 TheJames Lick telescope, housed in the South (large) Dome of main building | |
| Alternative names | lick |
|---|---|
| Named after | James Lick |
| Organization | |
| Observatory code | 662 |
| Location | nearSan Jose, California |
| Coordinates | 37°20′28″N121°38′35″W / 37.3411°N 121.6431°W /37.3411; -121.6431 |
| Altitude | 1,283 m (4,209 ft) |
| Website | ucolick |
| Telescopes | |
  Location of Lick Observatory | |
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 Related media on Commons | |
TheLick Observatory is an astronomicalobservatory owned and operated by theUniversity of California. It is on the summit ofMount Hamilton, in theDiablo Range just east ofSan Jose, California, United States. The observatory is managed by the University of California Observatories, with headquarters on theUniversity of California, Santa Cruz campus, where its scientific staff moved in the mid-1960s. It is named afterJames Lick.
The first new moon of Jupiter to be identified since the time of Galileo,Amalthea, the planet's fifth moon, was discovered at this observatory in 1892.
Lick Observatory is the world's first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory.[1]The observatory, in aClassical Revival style structure, was constructed between 1876 and 1887, from a bequest fromJames Lick of $700,000, equivalent to $24,500,000 in 2024.[2][3]Lick, originally a carpenter and piano maker, had arrived from Peru inSan Francisco, California, in late 1847; after accruing significant wealth he began making various donations in 1873.[4] In his last deed he chose the site atop Mount Hamilton,[4] and was buried there in 1887 under the future site of the telescope,[2] with a brass tablet bearing the inscription, "Here lies the body of James Lick".[5]
Lick additionally negotiated thatSanta Clara County construct a "first-class road" to the summit, completed in 1876.[2] Lick choseJohn Wright, of San Francisco'sWright & Sanders firm of architects, to design both the Observatory and the Astronomer's House.[6] All of the construction materials had to be brought to the site by horse and mule-drawn wagons, which could not negotiate a steep grade. To keep the grade below 6.5%, the road had to take a very winding and sinuous path, which the modern-day road (California State Route 130) still follows. The road from Smith Creek to the summit makes 367 complete turns, in a distance of seven miles.[7] The road is closed when there is snow.[8]
The first telescope installed at the observatory was a 12-inch (300-millimeter)refractor made byAlvan Clark. AstronomerE. E. Barnard used the telescope to make "exquisite photographs of comets and nebulae", according to D. J. Warner ofWarner & Swasey Company.[2]
In 1880, a 36-inch (91-centimeter) lens was commissioned toAlvan Clark & Sons, for $51,000 (equivalent to $1,660,000 in 2024). Manufacturing of the lens took until 1885 and it was delivered to the observatory on December 29, 1886.[4]Warner & Swasey designed and built the telescope mounting. The telescope, built with this lens, became the world's largestrefracting telescope from when it sawfirst light on January 3, 1888, until the construction ofYerkes Observatory in 1897.[2]
In May 1888, the observatory was turned over to theRegents of the University of California,[9]and it became the first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory in the world.Edward Singleton Holden was the first director. The location provided excellent viewing performance because of lack of ambient light and pollution; additionally, the night air at the top of Mt. Hamilton is extremely calm. Often alayer of low coastal clouds invades the valley below, especially on nights from late-spring to mid-summer, a phenomenon known in California as theJune Gloom. On nights when the observatory remains above that layer, light pollution can be greatly reduced.[citation needed]
E. E. Barnard used the telescope in 1892 to discover a fifthmoon of Jupiter,Amalthea. This was the first addition to Jupiter's known moons sinceGalileo observed the planet through his parchment tube andspectacle lens. The telescope providedspectra forW. W. Campbell's work on theradial velocities ofstars.[2]
In 1905 (Jan. 5 and Feb. 27),Charles Dillon Perrine discovered the sixth and seventh moons of Jupiter (Elara and Himalia) on photographs taken with the 36-inch Crossley reflecting telescope which he had recently rebuilt.[10][11]
On August 7, 1921, an unusually brightmysterious astronomical object was seen from the observatory only about three degrees from the Sun,[12] where recent analysis in 2016 concluded that this is highly likely a comet.[13]
In 1928, Donald C. Shane studiedcarbon stars, and was able to distinguish them into spectral classesR0–R9 andN0–N7(on this scaleN7 is the reddest andR0 the bluest).[14] This was an expansion ofAnnie Jump Cannon of Harvard's work on carbon stars that had divided them into R and N types.[14] The N stars have morecyanogen and the R stars have more carbon.[14]
On May 21, 1939, during a nighttime fog that engulfed the summit, a U.S. Army Air ForceNorthrop A-17 two-seater attack plane crashed into the main building. Because a scientific meeting was being held elsewhere, the only staff member present wasNicholas Mayall. Nothing caught fire and the two individuals in the building were unharmed.
The pilot of the plane, Lt. Richard F. Lorenz, and passenger Private W. E. Scott were killed instantly. The telephone line was broken by the crash, so no help could be called for at first. Eventually help arrived together with numerous reporters and photographers, who kept arriving almost all night long. Evidence of their numbers could be seen the next day by the litter of flash bulbs carpeting the parking lot.
The press widely covered the accident and many reports emphasized the luck in not losing a large cabinet of spectrograms which was knocked over by the crash coming through an astronomer's office window. There was no damage to the telescope dome.[15][16][17][18]
In 1950, theCalifornia state legislature appropriated funds for a 120-inch (300-centimeter)reflector telescope, which was completed in 1959. The observatory additionally has a 24-inch (61-centimeter)Cassegrain reflector dedicated tophotoelectric measurements of star brightness, and received a pair of 20-inch (51-centimeter)astrographs from theCarnegie Corporation.[2]
In 1886, Lick Observatory began supplying RailroadStandard Time to the Southern Pacific Railroad, and to other businesses, overtelegraph lines. The signal was generated by aclock manufactured byE. Howard & Co. specifically for the Observatory, and which included an electric apparatus for transmitting the time signal over telegraph lines. While most of the nation's railroads received their time signal from theU.S. Naval Observatory time signal viaWestern Union's telegraph lines, the Lick Observatory time signal was used by railroads from the West Coast all the way to Colorado.[19]
With the growth of San Jose, and the rest of Silicon Valley,light pollution became a problem for the observatory. In the 1970s, a site in theSanta Lucia Mountains atJunípero Serra Peak, southeast ofMonterey, was evaluated for possible relocation of many of the telescopes.[citation needed] However, funding for the move was not available, and in 1980 San Jose began a program to reduce the effects of lighting, most notably replacing all streetlamps withlow-pressure sodium lamps. The result is that the Mount Hamilton site remains a viable location for a major working observatory.
TheInternational Astronomical Union namedAsteroid 6216 San Jose to honor the city's efforts toward reducinglight pollution.[20]
In 2006, there were 23 families in residence, plus typically between two and ten visiting astronomers from the University of California campuses, who stay in dormitories while working at the observatory. The little town ofMount Hamilton atop the mountain has a post office, at one point had its own police, and until 2005 had a one-room K-8 school.[21]
In 2008, there were 38 people residing on the mountain; the chef and commons dinner were decommissioned.[citation needed] By 2013, with continuing budget and staff cuts there remain only about nineteen residents and it is common for the observers to work from remote observing stations rather than make the drive, partly as a result of the business office raising the cost to stay in the dorms.[citation needed] The swimming pool has been closed.[22]
In 2013, one of Lick Observatory's key funding sources was scheduled for elimination in 2018, which many worried would result in the closing of the entire observatory.[23][24]
In November 2014, the University of California announced its intention to continue support of Lick Observatory.[25]
Telescopes at Lick Observatory are used by researchers from many campuses of theUniversity of California system. Current topics of research carried out at Lick includeexoplanets,supernovae,active galactic nuclei,planetary science, and development of newadaptive optics technologies.
In 2015,Google donated $1 million to the observatory over two years.[26]
In August 2020, the observatory was in danger of being destroyed by the rapidly growingSCU Lightning Complex fires. Firefighters were on standby at Lick Observatory to defend the buildings if necessary.[27] As of the evening of August 19, 2020, the fire was on observatory property and moving quickly.[28] While the residences on Mt. Hamilton sustained some damage during the following night, the telescopes and domes survived.[29]
The following astronomical objects were discovered at Lick Observatory:
In addition to observations of natural phenomena, Lick was also the location of the firstlaser range-finding observation of theApollo 11 reflector, although this was only for confirmation purposes and no ongoing range-finding work was performed.[43]
Below is a list of the nine telescopes currently[update] operating at the observatory:[44]
Below is a list of equipment that formerly operated at the observatory:
Sometime this week the Trustees of the James Lick Estate will convey to the Board of Regents of the State University the Mount Hamilton Observatory.
Lost in thick fog, an army attack plane crashed into Lick Astronomical Observatory of the University of California on Mount Hamilton tonight. Its two occupants were killed. They were Lieut. R. F. Lorenz, 25, of March Field, the pilot, and Private W. E. Scott, a passenger.
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