The SETI Institute reserved the Lick Observatory for the evening of Wednesday, 2018-07-18. Stefan Rosner and his daughter and I joined Matt Tiscareno and Ross Beyer and their families and the SETI REU students on a tour of the Observatory. It was my first visit. I hadn't even ridden my bike to it!
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The main building and the dome containing the largest reflector telescope (36") completed in 1888 |
The main building and the dome housing the 40" reflector |
These twisties, with a hazy view of San Jose in the distance, were not kind to my co-pilot |
A view to the southern Diablo range |
Looking southwest over the Crossley reflector to the Monterey Peninsula on the horizon |
The original dormitory |
Stefan and Andy descend the long stairwell from the main building through the cypress to the other domes |
Ye Olde Astronomers Dining Hall |
Crocker dome housed Vulcan, the predecessor of the Kepler telescope |
The Crocker dome (Vulcan telescope) at sunset |
The 3-meter telescope |
From the back |
The secondary |
A view of the massive base and arms holding the 3-meter telescope |
Another view of the pit showing alternative secondaries; perhaps the black one has a chopper since they are now doing some infrared observing with high sensitivity |
A view of the instrumentation, as well as a hole in the stand where the light can be redirected to the basement if a tertiary is installed |
Instrumentation detail |
The 3-meter has its own mirror coating facility in the basement |
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A view of the western domes and buildings from the 3-meter catwalk |
This looks like a real fixer-upper |
From this point you see all of the telescopes such as these looking east, as well as Half Dome! |
Here are the domes to the west |
A beautiful sunset! |
Our guide, Tanja Bode, told a great story of James Lick and the observatory |
Lick's legacy |
The last bullet should include Vulcan, Kepler's predecessor |
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Tanja and Andy set up the 36" refractor for a night of viewing |
It's a really big telescope! And that floor can be raised to the walkway |
SETI staff and REU students wait |
Andy operates the ship wheels to point the telescope |
The hydraulic system, originally driven by water lifted by windmills, is now replaced by this electric motor |
James Lick is interred under the tower |
Detail of the differential in the ratching safety system |
Andy explains the hydraulic lifts and the ratcheting safety system to Stefan |
We observed M5, the Turtle Nebula, M13, the Cat's Eye Nebula, and the galaxy NGC 6503 |
Tanja and Andy put away the telescope |
Stefan points out the planets Jupiter (shown), Saturn, and Mars to Paloma with the lights of San Jose behind |
The Milky Way and the Summer Triangle (Cygnus, Vega, Altair) - not bad for a point and shoot lying on the parking lot! |
The evening brought out the nocternal wildlife. While we were enjoying the stars, a small owl flew overhead and landed on the front door's transom. On the drive down, we saw a laden owl, and unladen owl, a bobcat, a boar (!), and several deer and domestic (or feral) cats.
Later this year, I shot Lick Observatory from the air |
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Copyright © 2018 Bill Wohler Last modified: Sat Nov 24 18:59:24 PST 2018 About photos |
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