Welcome to Mount Wilson Observatory.
We're here above Los Angeles at 5700ft
above sea level. Come on follow me.
This is the famous Einstein bridge. In
1931, Einstein visited Mount Wilson
Observatory, so I'm now standing in the
footsteps of Einstein. The only
difference is actually had a little more
hair than I did.
This is it. The famous 100-inch
telescope. This is being supported by
tubs of liquid mercury. This platform can
ride up and down and then left to right
so as you aim the telescope in awkward
positions and you needed to reach where
the eyepiece was you would just take
that platform and ride that along.
Because it would be difficult to
continue using that platform up there
for public use we now have this light
tube. We're sending the light from the
hundred inch telescope into this
smaller telescope here, so in essence
we're using a telescope to look through
a telescope. We have so many discoveries
with this telescope that we would
basically be here all night talking
about all of them, so I just want to
mention one of the most famous ones
which is the fact that we discovered
that Andromeda was its own galaxy.
As Hubble imaged this galaxy which, he did know there was its own galaxy, he was
marking all the Nova that he was
discovering and when he marked this one
he later realized: that's not a nova. So he
crossed out the Nova marking and wrote
variable or VAR, because now that he
knows that that's a variable star he can
finally get the distance to this object.
And in gaining the distance we proved
that this is a galaxy outside our own.
The reason why Einstein came here in 1931
was because this telescope discovered
the expansion of the universe.
Einstein felt that that was his biggest
blunder that he did not account for the
expansion of the universe, so when we
finally discovered that with this
magnificent telescope he felt compelled
to visit the telescope and he felt
compelled to meet the astronomers who
made that discovery. That's why Einstein came here.
Watch your step, we're about 50 feet up
on this catwalk.
Every time I'm up here, it always feels
like the sunset is different.
Today we're actually seeing a little bit of
the effect from the nearby wildfires.
This telescope now is a hundred years
old. The 60 inch is a hundred and ten
years old, so there is that connection of
how they operated telescopes back then
and what they must have thought
when they saw it because when I look at
objects even to this day, I'm still
amazed. First time I saw Saturn I
actually cried. And I'm not the only one
that has those feelings we often get
people that come up here and just break
down because it's so beautiful.
It's breathtaking. It's something that
you just just stare at for hours and hours.
By the way we just have a few more
minutes to enjoy this we're watching the
Earth cast the shadow into space right
there. And it's the last little bits of
light bend over the horizon, we get this
beautiful pinkish glow off in the
opposite side of the setting Sun. This is
our own shadow
and it's beautiful! Just when you thought
it couldn't get any prettier
check out the rising moon.
