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A California wildfire nearly destroyed the historic Lick observatory
- throw0101a 6y agoTo think that the night sky around LA was dark enough at some point to make celestial observations. See also Castel Gandolfo outside of Rome, the office of the Vatican Observatory: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castel_Gandolfo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castel_Gandolfo * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0DAKaR16cY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0DAKaR16cY Certainly there are bigger problems in the world, but it'd be nice if light pollution could be taken into account when making policy decisions (like which street lamps a municipality will buy): * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pollution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pollution * https://www.darksky.org/our-work/lighting/ https://www.darksky.org/our-work/lighting/ I think a lot of people would enjoy seeing the natural night sky without having to travel great distances: * https://kottke.org/17/12/lost-in-light-how-light-pollution-obscures-our-view-of-the-night-sky https://kottke.org/17/12/lost-in-light-how-light-pollution-o...
- rietta 6y agoWhile light pollution is a problem, with lasers and adaptive optics observations can be made. From the article: "The solution is lasers. Lick’s Shane telescope wields an adaptive optics system, which fires a beam into the atmosphere. “Adaptive optics measures the turbulence hundreds or thousands of times a second, and then changes the shape of a special mirror, called the deformable mirror, to take away the blurring,” says Max. The Shane telescope also has a larger mirror than Hubble: 3 meters compared to 2.4 meters. So if there happens to be a bright enough star nearby your viewing target, Max says, “you can get the same kind of spatial resolution that Hubble gets, because our telescope is more or less the same size, and we're taking away the blurring of the atmosphere with adaptive optics.”"
- gruturo 6y agoLasers+Adaptive optics compensate for the blurriness induced by the atmosphere, but not for the light pollution. The whole sky glows because of it, and items significantly fainter than the glow baseline are lost, even in long exposures.
- PopeDotNinja 6y agoI visited La Palma in the Canary Islands just before the lockdown in Spain. La Palma has a huge observatory, and I learned that the island is a starlight reserve. They take active measures to diminish the effects of light pollution, such as using special street lights, limiting flights at night, etc. If you ever get a chance to visit, La Palma is am amazing place. https://www.aboutlapalma.com/la-palma-astromony.html https://www.aboutlapalma.com/la-palma-astromony.html https://photos.app.goo.gl/JcD1bCUb1asU9VcE8 https://photos.app.goo.gl/JcD1bCUb1asU9VcE8
- privong 6y agoTucson, AZ is another place that has rules to guard against light pollution. This is to keep skies dark for the nearby observatories. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucson,_Arizona#Light_pollution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucson,_Arizona#Light_pollutio...
- throw0101a 6y agoDamn, I haven't seen Sun Ultras in a long time (I used to admin them).
- wbl 6y agoYou're confusing Lick with Mt. Palomar. Lick is helped by the marine layer of fog. It's in San Jose.
- eitally 6y agoIt's hard to tell where you are, but if you're in the bay area and know enough to post what you did, you probably should also know that the city of San Jose did specifically select street lamps based on light pollution concerns from the astronomers at Lick. https://www.quora.com/Why-did-San-Jose-install-yellow-street-lights https://www.quora.com/Why-did-San-Jose-install-yellow-street... https://mthamilton.ucolick.org/public/lighting/Pollution2.html https://mthamilton.ucolick.org/public/lighting/Pollution2.ht... As a transplant, it took some getting used to, because the low pressure sodium street lamps are roughly the same color as yellow stop lights. For better or for worse, the city of San Jose has been replacing the LPS lamps with LEDs for the past 6 years, but at least they're down-facing and create less light pollution than many other options.
- throw0101a 6y agoClosest one to where I live: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrance_Barrens#Dark-sky_preserve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrance_Barrens#Dark-sky_pres... Current at-risk: * https://www.blogto.com/travel/2020/08/torrance-barrens-dark-sky-preserve-ruined/ https://www.blogto.com/travel/2020/08/torrance-barrens-dark-...
- segfaultbuserr 6y agoFun fact: Asteroid 6216 was named "San Jose" for its support and cooperation with nearby Lick Observatory to reduce light pollution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6216_San_Jose https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6216_San_Jose
- 50 6y agoOn the topic of light pollution, you might be interested in Paul Bogard's The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16131044-the-end-of-night https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16131044-the-end-of-nigh...
- sizzzzlerz 6y agoI've been up that way many times, by bike, by motorcycle, by car. Although the road to the top is relatively tame (7% max grade), the surrounding area is super steep and hilly. Great for hiking and mountain biking, not so much for fire fighting. It's also very, very dry. Major props to all the fire fighters who labored to save such a historically important facility.
- fennecfoxen 6y agoIf I recall correctly, the road to the top is relatively tame because it was built to deliver construction materials to the observatory, and that was before motor vehicles.
- chillers 6y agoI visited last November from the San Jose side, and the road was a nightmare. It's a small, windy road through the mountains with little visibility. I could see it being extremely difficult to navigate with firetrucks as it took me quite a while with my Prius.
- option 6y agothat road is motorcycle heaven - love it. But, yes, its a miracle that firefighters were able to stop a fire there
- ericbarrett 6y agoThe front road (Mt. Hamilton Road / Hwy 130, starting at Alum Rock) is very winding because the grade was limited to allow horse & cargo carriage to summit the peak. Limiting the grade means extra turns. The back side roads, down to Livermore or Patterson, as well as the faster front cutoff (Quimby Rd) were built for vehicles and are much steeper and a little straighter. Source: Grew up there
- bagacrap 6y agospecifically they needed to deliver very large and heavy mirrors for the telescope itself
- mark-r 6y agoMount Hamilton is one of my favorite places on earth, even though I've only been there twice. You feel like you're seeing the best that nature and man can produce, both at the same time. I'm glad they were able to save the observatory.
- basementcat 6y agoI had similar feelings climbing Mt Wilson near Los Angeles and Mauna Kea in the big island of Hawaii.
- 50 6y agoI was once a student at a community college taking an astronomy course and was required to visit an observatory to write a reflection piece. I ended up visiting Mt. Wilson Observatory. Boy, did I think my beat-up, 2002 Honda Civic coupe would not make it up there due to the incline - my friends and I were in awe of how we were driving "in the clouds" (or maybe it was just fog?). I loved it up there! If I recall correctly, they had this shack where you could buy your tour pass and food.