Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory is a privately-owned observatory located in San Diego County, California, 90 miles southeast of Mount Wilson Observatory, on Palomar Mountain. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The observatory currently consists of four main instruments: the 200-inch Hale Telescope, the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope, the 18-inch Schmidt telescope, and a 60-inch reflecting telescope.
The Hale Telescope
This 200-inch telescope is named after astronomer George Ellery Hale. It was built by a Caltech-Carnegie consortium using a Pyrex blank manufactured by Corning Glass Works. The telescope (the largest in the world at that time) saw 'first light' in 1949.
The Hale Telescope is operated by a consortium of Caltech, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Cornell University. [1]
Palomar Observatory Sky Survey
The Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS), sponsored by the National Geographic institute, was completed in 1954 (actual date referenced varies, ranging from 1950 to 1957). This survey was performed using (14 inch)² or (6 degree)² photographic plates in both blue and red (separately) on the 48-inch Schmidt reflecting telescope. The survey covered the sky from a declination of +90 degrees (celestial north pole) to -24 degrees (plate centers) and all right ascensions and had a sensitivity to +22 magnitudes.
Until the completion of the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), POSS was the most extensive all-sky survey ever. When completed, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey will surpass both. POSS also exists in digitized form (i.e., the photographic plates were scanned), as the Digital Sky Survey (DSS) [2].
Current research
One of the current ongoing research programs at Palomar is the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking program.
External links
Referenced By
2002 LM60 | 3163 Randi | 50000 Quaoar | Active optics | Asteroid (3163) Randi | Carolyn Shoemaker | Optical telescope | Photographic plate | Quaoar | Timeline of astronomical maps, catalogs, and surveys | Uppsala General Catalogue
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