Word: palomar
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...last year, the worst was over. Dr. John A. Anderson, who had supervised the polishing, knew that he had succeeded. He set the great disc on edge for the final tests, which it passed with flying colors* (TIME, Oct. 13). Seven weeks later, it was crated and trucked up Palomar Mountain...
...Pleasant Science. Long before this stage, Hubble and his colleagues had been driving up & down Palomar Mountain to admire their still blind telescope and its lovely setting. Of all the sciences, astronomy is in many respects the pleasantest. There are no dead animals (as in biology) or horrible smells (as in chemistry). Astronomers work on clear-aired mountaintops with clean and beautiful instruments. Their experimental material-light-filters down unbidden out of the cold, dark...
...Palomar Mountain is more pleasant than most. The dormitory (called the "Monastery") is pleasant too. For day-sleeping astronomers, the bedrooms have soundproofed walls and doors and black window shades. The only intruders in this astronomical Eden are the woodpeckers that like to drill away at the Monastery's copper roof...
Energy & Neutrons. All of Hubble's colleagues have projects for Palomar Mountain. Dr. Ira Bowen, Director of the Observatory, hopes to analyze the stars with superior spectrographs and find out what nuclear reactions are supplying the energy for their outpouring light. Dr. Bowen is a cautious man, but in the back of his head is a more daring project. No present-day star, he believes, has enough pressure or temperature to form the atoms of the heavier elements. Perhaps, he speculates, they were formed during the genesis of the exploding universe, two billion years or more ago, when...
Historic Night. Palomar's 200-inch telescope is all but complete now, with the big mirror in place. There is still much tinkering to be done. The mirror, slightly flexible, is supported by 36 complicated gadgets to keep it accurately in shape as the telescope changes its position. Each support contains 1,100 parts, and each will need expert adjustments before it works correctly. So will other mechanisms...