Protection
Hard hats near the door make the observatory’s basement feel a little like a construction site.
Dim hallways
The dimly lit hallways carry an orange tint used in many observatories at night.
Back to the beginning
Sketches of the Hale telescope and other telescopes decorate one of the observatory’s hallways.
Support
Massive beams support the 530-ton Hale telescope.
Separate supports
Stretching across the ceiling, the beams keep the telescope separate from the building support, to reduce unwanted movement of the instrument.
Cleanliness
The vacuum chamber on the lower level is used to clean smaller mirrors.
Hardware
Clamps and bolts of varying sizes.
Stairway to…
A metal stairway ascends to the second floor, where the Hale telescope awaits.
Hale telescope
The bottom half of the Hale telescope. The original eyepiece was replaced by electronics.
Out and beyond
Peering up through the telescope to the dome beyond.
Interesting shapes
The telescope as seen from the mezzanine level, where the horseshoe-shaped guider is more obvious.
Bienniel cleaning
An enormous vacuum chamber sits on the main floor to clean the 200-inch (5.08 meters) mirror every two years.
Alignment ensured
The steel Hartmann screen helped ensure that the final version of the mirror was perfectly aligned.
How it works
A scale model of the mirror: The triangular gaps allowed airflow, while the round holes hosted actuators to move the mirror.
A peak into history
A movable model of the telescope sits in front of the visitors gallery.
Controls
The control panel for the historic Hale telescope.
More controls
The control panel for the Hale telescope from another angle.
Prepping
The concrete disk that helped engineers prepare the telescope for the arrival of the glass mirror sits outside near the parking lot.
Signage
This way to the visitors gallery!
Welcome to eh observatory
The visitors center allows a peek inside the observatory, also sharing videos of the mirror cleaning and the original 18-inch (46 centimeters) telescope that was hosted at Palomar.
The original
Palomar’s original 18-inch telescope.
Traveling across the country
The glass mirror traveled across the country to arrive at Palomar observatory.
Great views
A glimpse of the dome from the visitors center.
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http://www.space.com/34288-palomar-observatory-photo-tour-gallery.html A Photo Tour of the Palomar Observatory (Gallery)
[bestandroiddoubledinheadunit950.blogspot.com]A Photo Tour of the Palomar Observatory (Gallery)
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