While H was on his second day of SCIAC softball tournament, my friends from Friday's trip to Claremont Craft Ales and I went to Mount Wilson to tour the observatory (actually multiple observatories). A two-hour tour makes for quite a bit of information, much of which I have forgotten, although much of it was very interesting. I know H would enjoy the tour, so someday I will go back with him.
Here are two solar telescopes. You can see these from the 210 Freeway, along with all of the tv towers.
Inside the taller of the two solar telescopes. Every day for the past 100 years or so, astronomers have taken tracing paper and drawn the sun spots and tracked their cycle. For demonstration purposes, the ball shows the size of Jupiter in proportion to the sun, the white circle.
This was written on the white board in the solar telescope room...
Perhaps the most impressive part of the tour is going inside the 100-inch Hooker telescope. This telescope was the world's largest from 1917 until 1948 and was instrumental in some important discoveries.
I rather liked this photo. The mirror over the museum was cracked. If you look in the lower right part of the mirror, there is my self-portrait with my head (and camera) and legs.
The day was quite hazy, and this is an enhanced photo of the view from the 5,700 foot vantage point.
* * *
Day 28 - Clutter Cleanse: I found an old snow globe from years ago. Out!
No comments:
Post a Comment