Hale then moved on and in 1904 founded the Mt. Wilson Observatory. There the first modern research telescope, the 60 ", was completed in 1908. It was followed up by the 100-inch Hooker Telescope, completed in 1917. Edwin Hubble used the 100" to discover the true nature of the "spiral nebulae" (galaxies) and the expansion of the universe.

Again Hale moved on to a bigger project. In 1928 he secured a six million dollar grant to build what would become the Palomar Observatory.

The Palomar story is brilliantly chronicled in the book The Perfect Machine by author Ronald Florence. The book has inspired a TV documentary called The Journey to Palomar, which follows Hale's remarkable path.
TV viewers will have to wait until after the November elections to see The Journey to Palomar on PBS, however a special advance-screening will be held at the University Club of Pasadena on Saturday February 23, 2008.

The event and screening of the film is to help offset broadcast costs for this PBS Special. To sweeten the offer, some valuable extras are included for those who attend, such as dinner and a preview of one of the next giant telescopes on the horizon ($150 donation). The $250 donation level includes the same plus some pretty amazing stuff: a rare tour of the Hale Solar Lab, a behind-the-scenes tour of the Mt. Wilson 100-inch and viewing through the Mt. Wilson 60-inch.

A discount on those rates is being offered for astronomy club members. Those who sign up at the $250 level will get a $75 discount. At the $150 levels, astronomy club members will receive a $25 discount. Plus, all donations are tax deductible.

Full information on the sneak preview and the extras are detailed here, but to get your discount you should call the filmmakers at 310-313-6005.

I highly recommend both the book and the documentary.