Glancing at the Sky Through a Giant Telescope

The 60 inch telescope on the Mount Wilson Observatory near Los Angeles, pointed to Jupiter, in a public observing night. The telescope’s “First light” was December 8, 1908 when it was the largest operational telescope in the world. A reflector telescope of Cassegrain design, it became one of the most productive and successful telescopes in astronomical history, including the pioneering of spectroscopic analysis, parallax measurements, nebula photography, and photometric photography. Today it is used for amateur astronomers observations as one of the world’s largest telescope devoted to the general public. Click the second photo to see a wider angle view.