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Science
Friday > Archives
> 1998
> June
> June 12, 1998:
Hour Two: Astronomy Extravaganza
| Fifty years ago this month, the 200-inch wide, 14-ton mirror of the Hale Telescope, perched atop Palomar Mountain in California, saw starlight for the first time. Since then, the telescopes of the Palomar Observatory have observed the heavens on almost every clear night - and, in the process, have made more than their share of science history.
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HST image of an area
of intense star
formation near Centaurus A, thought to be
the remnants of two colliding galaxies.
(E.J. Schreier, StSci and NASA)
| Scientists have used the Hale Telescope and the other instruments at Palomar to discover the immense power of quasars, study the age of the universe, and explore the patterns of stellar evolution. Over the fifty years that the Hale Telescope has been in operation, Palomar has become something of a legend among astronomers and has played host to a veritable who's who of astronomy.
The nearby city of San Diego has been seeing its share of astronomers this week as well, as it hosts the semi-annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Hundreds of astronomers have been in town for the meeting, at which they discussed everything from the birth of quasars to the materials inside Jupiter's moons to the best way to collect, store, and process the huge amounts of data captured during digital surveys of the sky. On this hour of Science Friday, we'll take a look back at fifty years of astronomy at Palomar, a look at what's been going on in astronomy this week, and a look forward to what might be ahead.
Guests:
Robert Brucato
Assistant Director, Palomar Observatory
California Institute of Technology
Pasedena, CA
Virginia Trimble
Professor of Physics
University of California at Irvine
Professor of Astronomy
University of Maryland at College Park
Irvine, CA
David Helfand
Professor of Physics
Columbia University
New York, NY
Harding "Gene" Smith
Professor of Physics
Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences
University of California at San Diego
San Diego, CA
Books/Articles Discussed:
"First Light: The Search for the Edge of the Universe" by Richard Preston (Random House, 1996)
Related Links:
Palomar Observatory
Young quasar info and
images
American Astronomical Society
NASA
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Hubble Space Telescope |
