High Flying Over Palomar

On warm days when the thermals are just right we often see a lot of gliders flying around the observatory. From time to time they pass close enough that you can actually hear them flying.

I guess that is why Pilot Getaways magazine was interested in featuring the observatory in an article on the local community Ramona, CA. That, and the fact that they had this amazing photo of a glider over the observatory:


That is a pretty awesome shot. You'll find it on the cover of the September/October issue of Pilot Getaways magazine.

Just underneath the tail of the glider is the dome of the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope, our one million-gallon water tank, water tower and the Power House. Underneath and to the right of the tail is the Palomar Testbed Interferometer. To the right of that is the dome for the 200-inch Hale Telescope. In front of the Hale is the dome of the 24-inch telescope. Behind and a bit to the right of the Hale is the dome of the 18-inch Schmidt. The observatory's Outreach Center (where I am typing this) is just to the right of the pilots and the Cleveland National Forest's Palomar fire station is to the right of that.

Sci Fi Science on TV

Look for Palomar Observatory on Sci Fi Science on Science Channel. If I recall correctly the topic of exoplanets will be discussed and you may be seeing the Palomar Testbed Interferometer, the Sleuth telescope and myself.

The show will air Sunday October 26 at 9:00PM Eastern and Pacific/ 8:00pm Central. As always it is a good idea to check your local listings.

The View from on High (Point)

Here's a view looking down at the observatory from High Point, the highest elevation on Palomar Mountain. Click on the image for a higher resolution view. From left to right is the Oscar Mayer Building which houses the 60-inch telescope; the dome for the 18-inch Schmidt 's dome (partially blocked by trees); the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Schmidt Telescope's dome; the 200-inch Hale Telescope's dome; Utility Hill with the gray "cow barn" (no cows, just storage), 1,000,000-gallon water tank, and water tower; behind and just left of the water tower is the dome for the 24-inch telescope; on the right is the observatory's visitor center. The Palomar Testbed Interferometer is completely hidden by the large grove of trees in front of the Hale Telescope dome.

Please note that the 6,142 foot peak of High Point is not accessible from the observatory.

How Far the Stars?

Here's the open star cluster known as M45 or the Pleiades. This image is a composite from two black and white images taken with the Palomar Observatory's 48-inch (1.2-meter) Samuel Oschin Telescope as a part of the Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II). The images were recorded on two glass photographic plates - one sensitive to red light and the other to blue. The plates were scanned and color combined to produce the image seen here.

The cluster is easily seen this time of year with no optical aid needed at all.

Four yeas ago today astronomers announced a revised distance estimate to the star known as Atlas within the Pleiades star cluster using data gathered by the Palomar Testbed Interferometer. Atlas, according to the findings, is 440 (+/- 6) light-years distant.

The distance measurement was in disagreement with the results obtained by the Hipparcos Space Astrometry Mission, which placed the cluster some 10% closer than other measurements. The Pleiades is the second closest star cluster to our solar system. Having an accurate distance to the closest star clusters is very important as they are used as stepping stones to all the rest.