Mount Wilson Observatory

Visionary astronomer George Ellery Hale founded the Mount Wilson Observatory in 1904, high above Pasadena in Southern California's San Gabriel Mountains. At an elevation of 5,700 feet, with exceptionally stable air and nearly 300 days of clear skies annually, this prime location was deemed the perfect site to investigate the secrets of the universe. With funding from the Carnegie Institute of Washington, by 1917 Hale had constructed the world's first two tower telescopes for study of the sun and the world's two largest reflecting telescopes for study of the stars, ushering in the "New Astronomy" astrophysics. Magnetism outside of Earth, stellar evolution, dark matter, our place in the Milky Way, and Hubble's landmark discovery of our expanding universe are just a few of the spectacular discoveries made by the Mount Wilson Observatory astronomers for more than a century. Today, the observatory is run by the Mount Wilson Institute and is open to the public for tours and nighttime viewing through these same historic telescopes. The authors selected the majority of images from the personal collection of Maggie Sharma, which will be donated to the Mount Lowe Preservation Society, and from the vast archives of that society, of which Michael A. Patris is founder and president.

Author: Michael A. Patris, Maggie Sharma
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing (SC)
Published: 06/26/2023
Pages: 128
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 9.60h x 7.00w x 0.30d
ISBN13: 9781467109895
ISBN10: 1467109894
BISAC Categories:
- History | United States | State & Local | West (AK, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT
- Science | Space Science | Astronomy
- Science | Space Science | Cosmology