Mount Wilson
Observatory Association
The Mount Wilson Observatory Association (MWOA) is a volunteer organization supporting the Mount Wilson Observatory. Membership is open to all interested persons. The Observatory itself is operated by the Mount Wilson Institute (MWI). Please contact the Institute for official business.
Mount Wilson Observatory, a center of astronomical research in the San Gabriel Mountains above Altadena, is not associated with Griffith Observatory and Planetarium in the Hollywood Hills.
A recent aerial view of the Mt. Wilson Observatory complex, looking north-east. In the lower-left are the 60-foot and 150-foot solar tower telescopes. Directly below the 60-foot tower is the horizontal Snow solar telescope. The dome for the 60-inch telescope is to the right of center, and the dome for the 100-inch Hooker telescope is near the top-center. Below the 60-inch dome is the small white dome housing the 16-inch Meade telescope. Directly north of the 100-inch dome is the long beam-combining building for the CHARA interferometer. Five of the six small silvery CHARA domes, each housing a 40-inch telescope, can also be seen. To the right in the picture is the Berkeley infrared interferometer. This photograph is by Norm Vargas, a 60-inch telescope operator.
Mt. Wilson Now! A live image from the Towercam atop the UCLA
150-foot Solar Tower telescope on Mt. Wilson. The Towercam operates 24 hours a day. Sometimes it is pointed out toward the city at night. Click on the Towercam image to go to the Towercam Website for a bigger image and for more information. See especially their daily Sunspot Drawing. Just below their Towercam image is a report of the weather conditions on the Mountain. Also see JPL's Mt. Wilson Weather Station for current conditions.
MWOA News and Calendar of Events
- Mount Wilson Closed During Winter: Mount Wilson Observatory and Skyline Park are closed to visitors for the Winter. Exceptions are for reserved tours and 60-inch telescope observing sessions. The closure will extend from December 1, 2009, to March 31, 2010. If you wish to visit Mount Wilson, come in the Spring when everything will again be open. The Observatory survived intact from the Station Fire and is now resuming scientific operations.
- MWOA Free Public Lecture: Sunday, February 28, 2010, in the Community Room of the Altadena Public Library. Dr. Gary Peterson, Professor of Planetary Geology at San Diego State University, will speak on The Enigmatic Satellites of Saturn. Refreshments are at 2:00pm, the program begins at 2:30pm. See the Lectures page for more details. See the Directions page for how to get to the Altadena Public Library.
- Mount Wilson Public Access: All roads leading to Mount Wilson have either been blocked by mud/debris slides or severely damaged by floods during the recent Winter storms. Major repairs are necessary that will take weeks or months. Included are Angeles Crest Highway, Angeles Forest Highway, and the Upper and Lower Big Tujunga Canyon roads. Thus parts of these roads have been closed to the general public for an indefinite period. However, some of the closed sections may be open with limited access to residents, contractors, and emergency vehicles.
For the latest information on LA county roads from the LA County Dept. of Public Works, go to County Road Closures. For information from Caltrans on Angeles Crest (State Highway 2) go to Angeles Crest Closures.
Further rains may make this bad and dangerous situation even worse. Bottom line: Don't plan on driving to Mount Wilson any time soon.
- Director's Blog: For Observatory information from Director Hal McAlister, go to Director's Blog. He now includes information related to both the big fire in August and September, and the floods and snow from the present Winter storms.
For photos of Mount Wilson and along Angeles Crest Highway taken during and just after the big fire by Observatory Superintendent Dave Jurasevich, go to:
Sept 5 Photos..... Sept 11 Photos..... Sept 16 Photos
For photos taken on Sept 6 along Angeles Crest Highway by Susan McAlister, go to:
Sept 6 Crest Photos
- Five MWOA 60-inch Nights: In 2010, MWOA has scheduled five observing nights on the Mount Wilson 60-inch telescope for our Sustaining Members. See the 60-inch page for the dates and when to register.
- Monthly MWOA Board Meetings: The MWOA Board of Trustees usually meets on the first Tuesday evening of each month. All MWOA members are invited to attend if they wish. If you'd like to become more active in MWOA, this is a good way to start. You need not be a member of the Board to participate. Contact our President Tim Thompson, for details.
More From MWOA
Links of Special Interest
- CHARA Overview. The results from the CHARA (Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy) interferometer array continue to be amazing. They reveal things never seen before in astronomy. Go see the overview (it may take a while to download). The CHARA interferometer on Mount Wilson was dedicated in 2000, became fully operational in 2004, and began routine, scheduled observations in 2005.
- Astronomy Picture of the Day, from
NASA. This is one of the best places on the Internet to get great astronomy and space pictures, often with the latest news from out of this world. For a particularly good archived example, go to M3: Inconstant Star Cluster and watch the RR Lyrae stars wink on and off.
- Mars Exploration Rovers, from JPL. This website gives the latest news, photos, and press releases about JPL's long-lived pair of Mars rovers. See the Everest Panorama for a view as if you were standing on Mars.
- Your Webmaster designed all the camera lenses for the Mars rovers. To find out more about these lenses, go to his SPIE paper from 2001 in pdf format. Or from his new Camera Lenses book, download the complete Chapter 31 in pdf format, which also describes the Mars rover lenses.
- For more on the Mars rovers, the Principal Investigator, Steve Squyres, has written an excellent book, Roving Mars. In addition to describing the mission, his personal insights remind the reader that science is done by real people with real feelings, hopes, and fears. An IMAX film version has also been produced and is highly recommended.
- For over 150 of the best photographs from the Mars rovers, see another recent book, Postcards from Mars, by Co-Investigator Jim Bell. Absolutely amazing!
- Cassini-Huygens, from JPL. See the latest results from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn. For one of their most spectacular images, go to Solar Eclipse, Saturn Style (click on the image for a wider view, and again for a bigger image). Or how about the View from Above?
- JPL News. Get more news about space from JPL.
- Mars Pictures. Pictures of Mars are posted from the huge number recently taken by spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet (although technically the color is yellowish-brown).
- 100-inch Mirror. Check out the photos of the 100-inch mirror without its aluminum coating. You can see the infamous bubbles in the glass that gave Hale and Ritchey such misgivings. Fortunately, the bubbles did no harm. These photos are part of the new Mt. Wilson Institute website.
- If you like the Towercam image from Mt. Wilson, see also the cameras on
Mt. Hamilton at Lick Observatory, and on
Kitt Peak at the National Observatory.
- For current weather conditions on the Mountain, see JPL's Mt. Wilson Weather Station, located near the Monastery. For weather forecasts, see Mt. Wilson Forecast #1 and Mt. Wilson Forecast #2, from the National Weather Service. See Mountain Forecast, for a 7-day weather forecast for the Los Angeles County mountains.
- Satellite View of Southern California, from the National Weather Service. Shows the current view from space in visible light with 1-kilometer resolution. For a longer download time, see the time-lapse
animated version.
- Jet Stream Analysis. Shows a map of the present jet stream over the eastern Pacific and western U.S.
- Doppler Radar Map, from the National Weather Service. Gives the latest Doppler radar map of Southern California, indicating precipation (and sometimes flocks of birds and swarms of insects).
- Mt. Wilson Observatory Clear Sky Chart. Gives predictions of the sky conditions over Mt. Wilson.
Satellite Weather Photo for Mt. Wilson
Visible (daytime only)
For other satellite weather photos, go to
Infrared (24 hour)
Western U.S. visible animation
Pacific water vapor animation
All images
MWOA wins Star Award from the Griffith Observatory for its website.
For a list of other winners, go to: Star Awards.
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Mt. Wilson Observatory Association
P.O. Box 70076
Pasadena, CA 91117-7076 |
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- The MWOA Internet website has been optimized for a standard Arial font, a screen resolution of 1024x768 pixels, and 16 bit color (the background should look tan, not pink; if it looks pink you may be using 8 bit color). It is under continuous development and is therefore subject to sudden changes. Direct all inquiries, complaints, and advice about the contents or style of this website (including about links that don't work) to info@mwoa.org. But please, NO SPAM or other marketing solicitations.
