Photography . . . Travel . . .

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Mt. Palomar Observatory

I got a last-minute call from a friend on Sunday asking if I wanted to join his family at the Mt. Palomar Observatory. It was a perfect day for a Sunday drive, so I grabbed my camera and took off in the Xterra. 


The Observatory is owned by California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The dome housing the 200-inch telescope was built in 1936. It took several years just to fabricate the 200-inch mirror. We were able to get on a tour that took us inside the dome, and also allowed us to walk around the catwalk you can see on the outside about 35 feet up, right below the start of the dome portion of the structure.




Once inside we got a good look at the 200-inch Hale Telescope. The actual telescope is the part that is pointed straight up. The rest is the supporting mechanism.




The views from the little open-grate steel walkway were pretty good, especially with the fluffy clouds.




The view straight down was interesting as well.




We finished up our afternoon in the San Diego County backcountry with some fresh pie at the Julian Pie Company bakery in Santa Ysabel.


Click here to see more images from my visit to the Mt. Palomar Observatory.
   

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Me

My photo
San Diego, California, United States
About me . . . When I'm not working I like to be out exploring and photographing. I do this blog just for fun, and to be able to share these images with friends. I hope you enjoy viewing these images as much as I enjoyed creating them.

Blog Archive

Followers

All of the content and images on this site (c) Frank B. Baiamonte. If you would like to use any of these images please contact me via email at frank@frankbaiamonte.com to discuss terms of usage. Note that images from the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park are not available for commercial usage. You can also see more on my Instagram page @frankbaiamonte.

Header image: Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, Cibola, Arizona. End image: Downtown San Diego, California skyline from Coronado Island. Profile picture: Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho, by Heather Baiamonte.