Anya Cappon MT. Wilson Blog #3

Mount Wilson Blog 
Access to the sky seems like something we all have, seeing as it is above our heads at all times. Attempting to understand what exists in space is still relatively new information. Fascination with what exists beyond our earth is not new, philosophers and scientists have been exploring the sky for hundreds of years. Mount Wilson Observatory is the place that gave astronomers the tools and location to study what exists beyond our planet. Mt Wilson is home to a 60in telescope, that was completed in 1908. The 60inch telescope has been pivotal in astrological discoveries.  Access to the sky is something that becomes incredibly vast and unending the more you know about it. For many years the only people that could know about were astronomers, astrophysicists, people with education, etc. Now curiosity can give anyone access to the sky.

Before the completion of the 60-inch telescope, there were many things about the sky that we didn’t know for sure. For instance, the use of the 60in telescope is why we know our place in the galaxy. Harlow Shapley is responsible for measuring the distance between globular clusters. This means he was able to gather enough information using the 60in telescope at Mt. Wilson to measure our location in the Milkyway. An essential piece of information that Shapley discovered the position of the sun in the galactic disk. In other words, Shapley used a massive telescope to gain perspective on just how massive and expansive our universe is. He used the information he found in the sky to find an even more precise location of where our sun and our earth exists within the Milkyway. The telescopes have contributed to the research of the universe in many amazing ways, but one of the most amazing things about them is the access they give us to the universe from the earth. The reason we can explore space today physically is because of people like Shapley that have used the telescopes at Mount Wison to make discoveries of time and location.
The massive telescopes at Mount Willson Obsevitory are pivotal in expanding research of the sky, but today they are are an access point to the sky for many people. Regardless of the purpose is to discover something new about the universe or to learn about what has already been found. Today, the fact that students can look through the 60in telescope at Mt Wilson observatory shows how vital access to information is, and it shows just how far science has come in becoming accessible to everyone.


















Work Cited
1. 2018 Mount Wilson Observatory 
https://www.mtwilson.edu/entering-a-new-era-in-solar-research/
2. Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science
https://cosmology.carnegiescience.edu/timeline/1920

3. Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science

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