Great Refractor

mt-hamilton-1-20-2008 007
Originally uploaded by dmourati

These gears are used to hoist the 36 inch refractor telescope at Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton.

Lick Observatory is located on 4200' Mt. Hamilton in the Diablo Range, east of San Jose, California. Largest among its nine research-grade telescopes is the Shane 3-meter Reflector, active since 1960. The 3-meter is in operation every clear night of the year, used by many different astronomers from within the UC system for a variety of projects ranging from observations of our solar system to distant galaxies. UC astronomers, using the telescopes on Mt. Hamilton have contributed to virtually every area of optical and infrared astronomy.

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