Last Saturday night we drove up to Mount Wilson (near Los Angeles, California) to go to the observatory. It is one of the most important observatories in the history of astronomy. Why? It is home to the 100-inch Hooker telescope (named after John D. Hooker, a wealthy philanthropist) and was the largest telescope from 1917 to 1949.
Edwin Hubble spent many days and nights there observing the universe and laying many of the ground work for today’s understanding of space. For example, he discovered that there is a linear relationship between the distance and speed of galaxies.⠀
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This means the further a galaxy is, the faster is moving away from us. This observation is known as Hubble’s Law and played a key role in proving the existence of theBig Bang.⠀
Among a crystal clear sight of Saturn (much clearer than in this iPhone picture), we had the chance to observe Jupiter, a globular cluster, dead stars with white dwarfs and even a different galaxy.⠀
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If you have the opportunity, we recommend visiting Mount Wilson. The Hooker telescope still is one of the largest on Earth today — and standing next to it is an awe-inspiring experience.⠀
And, if you want to make sure you are up to date with your science knowledge in the meantime, get the Humbot app learn science as easily as checking Facebook.
