Driving Map & Directions |
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News from Mount Wilson: 1/6/2012 - U.S. Forest Service undertakes a fire fuels reduction program on Mount Wilson - More here. 12/1/2011 - The Observatory's Cosmic Cafe is closed for the winter. We will reopen the Cafe and resume our 1 pm guided tours on April 1, 2012.
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Mount Wilson Observatory is operated by the Mount Wilson Institute under an agreement with the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The Observatory occupies lands belonging to the USDA Forest Service set aside under a long-term leasehold agreement between CIW and the USDA Forest Service. The Observatory subscribes to the USDA non-discrimination policy as expressed here. |
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Constructed in 1908, George Ellery Hale used this telescope to identify magnetic fields in sunspots, the first time that a magnetic field had been shown to exist outside of the Earth. His discovery used an effect previously identified in the laboratory, the Zeeman effect, that causes spectral lines into multiple components. Working in the field of solar seismology, a field created at Mount Wilson, astronomers use the 60-foot solar tower to study wave-like motions of the Sun's visible surface, which in turn convey information about the hidden solar interior. This project is operated by USC as part of the High Degree Helioseismology Network. Behind the 60-foot Tower is the oldest telescope on the mountain, the Snow solar telescope. |