hey what's up guys we are currently here in Lick observatory on top of mount
hamilton the nearest city here is san jose which is
a couple like 20 miles from here
this observatory named after James Luck one of the uh early people who resided
in the bay area and uh it's currently under the
university of california okay let's check it out inside
shortly before his death in 1876 james lick one of the state's wealthiest
citizens and originally a carpenter and piano
maker designated seven hundred thousand
dollars for the construction of a telescope
superior to and more powerful than any yet made
Lick's deed of trust didn't spell out the details of the new observatory
leaving the board of trust a great responsibility
in carrying out his wishes its president was captain richard s floyd floyd had
met luke in 1874 through lick's homestead foreman
thomas fraser floyd and fraser joined forces and the
game-shaped league stream however
neither of them possessed the specialized knowledge needed to build
observatory thus advice was sought from the great astronomical centers on the
east coast and in europe the famous astronomer simon newcombe of
the us naval observatory was elected as scientific advisor
newcomb and floyd traveled to europe to meet with the most prominent
astronomers and telescope builders of the time
refractor crucial decisions needed to be made
before work could begin among them was the choice of telescope design
newcomb floyd and the board members found themselves in the middle of the
rapidly heating debate over the comparative
merits of refracting and reflecting telescopes
refractors has been the choice of most astronomers since the invention of the
telescope yet reflectors were gaining acceptance
as mirror making materials and techniques
improved some already saw the reflector as the
telescope of the future in the end the board member choose the
more conservative path building what remains today the world's
second largest refractor the cleveland firm of warner and swayze
built a telescope tube its mount and the machinery to operate
it union ironworks of san francisco
constructed a huge dome the figuring of the lenses was entrusted
to the optical firm of alvin graham of clark and sons
of massachusetts the glass discs for the lenses were to
be made by charles fail in paris the only firm capable of the required
size and quality the latter's production will ultimately
cause years of delay
mountaintop observatory
beginning in 1874 lake's board of trust began work on the selection of the best
possible site for the observatory today telescopes are located on
mountaintops but to the time of leak observatories
were typically built in cities leek had originally envisioned his
observatory in san francisco however cities had become increasingly
inhospitable as outdoor street lights became common and smoke pollution
grew aware of these problems the board of trust scouted mountain top sites for
the new telescope numerous sites were considered including
the shores of lake tahoe mount saint helena in sonoma county and
various prominent peaks in the san francisco bay area
finally in 1875 nick's foreman thomas fraser
suggested mount hamilton nestles in the diablo range to the east of san jose
it is the highest point within a radius of some 85 miles
its summit had been a familiar sight from lakes ranch
so leak a proof of the choice ending the long search for the site
thus dick observatory became the first permanently occupied mountaintop
observatory in the world virtually all others have since followed
soon however not even a trail led up mount
hamilton saw a first class road to the summit was
funded by the santa clara county a prominent scientific facility promised
considerable prestige for the agricultural county
they undertake the project at the cost of 70 000
the federal and state governments granted approximately
2 500 acres around and including the top of mount hamilton to the board of trust
the road which came to be called lick avenue
now mount hamilton road was completed in 1876
in 1879 the board of trust heard sw burnham
an accomplished double star observer to test observing conditions on mount
hamilton he visited the mountain in late summer
and early fall the best months for observing
construction begins leaked choose john wright of san
francisco's wright and sanders field of architects
to design both observatory and astronomers house on classical revival
style all of the construction materials had to
be brought to the site by horse and mule drawn wagons
which could not negotiate a steep grade the road had to take a very winding and
sinuous path tradition maintains that this road has
exactly 365 turns the actual work of building began in
1880 headed by captain floyd with thomas
fraser a superintendent
work began with the leveling of the mountain top
construction of the main building was simplified when a bed of fine clay was
uncertain about a mile from the summit
kilns were built near the deposit and more than 3 million bricks were fired
also a discoverer of spring near the summit provided much needed water
for drinking and water power the plan for the main building called for two
domes a larger of which would house the great
refractor connected by a long hallway flanked by offices
laboratories and a library by 1881 the small dome was completed in a
12-inch telescope installed from the side of the 12 inch dome the
long central hallway of the building began to emerge
advancing southward along the summit as construction progressed
finally reaching the point where it was to meet the 36 inch dome
and there it's told at the house of fail in paris
one of the disks of glass that will be used to make the giant lens has been
accidentally broken during shipment success in reproducing the broken
element probe elusive and without the glass the clarks could
not estimate the final focal length without which the final length of the
telescope could not be determined with the length of the telescope unknown
construction of its dome could not begin
first light months of waiting turn into years
but finally late 1885 after 18 failed attempts
a suitable piece of glass was on its way to boston
a year later the largest lens ever made crossed the continent on a specially
designed railroad car making the last leg of the journey by
horse and wagon arriving safely on the summit two days
after christmas 1886. with the lenses on hand
construction of the great dome finally begun
leek's funeral 10 years earlier had been as grand as that for any head of state
but early in january 1887 in accordance with his wishes
and at appropriate stage in the construction james lick was brought for
the first time to the summit of mount hamilton
and laid to rest for the last time at the base of the pierre
hidden from sight beneath the floor of his great telescope
then on a bitterly cold january night in 1888
the telescope saw first light stormy weather prevented observing
until that night a break in the clouds provided the first chance to put the
nearly 15 years of planning and hard work to the test
one can only imagine the shock and distress they might have felt
when they could not focus the telescope until it was discovered
that an error in the estimate of the focal length had caused the tube to be
built too long a hacksaw was sent for in the tube
shortened the image of the blazing red sun the
bright star albedon came into focus it was the earth's largest refracting
telescope during the period until 1897. sadly floyd's triumph was
diluted by illness and disappointment chronic heart disease and bitterness
over unfounded criticism of floyd and the telescope
in the san francisco breasts were taking their toll
less than three years later floyd died at the age of 47.
the observatory moving forward ee bernard used the telescope in 1892 to
discover the fifth moon of jupiter amaltia it was the first addition to
jupiter's known moons since galileo observed the planet
through his parchment tube and spectacle lands
in the 1930s its mirror was one of the first large mirrors to be
aluminized although associated since the beginning of its operation
with the university of california the league observatory was at first an
autonomous facility in may 1888 the observatory was turned
over to the regions of the university of california
when james keeler became its director in 1898
the observatory strengthened academic ties with the university of california's
berkeley campus by arranging to have its staff teach there
although it benefited from the presence of several young and highly promising
astronomers it also experienced continued pressure
from the berkeley campus to disband the resident staff and turn
the facility into an observing station for the
growing university system in 1928 donald d shane studied carbon
stars here and was able to distinguish them into
spectral classes on may 1939 during a nighttime fog
a u.s army air force two-seater attack plane
crashed into the main building nothing caught fire and the two individuals in
the building were unharmed but the passengers were killed instantly
after the war as american astronomy became more campus-based
link was one of the last major observatories to lose its autonomy
coming under full university control in the mid-1960s
with the growth of san jose and the rest of the silicon valley
light pollution became a problem for the observatory
in the 70s a site in the santa lucia mountains southeast of monterey
was evaluated for possible relocation
however funding for the move was not available
in 1980 san jose began a program to reduce the effects of lightning
most notably replacing all street lamps with sodium lamps
and it helped the international astronomical union named asteroid 6216
san jose to honor the city's efforts toward
reducing light pollution
in 2006 the little town of mount hamilton
has about 23 families in residence plus about 2 to 10 visiting astronomers
from the university campuses in 2013 one of league observatory's key
funding sources was scheduled for elimination in 2018
but the following year the university of california announced its intention to
continue to support the observatory
in 2015 the company google donated one million dollars to the observatory
over two years
guys i hope you learned something from leak observatory
until next time bye
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