Mount Wilson
Observatory Association
The Mount Wilson Observatory Association (MWOA) is a volunteer organization supporting the Mount Wilson Observatory. Membership is open to all interested persons. The Observatory itself is operated by the Mount Wilson Institute (MWI). Please contact the Institute for official business.
A recent aerial view of the Mt. Wilson Observatory complex, looking north-east. In the lower-left are the 60-foot and 150-foot solar tower telescopes. Directly below the 60-foot tower is the horizontal Snow solar telescope. The dome for the 60-inch telescope is to the right of center, and the dome for the 100-inch Hooker telescope is near the top-center. Below the 60-inch dome is the small white dome housing the 16-inch Meade telescope. Directly north of the 100-inch dome is the long beam-combining building for the CHARA interferometer. Five of the six small silvery CHARA domes, each housing a 40-inch telescope, can also be seen. To the right in the picture is the Berkeley infrared interferometer. This photograph is by Norm Vargas, a 60-inch telescope operator.
Mt. Wilson Now! A live image from the Towercam atop the UCLA
150-foot Solar Tower telescope on Mt. Wilson. The Towercam operates 24 hours a day. Sometimes it is pointed out toward the city at night. Click on the Towercam image to go to the Towercam Website for a bigger image and for more information. See especially their daily Sunspot Drawing. Just below their Towercam image is a report of the weather conditions on the Mountain. Also see JPL's Mt. Wilson Weather Station for current conditions.
MWOA News and Calendar of Events
- Mt. Wilson Observatory Is Open to Visitors: Mt. Wilson Observatory and Skyline Park are both open to the public. The Observatory grounds, the Astronomical Museum, and the Visitor's Gallery of the 100-inch Telescope are all open. The picnic grounds in Skyline Park are also open. Visitors are welcome. The hours are 10:00am to 4:00pm seven days a week. Be sure to pick up a free self-guided tour brochure at the Museum, or download the on-line brochure in PDF format. The Observatory and Skyline Park are normally closed to the public during the four Winter months of December through March.
- Adventure Passes: The U.S. Forest Service has definitely begun to enforce the requirement that cars parked inside the gate in the big Skyline parking lot must show a "Forest Adventure Pass". These are available at ranger stations, Sport Chalet, and elsewhere. A one-day pass is $5.00; a year-long pass is $30.00. Failure to do so could result in a substantial fine.
- Free MWOA Public Lecture: Sunday, June 22, in the Community Room of the Altadena Public Library. Our speaker will be Jim Lopresto of the CUREA teaching staff. Jim teaches physics and astronomy at Edinboro University (a part of the Pennsylvania State University system). Throughout his long career he has specialized in solar physics and is intimately familiar with the history of the solar programs at Mt. Wilson, including the role of the Snow telescope. His talk, focused on solar magnetism and the important part played by magnetism throughout the Universe, dove-tails nicely with the 100th anniversary of Hale's June 25, 1908, discovery of magnetic fields in sunspots. Refreshments are at 2:00pm, the program begins at 2:30pm. See the Lectures page for more details. See the Directions page for how to get to the Altadena Public Library. There is no lecture in May.
- Free Walking Tours: The free weekend walking tours of the Observatory have begun again. They will continue through November 30, 2008 (except if there is snow or if the U.S. Forest Service closes things for a while during the late-summer fire season). They start at 1:00pm on Saturdays and Sundays at the Skyline Park Pavilion overlooking the big parking lot and last about two hours (although you need not stay the whole time). These guided tours are open to all and require no reservations; just show up. See the Tours page for more details. See the Directions page for how to get to the Observatory.
Special walking tours and inside tours are also available. These tours must be arranged in advance. Contact Mr. Gale Gant by e-mail for more information or to schedule a tour. Tours are held in the daytime only and do not include looking through a telescope.
- 60-inch Nights for MWOA Sustaining Members: In 2008 during the Summer and Fall, MWOA will host four 60-inch observing nights. All MWOA sustaining members are eligible to attend. Because of the size of the dome, a maximum of 25 people can be accommodated on a given night. Thus, reservations are required. See the Observing With 60-inch page for the dates, more details, and a new set of rules governing these sessions.
- 60-inch Nights for Others: Special individual or group observing sessions through the 60-inch telescope, either full nights or half nights, are available. Arrangements must be made ahead of time. For more information and a request form, click HERE.
- 2008 CUREA: The 2008 CUREA will be held between June 22 and July 5, 2008. This two-week summer school at Mt. Wilson offers a unique opportunity for a small group of amateurs and students to learn astronomical techniques from experts at one of the World's major observatories. See the CUREA website for more information.
The September 2004 Reflections, a publication of the Mount Wilson Observatory Association, includes an article on the 2004 CUREA session beginning on Page 4 (PDF format). The September 2006 Reflections, has an article on the 2006 CUREA session beginning on Page 4 (PDF format).
- Monthly MWOA Board Meetings: The MWOA Board of Trustees usually meets on the first Tuesday evening of each month. All MWOA members are invited to attend if they wish. If you'd like to become more active in MWOA, this is a good way to start. You need not be a member of the Board to participate. Contact our President Tim Thompson, for details.
More From MWOA
Links of Special Interest
- Astronomy Picture of the Day, from
NASA. This is one of the best places on the Internet to get great astronomy and space pictures, often with the latest news from out of this world. For a particularly good archived example, go to M3: Inconstant Star Cluster and watch the RR Lyrae stars wink on and off.
- Mars Exploration Rovers, from JPL. This website gives the latest news, photos, and press releases about JPL's long-lived pair of Mars rovers. See the Everest Panorama for a view as if you were standing on Mars.
- Your Webmaster designed all the camera lenses for the Mars rovers. To find out more about these lenses, go to his SPIE paper from 2001 in pdf format. Or from his new Camera Lenses book, download the complete Chapter 31 in pdf format, which also describes the Mars rover lenses.
- For more on the Mars rovers, the Principal Investigator, Steve Squyres, has written an excellent book, Roving Mars. In addition to describing the mission, his personal insights remind the reader that science is done by real people with real feelings, hopes, and fears. An IMAX film version has also been produced and is highly recommended.
- For over 150 of the best photographs from the Mars rovers, see another recent book, Postcards from Mars, by Co-Investigator Jim Bell. Absolutely amazing!
- Cassini-Huygens, from JPL. See the latest results from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn. For one of their most spectacular images, go to Solar Eclipse, Saturn Style (click on the image for a wider view, and again for a bigger image). Or how about the View from Above?
- JPL News. Get more news about space from JPL.
- Mars Pictures. Pictures of Mars are posted from the huge number recently taken by spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet (although technically the color is yellowish-brown).
- 100-inch Mirror. Check out the photos of the 100-inch mirror without its aluminum coating. You can see the infamous bubbles in the glass that gave Hale and Ritchey such misgivings. Fortunately, the bubbles did no harm. These photos are part of the new Mt. Wilson Institute website.
- If you like the Towercam image from Mt. Wilson, see also the cameras on
Mt. Hamilton at Lick Observatory, and on
Kitt Peak at the National Observatory.
- For current weather conditions on the Mountain, see JPL's Mt. Wilson Weather Station, located near the Monastery. For weather forecasts, see Mt. Wilson Forecast #1 and Mt. Wilson Forecast #2, from the National Weather Service. See Mountain Forecast, for a 7-day weather forecast for the Los Angeles County mountains.
- Satellite View of Southern California, from the National Weather Service. Shows the current view from space in visible light with 1-kilometer resolution. For a longer download time, see the time-lapse
animated version.
- Jet Stream Analysis. Shows a map of the present jet stream over the eastern Pacific and western U.S.
- Doppler Radar Map, from the National Weather Service. Gives the latest Doppler radar map of Southern California, indicating precipation (and sometimes flocks of birds and swarms of insects).
- Mt. Wilson Observatory Clear Sky Chart. Gives predictions of the sky conditions over Mt. Wilson.
Satellite Weather Photo for Mt. Wilson
Visible (daytime only)
For other satellite weather photos, go to
Infrared (24 hour)
Western U.S. visible animation
Pacific water vapor animation
All images
MWOA wins Star Award from the Griffith Observatory for its website.
For a list of other winners, go to: Star Awards.
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Mt. Wilson Observatory Association
P.O. Box 70076
Pasadena, CA 91117-7076 |
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