Old Caltech Telescope Yields New Titan Science

On Thu, 25 Sep 2003 14:10:09 +0000 (UTC), "Mike Dworetsky"
wrote:

Longer ago than I wish to admit, I was a postdoc at Mt Wilson and Palomar
and there was an interesting 1/10 scale working model of the Palomar 200-in
on the roof at Cal Tech. I used it a few times. I recall that it was
originally built to test mechanical ideas used in the mounting of the big
scope (probably c. 1935-40).

Does anyone know if it is still there and in a usable state? Light
pollution was pretty fierce and LA basin air pollution did not help either,
but you could get a decent view of Saturn or Jupiter with it.

I used to use that scope, too. It was wonderful, being up on top of Robinson
with a real piece of history. It was an excellent performer, too, although quite
limited being in the middle of Pasadena.

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.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

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

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

In article ,
"Mike Dworetsky" writes:
Longer ago than I wish to admit, I was a postdoc at Mt Wilson and Palomar
and there was an interesting 1/10 scale working model of the Palomar 200-in
on the roof at Cal Tech.

As others noted, the Hale telescope model was replaced by a Celestron
14, probably the same one used for the Titan monitoring reported in
the press release.

My dim memory is that the model was traded to a museum, possibly one
at Corning glass works. I think the model had stopped working, and
as so often is the case, there wasn't any obvious source of funds to
restore it. Also, its optical quality was never very good. The C14
is almost certainly a better telescope, but it has nowhere near the
character of the old model. (Despite the press release, I don't
think the C14 is all that old.)

I'm a little surprised Mike Brown is building a new 24-inch telescope
at Palomar instead of adapting the existing one at Mt. Wilson. Or is
that gone as well?

--
Steve Willner Phone 617-495-7123
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
(Please email your reply if you want to be sure I see it; include a
valid Reply-To address to receive an acknowledgement. Commercial
email may be sent to your ISP.)

In article ,
"Mike Dworetsky" writes:
Longer ago than I wish to admit, I was a postdoc at Mt Wilson and Palomar
and there was an interesting 1/10 scale working model of the Palomar 200-in
on the roof at Cal Tech.

As others noted, the Hale telescope model was replaced by a Celestron
14, probably the same one used for the Titan monitoring reported in
the press release.

My dim memory is that the model was traded to a museum, possibly one
at Corning glass works. I think the model had stopped working, and
as so often is the case, there wasn't any obvious source of funds to
restore it. Also, its optical quality was never very good. The C14
is almost certainly a better telescope, but it has nowhere near the
character of the old model. (Despite the press release, I don't
think the C14 is all that old.)

I'm a little surprised Mike Brown is building a new 24-inch telescope
at Palomar instead of adapting the existing one at Mt. Wilson. Or is
that gone as well?

--
Steve Willner Phone 617-495-7123
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
(Please email your reply if you want to be sure I see it; include a
valid Reply-To address to receive an acknowledgement. Commercial
email may be sent to your ISP.)

Steve Willner wrote:

I'm a little surprised Mike Brown is building a new 24-inch telescope
at Palomar instead of adapting the existing one at Mt. Wilson. Or is
that gone as well?

The 24-inch at Mt. Wilson is in use by the Telescopes in Education (TIE)
program (http://tie.jpl.nasa.gov/tie/index.html). It was returned to
Mount Wilson from storage at Palomar (it's a Caltech instrument; Mt.
Wilson is not affiliated with Caltech) where it went after finishing its
stint at White Mountain years ago.

Mike Simmons

Steve Willner wrote:

I'm a little surprised Mike Brown is building a new 24-inch telescope
at Palomar instead of adapting the existing one at Mt. Wilson. Or is
that gone as well?

The 24-inch at Mt. Wilson is in use by the Telescopes in Education (TIE)
program (http://tie.jpl.nasa.gov/tie/index.html). It was returned to
Mount Wilson from storage at Palomar (it's a Caltech instrument; Mt.
Wilson is not affiliated with Caltech) where it went after finishing its
stint at White Mountain years ago.

Mike Simmons