Mount Wilson Observatory

News from Mount Wilson:

1/6/2012 - U.S. Forest Service undertakes a fire fuels reduction program on Mount Wilson - More here.

12/1/2011 - The Observatory's Cosmic Cafe is closed for the winter. We will reopen the Cafe and resume our 1 pm guided tours on April 1, 2012.

Banner photographs by David Jurasevich.

Mount Wilson Observatory is operated by the Mount Wilson Institute under an agreement with the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The Observatory occupies lands belonging to the USDA Forest Service set aside under a long-term leasehold agreement between CIW and the USDA Forest Service. The Observatory subscribes to the USDA non-discrimination policy as expressed here.

Mount Wilson Observatory News

12 Nov 2008	First Light on Mount Wilson's 60-inch telescope, the predecessor of all of the modern great reflecting telescopes, occured on December 13, 1908. Mount Wilson Observatory celebrated that landmark event on November 12, a month short of the centennial to ensure good weather for the 130 invited guests. Click here for photos and links related to the 60-inch Centennial Celebration. And, stay tuned for news of the 100-inch Centennial Celebration in 2017!
12 Jul 2008	"The Journey to Palomar," a 90-minute film by Todd and Robin Mason, will air nationally on PBS stations on 10 Nov 2008. The film tells the story of George Ellery Hale's yearning for ever larger telescopes while creating the new science of astrophysics at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. Mount Wilson Observatory plays a major role in this wonderful saga. The Mason's website about their years of effort and devotion in creating this memorial to one of America's most important and least-known scientists.
12 Feb 2008	Dr. Robert Jastrow, Director of the Mount Wilson Institute from 1992 to 2003, passed away on February 8, 2008. An early advocate of planetary exploration, Dr. Jastrow established NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City in 1961. The Institute works closely with his nearby alma mater, Columbia University. Dr. Jastrow was also a best-selling author and popular speaker whose gift for clearly explaining science led to regular television appearances. A biographical sketch has been published by the George C. Marshall Institute, a center for science and public policy co-founded by Dr. Jastrow in 1984.
31 May 2007	Using the CHARA Array on Mount Wilson astronomers have imaged the face of Altair, a familiar star in the summer sky. New technology allowed the light from four of the interferometer array's telescopes to be combined for a two-dimensional view. Details, graphics and video are available in the press release from the National Science Foundation.
15 May 2007	Dr. Harold McAlister, Director of the Mount Wilson Institute and founder and director of the Center for High Angular Resolution in Astronomy (CHARA) has been announced as the winner of the 2007 Maria & Eric Muhlmann Award. Presented by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in recognition of "significant observational results made possible by innovative advances in astronomical instrumentation", the announcement cites Dr. McAlister's leadership in designing, building and operating the world's largest optical interferometer array at Mount Wilson Observatory.
5-7 Jan 2007	Several papers related to present and past activities on Mount Wilson will be presented at the January 2007 meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Click each for an abstract. Interferometric Observations of the Transiting Planet HD 189733 with the CHARA Array The CUREA Program at Mount Wilson Seth Nicholson's First Satellite Discovery: Jupiter IX and His Orbit for It Quasars and the Caltech-Carnegie Connection
11 Jan 2006	The CHARA Array at Mount Wilson is in the news once again following two important presentations at the annual conference of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, DC. Utilizing the CHARA Array's unprecedented resolution, a long-standing mystery concerning the brightness of Vega -- one of the night sky's brightest stars -- was solved by a team from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson led by Jason Aufdenberg. High-resolution studies with CHARA have shown that the large star's fast rotation rate and the angle from which we view the star explain why Vega appears to shine more brightly than stellar theory says it should. But a team from the University of Michigan led by David Berger has added fuel to a new mystery concerning red dwarfs, the most common type of star in our galaxy. Berger's team found that red dwarfs are larger than expected for the amount of light that comes to us from their relatively cool surfaces. For more details see a report on the web site of Sky and Telescope Magazine.
5 Jan 2006	Greg Smith, long-time Board Member, Treasurer and webmaster of the Mount Wilson Observatory Association, received a NASA Award today from JPL Director Charles Elachi for his optical designs for all of the camera lenses on the Mars Exploration Rovers. Since landing on Mars in January 2004, these two rovers have taken well over 100,000 pictures of the Martian surface through these lenses.
30 May 2005	RTMC Expo, a major amateur astronomy conference held each Memorial Day weekend, included presentations on Mount Wilson Observatory following this year's theme of The History of Astronomy. Shelley Bonus gave a presentation on Hubble and Humason: The Odd Couple of Mount Wilson and Mike Simmons marked the observatory's centennial with Astronomy Comes of Age: Mount Wilson's First Century, 1904-2004. A panel discussion, Personal Reminiscences of the Early Days on Mount Wilson, featured Mount Wilson Institute Assistant Director Don Nicholson (son of astronomer Seth Nicholson) and Jane Sanford Lewis (daughter of astronomer Roscoe Sanford), who recalled conditions, people and events on the mountain beginning in the 1920s. The conference's keynote presentation also touched on Mount Wilson as filmmakers Todd and Robin Mason discussed their upcoming documentary, The Journey to Palomar, which traces the life of observatory founder George Ellery Hale.
9 Mar 2005	Charles Townes, principal investigator for the Infrared Spatial Interferometer at Mount Wilson Observatory and Chairman of the Mount Wilson Institute Board of Trustees, has won the 2005 Templeton Prize. A co-recipient of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics for his part in inventing the laser, Townes has also been a leader in discussions of the relationship between science and religion. According to the John Templeton Foundation, the prize is awarded each year "to encourage and honor those who advance knowledge in spiritual matters".
7 Feb 2005	A history of Mount Wilson Observatory during its first 100 years has been published by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, founder of the observatory. Centennial History of the Carnegie Institution of Washington: Volume 1, The Mount Wilson Observatory: Breaking the Code of Cosmic Evolution was authored by astronomer Allan Sandage who has himself been an important part of the Observatory's history since he began working with Edwin Hubble in 1949.
31 Jan 2005	The CHARA Array on Mount Wilson is the headliner on Space.com today. An article features results from the telescope array showing that the giant star Regulus rotates so fast it bulges into an egg-like shape. Read the full story here. Astronomy.com also highlights the CHARA findings in an article found here.
20 Dec 2004	Happy 100th Birthday Mount Wilson Observatory! Today marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the observatory. A timeline of landmarks from Mount Wilson's first century goes online today. Much more material -- articles, recollections and many historic photos -- will be added throughout the coming year as Mount Wilson moves into its second century of operation. See the Centennial page for a look at Mount Wilson's past.
16 Sep 2004	The daily sunspot drawings begun at the 150-foot solar tower telescope on January 4, 1917 have been discontinued due to a funding shortfall in the solar program and the need to give priority to scientific observing. It is hoped that the drawings can be resumed in the future.
2004	2004 is Mount Wilson Observatory's centennial year. To see a month-by-month description of activities on Mount Wilson in 1904 visit the Mount Wilson Observatory Association's 100 Years Ago page.
21 May 2004	The presentations from the Horace Babcock Memorial Symposium, held at Caltech on May 21, 2004, are available online on the Carnegie Observatories' web site. These talks provide rich insights into the history of both Mount Wilson and Las Campanas observatories through the latter half of the 20th century. Click here to access the presentations.
9 May 2004	Mount Wilson Observatory benefactor Paul Gerstley passed away on April 20, 2004. Paul was largely responsible for upgrading the Hooker telescope and turning it into a world-class instrument for research in the 21st century. Paul also provided substantial contributions to remodel Mount Wilson's historic Kapteyn Cottage and refurbish the Mount Wilson Astronomical Museum. Upon hearing of Gerstley's passing, Dr. Robert Jastrow, former Director of the Mount Wilson Institute, summed it up perfectly when he said, "A light has gone out in the universe". A memorial service was held in Chicago, his birthplace, on May 2.
6 May 2004	The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington is sponsoring the Horace W. Babcock Memorial Symposium on Friday, May 21, 2004. It will be held at the Beckman Institute Auditorium, Caltech, from 9:00am to 5:00pm. See Babcock Symposium for more information and the schedule. Everyone is invited.
10 Dec 2003	Griffith Observatory announces the Mount Wilson Observatory web site as the winner of its Star Award for the week of December 14 through 20. The Star Award is given for "excellence in web sites that promote public awareness of astronomy. These are the best astronomy sites on the World Wide Web," Griffith says, "and they present useful, thorough, and accurate information in a well-organized and attractive way, making the sky more accessible." We are very grateful to Griffith Observatory for this honor. And with new features coming soon and more in the planning stages, we promise not to rest on our laurels.
Nov 2003	An article in the November 2003 issue of Sky and Telescope Magazine describes a recent project using the 100-inch Hooker Telescope and its adaptive optics system. Former Mount Wilson Institute Deputy Director Sallie Baliunas led a team that imaged minor planet Juno and discovered a huge impact crater. Dr. Baliunas reported the results in the May issue of Icarus.
29 Aug 2003	World famous solar astronomer, instrument maker and former director of Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories Horace Babcock died at the age of 90. A biography of Dr. Babcock written by George Abell can be found here. An obituary with links to awards, references and biographical material is posted here.