200-inch Hale Telescope
48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope
60-inch Telescope
Palomar Testbed Interferometer
Planet Search Telescope
18-inch Schmidt Telescope
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Re-Aluminizing the Secondary Mirrors on the Hale Telescope at the Palomar ObservatoryThe Hale Telescope has three secondary mirrors. They are located at the high end of the telescope inside the prime focus cage. It is a difficult and lengthy process to clean and re-aluminize these mirrors. After removal of the scientific instruments the 200-inch primary mirror is removed and stored in a safe location. Then to gain access to the secondary mirrors the prime focus cage is lifted off of the telescope and lowered to the observing floor. Click on the images to enlarge.
A dirty secondary mirror:
A secondary mirror that is clean and ready for aluminizing:
Newly aluminized secondary mirror:
Quicktime movie of the prime focus cage being lifted off of the Hale Telescope (Friday, January 26, 2007). Quicktime movie of the removal of the Hale Telescope's 5.5-ton vertical counterweight Large file - 120 mb! (Thursday, February 1, 2007). Quicktime movie of the return of the Hale Telescope's 5.5-ton vertical counterweight Large file - 142 mb! (Wednesday, February 14, 2007).
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