Palomar Observatory - Telescopes and Instruments

Telescopes and Instruments

• The 200-inch Hale Telescope was first proposed in 1928 and has been operational since 1948. It was the largest telescope in the world for 45 years.
• A 60-inch reflecting telescope is located in the Oscar Mayer Building. It was dedicated in 1970 to take some of the load off of the Hale Telescope. This telescope was used to discover the first brown dwarf star.
• The 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope (Schmidt Camera) was started in 1938 and installed in 1948. It was initially called the 48–inch Schmidt, and was dedicated to Samuel Oschin in 1986. The dwarf planet Eris was discovered using this instrument. The existence of Eris triggered the discussions in the international astronomy community that led to Pluto being re-classified as a dwarf planet.
• A 24-inch robotic telescope completed in January 2006 is used to monitor the weather on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. It is also used for follow-up observations of solar system discovered with the Oschin telescope.