AstronomerGeorge Ellery Hale, whose vision created Palomar Observatory, built the world's largest telescope four times in succession.[8] He published a 1928 article proposing what was to become the 200-inch Palomar reflector; it was an invitation to the American public to learn about how large telescopes could help answer questions relating to the fundamental nature of the universe. Hale followed this article with a letter to the International Education Board (later absorbed into theGeneral Education Board) of theRockefeller Foundation dated April 16, 1928, in which he requested funding for this project. In his letter, Hale stated:
"No method of advancing science is so productive as the development of new and more powerful instruments and methods of research. A larger telescope would not only furnish the necessary gain in light space-penetration and photographic resolving power, but permit the application of ideas and devices derived chiefly from the recent fundamental advances in physics and chemistry."
The 200-inch telescope is named after astronomer and telescope builderGeorge Ellery Hale. It was built by Caltech with a $6 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, using aPyrex blank manufactured byCorning Glass Works under the direction of George McCauley.Dr. J.A. Anderson was the initial project manager, assigned in the early 1930s.[9] The telescope (the largest in the world at that time) sawfirst light January 26, 1949, targetingNGC 2261.[10] The American astronomerEdwin Powell Hubble was the first astronomer to use the telescope.
The 200-inch telescope was the largest telescope in the world from 1949 until 1975, when the RussianBTA-6 telescope sawfirst light. Astronomers using the Hale Telescope have discoveredquasars (a subset of what was to become known asActive Galactic Nuclei) atcosmological distances. They have studied the chemistry of stellar populations, leading to an understanding of thestellar nucleosynthesis as to origin of elements in the universe in their observed abundances, and have discovered thousands ofasteroids. A one-tenth-scale engineering model of the telescope atCorning Community College inCorning, New York, home of the Corning Glass Works (now Corning Incorporated), was used to discover at least one minor planet,34419 Corning.†
Russell W. Porter developed theArt Deco architecture of the Observatory's buildings, including the dome of the 200-inch Hale Telescope. Porter was also responsible for much of the technical design of the Hale Telescope and Schmidt Cameras, producing a series of cross-section engineering drawings. Porter worked on the designs in collaboration with many engineers and Caltech committee members.[11][12][13]
Much of the surrounding region of Southern California has adopted shielded lighting to reduce thelight pollution that would potentially affect the observatory.[14]
A 60-inch (1.5 m) reflecting telescope is located in the Oscar Mayer Building, and operates fully robotically. The telescope became operational in 1970, and was built to increase sky access for Palomar astronomers. Among its notable accomplishments is the discovery of the firstbrown dwarf.[6] The 60-inch telescope currently[when?] hosts the SED Machineintegral field spectrograph instrument used as part ofZTF transient followup and classification.[15][16]
The 48-inch (1.2 m)Samuel Oschin telescope development began in 1938, and the telescope saw first light in 1948. It was initially called the 48-inch Schmidt, and was dedicated toSamuel Oschin in 1986.[4] Among many notable accomplishments, Oschin observations led to the discovery of the importantdwarf planetsEris andSedna.[17] Eris's discovery initiated discussions in the international astronomy community that led toPluto being re-classified as adwarf planet in 2006. The Oschin presently operates fully robotically and hosts the 570-million-pixel ZTF Camera[18]—the discovery engine for theZTF project.
The 40-inch (1.0 m) WINTER (The Wide-field Infrared Transient Explorer) 1x1-degree reflecting robotic telescope has been operational since 2021. It is dedicated to the seeing-limited time domain survey of the infrared (IR) sky, with a particular emphasis on identifyingr-process material in binary neutron star (BNS) merger remnants detected by LIGO. The instrument observes in Y, J, and a short-H (Hs) band tuned to the long-wave cutoff of theInGaAs sensors, covering a wavelength range from 0.9 to 1.7 microns.[19]
An 18-inch (46 cm)Schmidt camera became the first operational telescope at Palomar in 1936. In the 1930s,Fritz Zwicky andWalter Baade advocated adding survey telescopes at Palomar, and the 18-inch was developed to demonstrate the Schmidt concept. Zwicky used the 18-inch to discover over 100supernovae in other galaxies.Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was discovered with this instrument in 1993. It has since been decommissioned and is on display at the small museum/visitor center.[20][21]
ThePalomar Testbed Interferometer (PTI) was a multi-telescope instrument that made high-angular-resolution measurements of the apparent sizes and relative positions of stars. The apparent sizes and in some cases shapes of bright stars were measured with PTI, as well as the apparentorbits of multiple stellar systems. PTI operated from 1995 to 2008.[22]
The Palomar Planet Search Telescope (PPST), also known as Sleuth, was a 10-centimetre (3.9 in) robotic telescope that operated from 2003 until 2008. It was dedicated to the search for planets around other stars using thetransit method. It operated in conjunction with telescopes atLowell Observatory and in theCanary Islands as part of theTrans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey (TrES).[23]
Palomar Observatory remains an active research facility, operating multiple telescopes every clear night, and supporting a large international community of astronomers who study a broad range of research topics.
The initialPalomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS or POSS-I), sponsored by theNational Geographic Institute, was completed in 1958. The first plates were exposed in November 1948 and the last in April 1958. This survey was performed using 14-inch2 (6-degree2) blue-sensitive (Kodak 103a-O) and red-sensitive (Kodak 103a-E) photographic plates on the Oschin Telescope. The survey covered the sky from adeclination of +90° (celestial north pole) to −27° and allright ascensions and had a sensitivity to +22magnitudes (about 1 million times fainter than the limit of human vision). A southern extension extending the sky coverage of the POSS to −33°declination was shot in 1957–1958. The final POSS I dataset consisted of 937 plate pairs.
TheDigitized Sky Survey (DSS) produced images which were based on the photographic data developed in the course of POSS-I.[24]
J.B. Whiteoak, an Australian radio astronomer, used the same instrument to extend POSS-I data south to −42°declination. Whiteoak's observations used the same field centers as the corresponding northern declination zones. Unlike POSS-I, theWhiteoak extension consisted only of red-sensitive (Kodak 103a-E) photographic plates.
"Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey" redirects here. For POSS I, seePalomar Sky Survey.
TheSecond Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II, sometimesSecond Palomar Sky Survey) was performed in the 1980s and 1990s and made use of better, faster films and an upgraded telescope. The Oschin Schmidt was upgraded with an achromatic corrector and provisions for autoguiding. Images were recorded in three wavelengths: blue (IIIaJ. 480 nm), red (IIIaF, 650 nm), and near-infrared (IVN, 850 nm) plates. Observers on POSS II included C. Brewer, D. Griffiths, W. McKinley,J. Dave Mendenhall, K. Rykoski,Jeffrey L. Phinney, andJean Mueller (who discovered over 100 supernovae by comparing the POSS I and POSS II plates). Mueller also discovered several comets and minor planets during the course of POSS II, and the bright Comet Wilson 1986 was discovered by then-graduate-student C. Wilson early in the survey.[25]
Until the completion of the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), POSS II was the most extensive wide-field sky survey. When completed, theSloan Digital Sky Survey will surpass POSS I and POSS II in depth, although the POSS covers almost 2.5 times more area on the sky.
POSS II also exists in digitized form (that is, the photographic plates were scanned) as part of theDigitized Sky Survey (DSS).[26]
The multi-year POSS projects were followed by the PalomarQuasar Equatorial Survey Team (QUEST) Variability survey.[27] This survey yielded results that were used by several projects, including theNear-Earth Asteroid Tracking project. Another program that used the QUEST results discovered90377 Sedna on 14 November 2003, and around 40Kuiper belt objects. Other programs that share the camera areShri Kulkarni's search forgamma-ray bursts (this takes advantage of the automated telescope's ability to react as soon as a burst is seen and take a series of snapshots of the fading burst),Richard Ellis's search forsupernovae to test whether theuniverse's expansion is accelerating or not, andS. George Djorgovski'squasar search.
The camera for the Palomar QUEST Survey was a mosaic of 112charge-coupled devices (CCDs) covering the whole (4° × 4°) field of view of the Schmidt telescope. At the time it was built, it was the largest CCD mosaic used in an astronomical camera. This instrument was used to produce The Big Picture, the largest astronomical photograph ever produced.[28] The Big Picture is on display atGriffith Observatory.
The 60-inch telescope operates robotically, and supportsZTF by providing rapid, low-dispersion opticalspectra for initial transient classification using the for-purpose Spectral Energy Distribution Machine (SEDM)[31]integral field spectrograph.
Greenway Visitor Center at Palomar Observatory, with agift shop
Palomar Observatory is an active research facility. However, selected observatory areas are open to the public during the day. Visitors can take self-guided tours of the 200-inch telescope daily from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The observatory is open 7 days a week, year round, except for December 24 and 25 and during times of inclement weather. Guided tours of the 200-inch Hale Telescope dome and observing area are available Saturdays and Sundays from April through October. Behind-the-scenes tours for the public are offered through the community support group, Palomar Observatory Docents.[32]
Palomar Observatory also has an on-site museum—the Greenway Visitor Center,[21] containing observatory and astronomy-relevant exhibits, a gift shop,[33] and hosts periodic public events.[34]
For those unable to travel to the observatory, Palomar provides an extensivevirtual tour that provides virtual access to all the major research telescopes on-site and the Greenway Center and has extensive embedded multimedia to provide additional context.[35] Similarly the observatory actively maintains an extensive website[36] andYouTube channel[37] to support public engagement.
The observatory is located offState Route 76 in northernSan Diego County, California, two hours' drive from downtownSan Diego and three hours' drive from centralLos Angeles (UCLA,LAX airport).[38] Those staying at the nearby Palomar Campground can visit Palomar Observatory by hiking 2.2 miles (3.5 km) up Observatory Trail.[39] Notably,Ben Burt, sound designer for the original Star Wars, recorded various sounds at the Palomar Observatory, including motors and the shutters on the dome, to add background sounds for theDeath Star.
