Modeling the Big Dipper, Griffith Obs, and Mt. Wilson

I went to a conference in Pasadena this weekend, which finished late
Saturday night, and thought I'd spend time Sunday looking around the
area. I realized I hadn't gone to Griffith obs. for almost 30 year, so
managed to get there with not a lot of time in the day. I knew it had
been modernized, and so it was. They had a clever display of the Big
Dipper in a plastic transparent ball about 8-10' in diameter. Inside
they had about 15 glowing balls of of varying brightness. The idea was
to walk around the ball and find where the perspective was the BD. Quite
good. I wouldn't mind building something on a smaller scale for our
little museum, without the globe. I think I saw something along these
lines on the web some years ago. Comments?

I'll have to go back there some day, and get a better look at
everything. It was quite an improvement. Perhaps I'll go to Mt. Wilson
too. I know it's become a big interferometer, but don't know anything
about the public buildings there.

Watty wrote:
I went to a conference in Pasadena this weekend, which finished late
Saturday night, and thought I'd spend time Sunday looking around the
area. I realized I hadn't gone to Griffith obs. for almost 30 year, so
managed to get there with not a lot of time in the day. I knew it had
been modernized, and so it was. They had a clever display of the Big
Dipper in a plastic transparent ball about 8-10' in diameter. Inside
they had about 15 glowing balls of of varying brightness. The idea was
to walk around the ball and find where the perspective was the BD. Quite
good. I wouldn't mind building something on a smaller scale for our
little museum, without the globe. I think I saw something along these
lines on the web some years ago. Comments?

I'll have to go back there some day, and get a better look at
everything. It was quite an improvement. Perhaps I'll go to Mt. Wilson
too. I know it's become a big interferometer, but don't know anything
about the public buildings there.

Mt. Wilson is mostly closed most of the time. However you can rent time on the
60" scope.

Golden California Girls wrote:
Watty wrote:
I went to a conference in Pasadena this weekend, which finished late
Saturday night, and thought I'd spend time Sunday looking around the
area. I realized I hadn't gone to Griffith obs. for almost 30 year, so
managed to get there with not a lot of time in the day. I knew it had
been modernized, and so it was. They had a clever display of the Big
Dipper in a plastic transparent ball about 8-10' in diameter. Inside
they had about 15 glowing balls of of varying brightness. The idea was
to walk around the ball and find where the perspective was the BD. Quite
good. I wouldn't mind building something on a smaller scale for our
little museum, without the globe. I think I saw something along these
lines on the web some years ago. Comments?

I'll have to go back there some day, and get a better look at
everything. It was quite an improvement. Perhaps I'll go to Mt. Wilson
too. I know it's become a big interferometer, but don't know anything
about the public buildings there.

Mt. Wilson is mostly closed most of the time. However you can rent time on the
60" scope.

I think they do give public tours in the afternoon.

You can get a Docent led tour of Mt. Wilson on the weekends, or walk around
the grounds yourself. If you have a spare $1500 or so you can rent the 60"
for a night of visual or photographic use.

Having rented time with a group of friends a couple of times I can say it
is worth the money. Seeing 24-28 stars in the Trapezium of M42 or looking
at Globular clusters around M31 really is mind blowing.

On Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:56:17 -0700, Watty wrote:

I went to a conference in Pasadena this weekend, which finished late
Saturday night, and thought I'd spend time Sunday looking around the
area. I realized I hadn't gone to Griffith obs. for almost 30 year, so
managed to get there with not a lot of time in the day. I knew it had
been modernized, and so it was. They had a clever display of the Big
Dipper in a plastic transparent ball about 8-10' in diameter. Inside
they had about 15 glowing balls of of varying brightness. The idea was
to walk around the ball and find where the perspective was the BD. Quite
good. I wouldn't mind building something on a smaller scale for our
little museum, without the globe. I think I saw something along these
lines on the web some years ago. Comments?

I'll have to go back there some day, and get a better look at
everything. It was quite an improvement. Perhaps I'll go to Mt. Wilson
too. I know it's become a big interferometer, but don't know anything
about the public buildings there.

Watty wrote:
Golden California Girls wrote:
Watty wrote:
I went to a conference in Pasadena this weekend, which finished late
Saturday night, and thought I'd spend time Sunday looking around the
area. I realized I hadn't gone to Griffith obs. for almost 30 year, so
managed to get there with not a lot of time in the day. I knew it had
been modernized, and so it was. They had a clever display of the Big
Dipper in a plastic transparent ball about 8-10' in diameter. Inside
they had about 15 glowing balls of of varying brightness. The idea was
to walk around the ball and find where the perspective was the BD. Quite
good. I wouldn't mind building something on a smaller scale for our
little museum, without the globe. I think I saw something along these
lines on the web some years ago. Comments?

I'll have to go back there some day, and get a better look at
everything. It was quite an improvement. Perhaps I'll go to Mt. Wilson
too. I know it's become a big interferometer, but don't know anything
about the public buildings there.

Mt. Wilson is mostly closed most of the time. However you can rent
time on the
60" scope.

I think they do give public tours in the afternoon.

Not year round and it looks like the USFS has it more open now than the last
time I checked.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/angeles/cond...ons-road.shtml
"The gate to Skyline Park Picnic Area and the observatories is open from April 1
through November 30, 10:00am to 4:00 pm"
An adventure pass is required.