Mt. Wilson Podcast & Lecture

Be sure to check out the new podcast over at The Universe in Mind. In their October 14th episode Hal McAllister, director of the Mt. Wison Instiute, talks about the recent Station Fire and how it threatened the observatory. Also on board is author Marcia Bartusiak. Marcia has written numerous works including the recent and very enjoyable book The Day We Found the Universe. In the podcast Marcia talks about Edwin Hubble and Mt. Wilson.

On October 25, Mt. Wilson Superintendent Dave Jurasevich (black shirt below) will present a free public lecture about his experiences during the Station Fire. The free talk will be held at 2:30 p.m. at the Altadena Library.

Remember, Mt. Wilson is still looking for donations to help them recover from the fire. Visit mtwilson.edu to learn more and make a donation.

Help Mt. Wilson Observatory

I am in Pasadena for PATS and it was comforting to be able to look up and see the domes and solar towers up on Mt. Wilson. Most of the readers of this blog know that the observatory there just survived a major wildfire.

They have some major recovery work to get through and they could use your help.

From their website:

As a result of the events of the still active Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest, we are going to be sorely pressed for resources to take care of cleanup and further preparation and mitigation activities. If you are interested in helping us with the process of transitioning back to normal operations, we welcome your tax-deductible donation in any amount. Donations can be sent to: The Mount Wilson Institute, Fire Recovery Program, P.O. Box 1909, Atlanta, GA 30301-1909 or you may donate on line using the Amazon Simple Pay Donation system.

For more information and the donation link visit mtwilson.edu

Mt. Wilson Tower Cam is back!

Mt. Wilson's tower cam is back!

That's the view tonight of the 100-inch Hooker Telescope from under bright moonlight with fires in the background. I missed it until just now, but there was a wonderful update posted yesterday and all looks good for Mt. Wilson Observatory.

Good News for Mt. Wilson Observatory

The Mt. Wilson Observatory has posted a great update tonight. LA County Deputy Fire Chief Jim Powers who is in charge of protection for structures at the Observatory, "expressed his absolute confidence that they will save the Observatory." Follow the link for the full scoop.

It doesn't get any better than that. It almost makes the photo below, posted on Twitter the other night, look less scary.

The Battle for Mt. Wilson

Today the Station Fire made it to the summit of Mt. Wilson. While it lasted, the view from the tower cam on the 150-foot solar telescope looked pretty scary at times:

The view from the air didn't look much better though:


After a while we learned that these were backfires lit by the fire fighters to prevent the main blaze from reaching the observatory.

Power seems to be off on the mountain and official updates are now coming from a site not hosted there.

This afternoon the LA Times reports:

"But firefighters were frantically trying to save the historic astronomical observatory and dozens of critical TV and radio antennas from destruction. By 3 p.m., the fire was approaching closer than ever from two directions: one-half mile to the north and three-quarters of a mile to the west.

“We expect the fire to hit the Mt. Wilson facilities between 5 p.m. today and 2 a.m. Wednesday morning,” said Los Angeles County Fire Department Deputy Chief James Powers. “Right now, we’re conducting controlled burns around the perimeter in preparation for the impending fire's arrival. We’re also bringing in trucks and special equipment to coat all of the structures with protective gel and foam if necessary. We do not plan to cover everything with a gooey mess.”

The equipment was driven in on the two-lane, five-mile long Mt. Wilson Road, which intersects Angeles Crest Highway. Access to the road was restricted to firefighters and law enforcement. Fire lined several sections of the road on both sides, and rocks were falling from denuded hillsides.

As he spoke from his ersatz headquarters in the observatory’s main office, myriad controlled burns set beneath canyon oaks and old incensed cedars cloaked the mountaintop with dense acrid smoke.

The air was also filled with the ear-splitting, blaring sounds of an observatory fire alarm system.

Chainsaws could be heard in every direction in the surrounding forest. Massive earth movers were being unloaded off flatbed trucks nearby. Powers said authorities had deliberately delayed diverting firefighters and equipment to the scene until the complex was in imminent danger.

“That time is now,” Powers said. Los Angeles County Fire Department Battalion Chief Steve Martin said, “We are going to burn, cut, foam and gel. And if that doesn’t work, we’re going to pray. This place is worth a lot, but it’s not worth dying for. ”

In a worst-case scenario, firefighters were expected to retreat to the safety of the observatory parking lot or seek refuge in the concrete and steel basement of the 105-year-old, 100-inch telescope observatory."

It is currently raining on Palomar Mountain right now. I don't see any rain on the way for the Mt. Wilson area, but hopefully they at least have some higher humidity to ease things a bit. The battle certainly isn't over.

Mt. Wilson Update

Mt. Wilson Observatory is still hanging in there. The Station Fire has now grown to over 120,000 acres. Here is a recent smokey shot of the view from their tower cam:


The tower cam is getting hit by heavy web traffic, so if it does not load for you it may be a sign that the servers are overloaded rather than catastrophe induced by the fires.

Here is the latest official update from the observatory:

Monday, 1 Sep 09, 7:15 am PDT - I wish I had some fresh substantive information to post this morning, but I do not at this point have any news - only what we can all deduce from Towercam and other sources. Towercam scenes continue to show thick smoke on the mountain with a concentration on the right side of the image implying activity on the mountain's north side. It clearly has not reached the mountain and, if advancing towards us, it is only doing so slowly.

The best updates, occasionally mixed in with wild rumors, seem to be found on Twitter.

As you may recall, at Palomar Observatory we faced the threat of wildfire two years ago. Yesterday, Ian O'Neill from Discovery Space and Astroengine interviewed me on the topic. Here is the result: Wildfires and Observatories.

Fire Threatens Mt. Wilson Observatory

The Station Fire is apparently threatening Mt. Wilson Observatory, which has now been evacuated of all personnel. The view above was taken from their tower cam at 5:14 p.m. on Saturday, August 29.

Their latest update on the fire from Mt. Wilson says:

It is expected that the fire, if it cannot be brought under greater control, could reach the Observatory sometime Sunday.

Official news on the fire is available here from InciWeb with more from the Cal Fire blog.

We certainly wish the best for Mt. Wilson and the many firefighters who are working to save this historic observatory.

Eyes on the Skies

In celebration of the International Year of Astronomy the European Southern Observatory has produced a movie and book known as Eyes on the Skies. Follow the link and you can watch the whole thing in HD.

It explores the many facets of the telescope — the historical development, the scientific importance, the technological breakthroughs, and also the people behind this ground-breaking invention, their triumphs and failures. It is presented by Dr. J, aka Dr. Joe Liske, a professional astronomer from the European Southern Observatory and host of the Hubblecast video podcast. The DVD runs for 60 minutes and contains subtitles in several languages.

The second episode, Bigger is Better, is embedded below. It follows some of the story of George Ellery Hale, the development of Yerkes Observatory (note to narrator: Yerkes is pronounced "yer keys") Mt. Wilson and Palomar.

The show is freely available for TV broadcasters and for public events carried out by educators, science centers, planetariums, amateur astronomers etc.

Update: I had posted a link to the video via YouTube, but it is no longer available. In addition to the link above, you can also, find the video here on Hulu.

Happy Birthday to the Mt. Wilson 60-inch Telescope!

Happy Birthday to the Mt. Wilson 60-inch Telescope! Today is its 100th anniversary of first light.

The Great Galaxy in Andromeda

Here's another scan of a vintage PR shot from Palomar. This is of M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. The image was captured by the 48-inch Schmidt telescope at Palomar (now known as the Samuel Oschin Telescope) and was copyrighted by Caltech in 1959. Believe it or not, we still have a limited quantity of this poster for sale in the observatory's gift shop.

M31 has been an important galaxy in the history of astronomy. As the closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way it has served as an important stepping stone out into the universe. In the 1920s Edwin Hubble used the 100-inch Hooker Telescope on Mt. Wilson to determine that the Andromeda Galaxy is a separate system from the Milky Way. His determination of its distance was off by a factor of two - a measurement that was later corrected by Walter Baade, using the 200-inch on Palomar. Modern estimates place the distance at 2.9 million light years.

M31 was photographed using the Samuel Oschin Telescope as a part of the Second Palomar Sky Survey. The photographic plates from that survey have been digitized and the images are available online. Davide De Martin of SkyFactory.org has used that data to produce a beautiful image of the galaxy.

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.