The 100 Inch (Hooker) Telescope
The 100-inch Hooker telescope is named after John D. Hooker,
who provided some of the funds for construction of the mirror. It was
the largest telescope in the world until the 200-inch telescope
was built at Mount Palomar, located approximately 90 miles from Mount
Wilson. From here many great discoveries were made,
including the distance scale of the universe by Edwin Hubble.
This telescope also housed one of the first optical
interferometers which measured the sizes of distant
stars for the first time in 1919.
The 100-inch telescope, like the 60-inch telescope can be
placed in different
optical configurations
depending on each scientific project's needs.
In particular, there is a very high-resolution spectrograph at
the telescope's Coudé focus.
The
Aluminizing Room is used by all of the telescopes on the mountain
to recoat all telescope mirrors. Operating the large
telescope sometimes also means having to do some
very strange jobs!
The 100 inch telescope was on inactive status from 1986 to 1994.
It subsequently underwent major upgrades to its control systems
and is once again used for scientific research, although great
care was taken to preserve elements of its history.
In particular, a state-of-the-art
adaptive optics
system has been
created for this telescope.
This important addition to the
100-inch telescope will well-prepare it for continued research
into the 21st century.
A camera
mounted on the 150-foot solar tower shows the 100-inch telescope and the
San Gabriel
mountains (camera and service courtesy of the UCLA group at the 150-foot
tower).
Behind the 100-inch dome, to the east, a large
construction project is underway.
Topics
Hubble's Chair
At Coudé Focus
Aluminizing Room
Control Panel
Shoveling the Dome
20' Interferometer
Anecdotes
Tower Camera
Control Panel
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