Lick Observatory

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section is missing citations and/or footnotes. This article or section may use words or ideas of other works in its text without citing sources. Using citations to support claims outside the realm of elementary knowledge helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. Please improve the article or discuss this issue on the talk page. Help on using footnotes is available. This article has been tagged since December 2006.

Lick Observatory
The main observatory building and the North (small) Dome, home of the Nickel Reflector
Organization:	University of California
Location:	San Jose, California, USA
Coordinates:	37°20′35″N, 121°38′14″W
Altitude:	1,283 m (4,209 ft)
Weather:	300 clear nights/year
Website:	mthamilton.ucolick.org
Telescopes
C. Donald Shane telescope:	3 m reflector
James Lick telescope:	91 cm refractor
Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope:	76 cm reflector
Anna L. Nickel telescope:	1 m reflector
Crossley telescope:	90 cm reflector
Carnegie telescope:	50.8 cm twin refractor

The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory, owned and operated by the University of California. It is situated on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, USA. The observatory is managed from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where its scientific staff moved in the mid-1960s.

[edit] Early history

Lick Observatory was the world's first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory ^[1].

The observatory was constructed between 1876 and 1887, from a bequest from James Lick. In 1887 Lick's body was buried under the future site of the telescope, with a brass tablet bearing the inscription, "Here lies the body of James Lick."

Before construction could begin, a road to the site had to be built. 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. To keep the grade below 6.5%, the road had to take a very winding and sinuous path, which the modern-day road (CA-130) still follows. Tradition maintains that this road has exactly 365 turns. (This is approximately correct, although uncertainty as to what should count as a turn makes precise verification impossible). Even those who do not normally suffer from motion-sickness find the road challenging. The road is closed when there is snow at Lick Observatory.

The Great Lick 36-inch refractor, in an 1889 engraving

The 36 inch (91.44-cm) refracting telescope on Mt. Hamilton was Earth's largest refracting telescope during the period from when it saw first light on January 3, 1888, until the construction of Yerkes in 1897. In April, 1888, the observatory was turned over to the Regents of the University of California, and it became the first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory in the world. Edward Singleton Holden was the first director. The location provided excellent viewing performance due to lack of ambient light and pollution; additionally, the night air at the top of Mt. Hamilton is extremely calm, and the mountain peak is normally above the level of the low cloud cover that is often seen in the San Jose area. When low cloud cover is present below the peak, light pollution is cut to almost nothing.

[edit] Current state

Lick Observatory from Grant Ranch.

With the growth of San Jose, and the rest of Silicon Valley, light pollution became a problem for the observatory. In the 1970s, a site in the Santa Lucia Mountains at Junípero Serra Peak, southeast of Monterey, was evaluated for possible relocation of many of the telescopes. However, funding for the move was not available, and in 1980 San Jose began a program to reduce the effects of lighting, most notably replacing all streetlamps with low pressure sodium lamps. The result is that the Mount Hamilton site remains a viable location for a major working observatory. Asteroid San Jose was named, by the International Astronomical Union in honor of the city's efforts to reduce light pollution. ^[2]

In 2006, there are 23 families in residence, plus typically between two to ten visiting astronomers from the University of California campuses, who stay in dormitories while working at the Observatory. The little town of Mount Hamilton atop the mountain has its own police and a post office, and until recently a one-room schoolhouse.

Lick Observatory at dusk from Route 130, Santa Clara County. Photo: Daniel Palma. October 4, 2006.

[edit] Significant discoveries

Original observatory building and the South (main) Dome, home of the Great Lick Refractor

The following astronomical objects were discovered at Lick Observatory:

• Several moons of Jupiter
  • Amalthea
  • Ananke
  • Elara
  • Himalia
  • Lysithea
  • Sinope (disputed)
• Several extrasolar planets
  • Triple planet systems
    • Upsilon Andromedae (with Whipple Observatory)
    • 55 Cancri
  • Double planet systems
    • HD38529 (with Keck Observatory)
    • HD12661 (with Keck)
    • GJ876 (with Keck)
    • 47 Ursae Majoris
• Near-Earth asteroid (29075) 1950 DA

Looking east from south-central San Jose, Lick Observatory atop Mount Hamilton (left) can be seen on reasonably clear days.

[edit] Equipment

Current equipment and locations:

• the C. Donald Shane 3 m (120-inch) reflector (Shane Dome, Tycho Brahe Peak)
• the Great Lick 0.9 m (36-inch) refractor (South Dome, Main Building, Observatory Peak)
• the Carnegie 0.5 m (20-inch) twin refractor (Double Astrograph Dome, Tycho Brahe Peak)
• the Anna L. Nickel 1 m (40-inch) reflector (North (small) Dome, Main Building)
• the Crossley 0.9 m (36-inch) reflector (Crossley Dome, Ptolemy Peak)
• the 0.6 m (24-inch) Coude auxiliary telescope (just South of Shane Dome, Tycho Brahe Peak)
• the Tauchmann 0.5 m (22-inch) reflector (Tauchmann Dome atop the water tank, Huyghens Peak)
• CCD Comet Camera 135 mm Nikon camera lens ("The Outhouse" Southwest of the Shane Dome, Tycho Brahe Peak)
• the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) 76 cm reflector (24-inch Dome, Kepler Peak)
• the Automated Planet Finder (telescope under construction until Spring 2006)

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ The Building of Lick Observatory
2. ^ UCSC, Lick Observatory designate asteroid for the city of San Jose

[edit] See also

• List of largest optical refracting telescopes

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Lick Observatory

• Lick Observatory
• Automated Planet Finder construction webcam
• [1] - Lick Observatory webcam "hamcam"
• Mount Hamilton Clear Sky Clock Forecasts of observing conditions covering Lick Observatory.

University of California, Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, California
	Colleges	Cowell College · Stevenson College · Crown College · Merrill College · Porter College · Kresge College · Oakes College · College Eight · College Nine · College Ten
	Professional School	Jack Baskin School of Engineering
	Research & Services	· Lick Observatory · W. M. Keck Observatory · Dickens Project · NASA Ames Research Center UARC · Silicon Valley Initiatives · Center for Adaptive Optics · Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering · Institute of Marine Sciences & Long Marine Lab · UCSC Arboretum · University of California Police Department · UC Santa Cruz Fire Department
	Student Media	City on a Hill Press · Fish Rap Live! · KZSC

	Fiat Lux	University of California Oakland (Home Office)
	Campuses	Berkeley • Davis • Hastings • Irvine • Los Angeles • Merced • Riverside • San Diego • San Francisco • Santa Barbara • Santa Cruz
	UC Medical System	San Francisco • Los Angeles • San Diego • Davis • Irvine
	Research Stations	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory • Los Alamos National Laboratory (affiliated) • Lick Observatory • Keck Observatory