About the Hale telescope 1/200 scale model on a roof at Caltech:
Chris L Peterson wrote Unfortunately, in
what I consider a huge misjudgment, it got traded away to some school
somewhere in exchange for a C14. Terrible mistake. I've no idea where
the Hale model is these days, but not where it belongs, at Caltech.

Many years ago, in the Caltech alumni magazine "Engineering &
Science", there was an article about that telescope, and a photograph
of it being lifted out of the dome by a crane. I think that the
article said that the telescope had developed problems that made it
unsuitable for use on the roof. I do not remember now what the
problems were, but it hurt to see that photograph. Particularly,
dangling from the crane like that, the telescope looked downright
sick.

When I was a sophomore, a brilliant freshman, Paul Minning, took
me and some others to that telescope, and taught us how to use it.
As I recall, any student who was competent with that telescope, could
check out a key and use the telescope at any time when it was not
being used for formal instruction.

Later, there was an article in that same magazine, about an
overhaul of the Hale 200-inch telescope. My recollection is that
some of the worn out bearings were too inaccessible to be repaired or
replaced. I do not remember whether those bad bearings now degrade
the telescope's performance significantly.

The late Professor Jesse Greenstein was the head of the Astronomy
Department then. He was a friend to all students who were interested
in astronomy, even if they were not majoring in astronomy. I wish
that I had known him better. There was a nice article about him in
"Engineering & Science", and I think also on this news group, after
he passed away.

Dick Alvarez
alvarez at alumni dot caltech dot edu