Today a friend and I went to see the Hale telescope at the Palomar Observatory. The 200″ telescope was the largest in the world from the mid 30′s until the late 70′s. It took 13 years to polish 10,000 pounds from the Pyrex mirror/lens.
The finished dome is 135′ tall, and 137′ in diameter. The dome weighs approximately 1,000 tons, with a plate steel exterior and aluminum panel interior, separated by four feet to allow for dome venting. Two 125-ton shutters cover the opening seen in the center image and slide open at night to allow light through the slit and into the dome. Needless to say, it was huge!
by Suzanne
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