Everything about The Lick Observatory totally explained
The
Lick Observatory is an
astronomical observatory, owned and operated by the
University of California. It is situated on the summit of
Mount Hamilton, in the
Diablo Range just east of
San Jose, California, USA. The observatory is managed from the
University of California, Santa Cruz, where its scientific staff moved in the mid-1960s.
Early history
Lick Observatory was the world's first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory .
The observatory was constructed between 1876 and 1887, from a bequest from
James Lick. In 1887 Lick's body was buried under the future site of the telescope, with a brass tablet bearing the inscription, "Here lies the body of James Lick."
Before construction could begin, a road to the site had to be built. All of the construction materials had to be brought to the site by horse and mule-drawn wagons, which couldn't negotiate a steep grade. To keep the grade below 6.5%, the road had to take a very winding and sinuous path, which the modern-day road (
SR 130) still follows. Tradition maintains that this road has exactly 365 turns. (This is approximately correct, although uncertainty as to what should count as a turn makes precise verification impossible). Even those who don't normally suffer from motion-sickness find the road challenging. The road is closed when there's
snow at Lick Observatory.
The 36 inch (91.44-cm)
refracting telescope on Mt. Hamilton was Earth's largest refracting telescope during the period from when it saw
first light on
January 3,
1888, until the construction of
Yerkes in 1897. In April, 1888, the observatory was turned over to the
Regents of the University of California, and it became the first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory in the world.
Edward Singleton Holden was the first director. The location provided excellent viewing performance due to lack of ambient light and pollution; additionally, the night air at the top of Mt. Hamilton is extremely calm, and the mountain peak is normally above the level of the low cloud cover that's often seen in the San Jose area. When low cloud cover is present below the peak, light pollution is cut to almost nothing.
Current state
With the growth of San Jose, and the rest of Silicon Valley,
light pollution became a problem for the observatory. In the
1970s, a site in the
Santa Lucia Mountains at
Junípero Serra Peak, southeast of
Monterey, was evaluated for possible relocation of many of the telescopes. However, funding for the move wasn't available, and in 1980 San Jose began a program to reduce the effects of lighting, most notably replacing all streetlamps with
low pressure sodium lamps. The result is that the Mount Hamilton site remains a viable location for a major working observatory.
Asteroid 6216 San Jose was named in honor of the city's efforts to reduce light pollution by the
International Astronomical Union.
In 2006, there are 23 families in residence, plus typically between two to ten visiting astronomers from the University of California campuses, who stay in dormitories while working at the Observatory. The little town of
Mount Hamilton atop the mountain has its own police and a post office, and until recently a one-room schoolhouse.
In 2008, there are 38 people residing on the mountain, the chef and commons dinner were decommissioned earlier in the year.
Significant discoveries
The following astronomical objects were discovered at Lick Observatory:
Equipment
Current equipment and locations:
the C. Donald Shane 3 m (120-inch) reflector (Shane Dome, Tycho Brahe Peak)
the Great Lick 0.9 m (36-inch) refractor (South Dome, Main Building, Observatory Peak)
the Carnegie 0.5 m (20-inch) twin refractor (Double Astrograph Dome, Tycho Brahe Peak)
the Anna L. Nickel 1 m (40-inch) reflector (North (small) Dome, Main Building)
the Crossley 0.9 m (36-inch) reflector (Crossley Dome, Ptolemy Peak)
the 0.6 m (24-inch) Coude auxiliary telescope (just South of Shane Dome, Tycho Brahe Peak)
the Tauchmann 0.5 m (22-inch) reflector (Tauchmann Dome atop the water tank, Huyghens Peak)
CCD Comet Camera 135 mm Nikon camera lens ("The Outhouse" Southwest of the Shane Dome, Tycho Brahe Peak)
the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) 76 cm reflector (24-inch Dome, Kepler Peak)
the Automated Planet Finder (First light was originally scheduled for 2006, but delays in the construction of the dome have pushed this back to late 2007 at the earliest.)Further Information
Get more info on 'Lick Observatory'.
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