Rubel Castle, Communal Kitchen

You may remember our good friend Craig Woods, the Superintendent at Mount Wilson Observatory. Craig invited us to a special Sunday potluck breakfast at Rubel Castle, otherwise known as Rubel Farms, or simply, "the Pharm." Craig also introduced us to Scott Rubel, who grew up at the Castle and is now the Facilities Manager at the Carnegie Observatories.

I hope you're following this, because I'm not sure I am.

By the way, it's pronounced roo-BELL.

I make decent granola. I thought it would be good to bring some to a breakfast potluck. But I asked, just in case. Craig said we should bring donuts.

Donuts? Really? We discussed it and decided: if Craig wants donuts, he shall have donuts. We kept the granola for ourselves, and hoped other people would bring something healthy.

Apparently there's a tradition. Newbies are roped into bringing donuts and basically no one eats them. I had two. (Others managed to grab a few as well, so it wasn't a total loss.) Everyone thought it was funny that we fell for it and everyone was nice. AND there was plenty of healthy food to eat.

There are six apartments at the Pharm, most of them occupied by resident artists. Once a month they hold a potluck breakfast and invite friends. Some people are regulars. It felt special to be there enjoying something different, meeting new people, seeing folks I knew, feeling included.

Every single corner of the Pharm holds something weird or wonderful or old or special. There are too many photos to take. You will not see everything here on the blog because it would be impossible to show it all. But there's more, and I'll do my best.

50 HP Fairbanks Morse, II

This 50HP Fairbanks-Morse engine, built in 1911 and installed at historic Mt. Wilson Observatory in 1912, was for many years the only source of power at the Observatory campus. It's "a twin cylinder gasoline fueled engine, directly coupled to a generator capable of producing 40 kilowatts of power at 125 volts DC." There's more about the engine here and here.

 

We got our tour courtesy of Ken (L) and Larry (R) Evans, who've been keeping the engine running for more than 15 years.

Ready, set...let's see what this baby can do.

A brief view from the other side.

Not everyone gets excited about it. But a lot of us do.

The Fairbanks Morse engine is in a restricted area of the Observatory campus, but the Observatory itself is open to the public every day, 10am-5pm, as long as the roads are open. The Cosmic Cafe is open on weekends from April through November. Guided tours of the Observatory are available on weekends, or by reservation. You can even reserve one of the telescopes for a star gazing party! Or a photo shoot! Or an anniversary party! Or a wedding! I'm pretty sure there's not a more unique location, at least not within driving distance of my house.

11/23/15 update from Ken Evans (left, above): 

"If that lizard got onto the running flywheel, it would have to go 60 miles per hour to stay in one spot. Just a little trivia I once figured out.

"I am draining the water out of it tomorrow, Tuesday Nov 24 for the winter. Freezing nights are predicted for several days and we don't want to damage anything on such a treasure.  So the show season is over. Of course it can be looked at, just not run."

11/26/15 Here's another update from Ken Evans, and let's all thank him and Larry; they've been so helpful and informative and that's what makes this fun.

"Electricity Now and Then -  The AC electricity for Mt Wilson is supplied by SoCal Edison. In the Power House where the Fairbanks-Morse engine is located the DC is provided by solid state rectifiers and distributed from there. Originally DC was provided by various sizes of internal combustion engines. The F-M being the last. It was really a battery charger. There was a room with glass jar wet batteries and were charged during the day. At night the batteries were used which provided non polluting quiet power that astronomers liked. When AC power came to the Observatory in 1917, an AC motor driving a DC generator was installed and the F-M was a back-up. We are not sure if the AC-DC motor set was used to charge the batteries or ran all the time.

Fuel Oil -  A fuel oil called California Distillate was used as the source of heat. It is lighter than kerosene maybe like paint thinner. A large storage tank was set on a high spot and distributed to Day Tanks at various facilities by gravity. The Fairbanks-Morse engine was run on it. However, we use gasoline now for the demonstration runs. They had to start it on gasoline and then switch over to the distillate. It had to be delivered up the Toll Road but no reference has been found about delivery.

A lot of propane is now used at Mt. Wilson for heating and cooking.

Engine Running -  The engine had to be run during winter because it was the main power source. So freezing was not an issue. The combustion air intake can come from three sources. First is outside air, then room air and last, a shroud around the exhaust manifold would provide warmed air. We only use outside air. We only run the engine for demonstration during the summer. We have another volunteer that has figured out the generating system and we have generated electricity to run a light bulb and a motor for compressed air for starting. We have a modern air compressor for starting now. One cylinder of the two is converted to run on air to start the second cylinder and then converted to produce power from both.

Water -  Water for Mt. Wilson is obtained from wells near by. But because of the drought, they have gone dry and water is trucked in." 

50 HP Fairbanks Morse, I

What do this place...

...and these men...

...have to do with this? And what the heck is this, anyway?

Mt. Wilson Observatory Hideout IV: Farewell for Now

Update 10/2/15: I heard from Ken Evans, Mt. Wilson volunteer (thank you, Ken!). He's always got great info:
"Hi Petrea -  I was looking at your web page and saw your photo of the big bucket outside the Monastery kitchen at Mt. Wilson.  It was used to haul concrete up to the second floor of the Monastery during construction. I have seen photos on the Huntington Library digital images page that show the Monastery under construction. It shows a wood tower with pulleys and cable system to haul the bucket up. The power for the lift was a Model T Ford truck with ballast on the back to give traction.  The truck would drive forward and the bucket would go up. I think the concrete was then poured into wheel barrows and moved where needed."

Thanks, Ken!

Original post:

Last night's blood moon brought crowds to the Mt. Wilson Observatory. The parking lot is always open and it's a good spot for viewing the night skies. The Observatory itself closes to the public at 5pm but last night the staff left the gate open and people wandered, enjoying the grounds. Despite all the light from the city below it's still very dark up here, and fun to snoop. Everyone had a good time even though throughout most of the evening the moon demurely hid its heavenly body behind a tantalizing veil of clouds.

One does not get a good photo of a moon, even a giant blood moon, with an iPhone. You will find all the gorgeous shots you could possibly want elsewhere on the web. So for my last post from the mountain, I thought I'd show you things you won't find elsewhere. Above, that's a giant old bucket thing (technical term) behind the Monastery kitchen. Something from an old well? Chili cooker? The rim of the bucket came up to my waist.

Here's a view from a second floor window in the Monastery. I don't know what it is. You tell me. I like it in black and white. (Ken says these are "...old fashioned heat vents. Some times used on water heaters, or stove flues. I would have to look in the building to see if they are still in use. My guess is no.")

A better view of that drain we saw the other day.

Science moves on, always looking for the newest discovery. That's what science must do. Funding follows the biggest telescope, the latest thing. For the first half of the 20th century and beyond, Mt. Wilson Observatory was the cutting edge of astronomical research, but larger telescopes are now the norm. Important work is still done here (the Solar Telescopes, the CHARA Array, etc.), but the Observatory is in transition. What will it become? A museum of astronomical history? An Observatory? An educational facility? All three? What do you envision?

I'm not sure what's in Mt. Wilson's future, but I know what's in its past: major scientific discoveries that changed the world's understanding of itself and its place in the cosmos. Like Hubble's glass plate proving the expansion of the universe (a discovery he made here, using the 100-inch Hooker Telescope), it's impossible to place a monetary value on that.

I have been more than fortunate to experience this magical place in a private way. There's a lot here to do, see and think about. My endless thanks to those who made it possible.

Come visit, then let's talk some more.

Mt. Wilson Observatory Hideout III: the Monastery

This was my first view of the Monastery at Mt. Wilson Observatory. Compare it to this photo. 

Here's how to orient yourself to it:

I took this from near the front door, looking between the main building and the cottage. The pooch in the linked photo was standing beside that chimney, behind the van.

No. They're pine cones.

Originally they called this a monastery because the only astronomers here in the early 20th century were men. That's not true anymore, but the name stuck.

I had always wanted to get a glimpse of the place but it's in one of the private areas of the mountaintop where astronomical researchers live while they're working here.

The monastery is only steps from my cabin. I took this picture from my front porch this morning while the sun rose. I'm not normally an early riser but I'm going circadian here.

Here's a better look at the Monastery Cabin. Someone is living in the front part now. The back houses a kitchen and dining room that was once staffed to provide meals for the astronomers. I was able to peek through a gauze curtain and see a dining table that might have seated 12 or more people. It looks like there's a clean, white tablecloth on it. There are also a couple of bells, the kind with handles on them that you ring to let folks know the chow is on. Couldn't get a good picture through the gauze.

The "day side" of the Monastery. Scientists studying the sun stay on this side. Those working at night stay down the hall behind me. There's also a second floor above the night side.

The night side hallway is plain and carpeted. At the end is this:

I don't know what it is, but keep in mind that it's outside Room 4.

This summer the Monastery housed students in the CUREA program. I hope they do it again next year. The professor in charge lived in my cabin. She had a dog. I know because of the pupkiss on the windows above the couch. It makes me feel at home.

You can see why the place is thought of as monastic. It's simple and clean. This room is luxurious; others I saw had bunk beds. Each has a sink. There's a communal bathroom and a laundry room (bring quarters).

Nice views from every room.

The Monastery is at the end of a promontory below the Observatory. Behind it this stairway leads down the steep hillside to buildings that are part of another entity. The warning works for me.

Heading uphill in the other direction on your way to the telescopes, you'll pass my cottage. Mine at least for another 24 hours.

Mt. Wilson Observatory Hideout I

If you don't know how much I love the Mt. Wilson Observatory then you're new here. Welcome!

Mt. Wilson is a muse for me. I've visited many times. I find endless subjects for photos. I love the history. The views are breathtaking. And the Cosmic Cafe serves a fine hot dog. Unfortunately for me, there will be no hot dogs this weekend. So if you're making the hike up the mountain, I suggest you bring lunch. The Cafe will have something for you to drink.

We see these blinking towers and other Observatory lights from our back porch at night. The towers are not actually part of the Observatory, though I associate them in my mind and they loom over the Observatory parking lot. These towers service radio and television stations all over the Los Angeles basin.

But that's not what I'm bursting to tell you.

This. This is what I'm so excited about.

This private cabin is mine for a long weekend. I've got special permission to stay on the mountain in an area that's off-limits to tourists. I haven't seen anyone else for hours. I do see pine trees out of my windows. I feel cool air coming through the screen. A clock on the wall is ticking; I'll probably unplug it. A little road winds along in front of the cabin downhill to the adjacent, fabled monastery (pictures in my next post).

This weekend I'm here to write, write, write, and also to tell you more about this place. Mt. Wilson Observatory is a Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley classic. Its value is immeasurable. There is no other place in the world quite like it.

I won't be on the internet a lot for the next few days except to tell you about my experience. I'll post more photos, including places the regular Mt. Wilson visitor doesn't normally see. I hope you'll check in. I welcome your comments. Ask questions, too! I'll try to get the answers while I'm here.

Carnegie Observatories, II

Dr. Cindy Hunt, Caltech PhD and head of Social Media for the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, pushes open the door to the vault. My mouth gapes wider than the door. This is just the kind of thing I love: an archive—a photo archive of a different sort.

This archive is replete with glass plates—negatives of "astrophotographs" taken from telescopes pointing into all depths and directions of space. This one of the sun, from August 17, 1935, was taken from Mount Wilson's Solar Telescope. Click to enlarge it so you can see the flares of 80 years ago.

The glass plate negatives come in all sizes. Here, Cindy's holding a glass spectra of a sun spot, made in 1919 at Mount Wilson Observatory. Cindy says, "You can easily identify the Zeeman splitting in the calcium-H and K lines in the spectrum on the top row." I'm going to take her word for it. "Part of the early discoveries about the sun at the Carnegie Observatories was using these spectra to show that sun spots are far cooler than the rest of the sun, and have strong magnetic fields," she says.

In the background are boxes and boxes of the history of the universe, depicted on glass plates.

More glass plates. Those numbers on the boxes are dates: 1920. 1916. 1917.

"George Ellery Hale had a telescope in his back yard at his childhood home in Chicago, known as the Kenwood Observatory," says Dr. Hunt. "When Hale moved to Pasadena to build the first telescope on Mount Wilson in 1904, he brought these plates with him, known as the Kenwood Plates."

Thus, the years written on the boxes are 1894. 1895. 1892. 

On and on with the glass plates. The universe is pretty big! And astronomers at Mount Wilson Observatory have been photographing it for more than 100 years.

Carnegie's history is and will always be intertwined with that of Mount Wilson and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), but they're no longer officially affiliated. The Carnegie Observatories is an international research conglomerate. The astrophysics being done here is very much of the future. But these glass plates, depicting the astronomy of the past, are immensely valuable to science and history. That is to say, they're priceless. That, and the fact that they're sensitive to heat and light, is why they're kept in a vault. That's why the public rarely sees them.

That's why you should go to the Carnegie Observatories family-friendly Open House on Sunday, October 18th, 2-5pm, when some of these plates will be on display. Be sure to RSVP!

Carnegie Observatories, I

Here's a familiar face.

Everybody knows Albert Einstein spent a good deal of time in Pasadena in the 1930's, lecturing at Caltech, visiting JPL and Mount Wilson, and generally being a science ambassador around Los Angeles.

Here's a center of astronomy that Einstein visited but many Pasadenans don't know about: the Carnegie Observatories. I don't think there are any telescopes in the building but even if there are, in the middle of a residential neighborhood on a residential street, most of the science here is being done on computers and in brains. A huge part of their work, however, comes from Carnegie Observatories' telescopes at Las Campanas in Chile.

Lovely little library, isn't it?

That's George Ellery Hale in the painted portrait. Hale was the idea man behind so much of what are now historical observatories, including Mount Wilson Observatory. He was even instrumental in the design of Pasadena's beautiful City Hall Plaza, where one of the buildings is named for him.

In the photograph you see, among others, Edwin Hubble (the tall guy, second from left). Hubble is most known for discovering and proving the expansion of the universe. He also figured out that a lot of what had been thought to be nebulae were, in fact, galaxies. Imagine how all those galaxies boggled minds when they hadn't been considered before.

I think you can pick out Professor Einstein in the picture.

J and I were invited to visit the Observatories by Dr. Cindy Hunt, a Caltech PhD and head of Carnegie's Social Media efforts. In the next couple of posts, Dr. Hunt's going to lead us to some places the public never sees.

We'll visit deep space via the deep, dark basement of the Carnegie Observatories. Stay with us.

In the mean time, mark your calendar for Sunday, October 18th from 2-5pm for the Carnegie Observatories open house. Click on the link and give them an RSVP, s'il vous plait.

Inside the Solar Telescope

Through a dark door beneath a gleaming tower, we enter the small building that houses Mount Wilson Obervatory's 150-Foot Solar Telescope.

Fluorescent lights shine on interesting photos and diagrams that line the walls. This bust of George Ellery Hale looks like the one I photographed at Caltech in 2009, but I learned that it's not the same. This one was rejected by the Hale family. The accepted bust is at Caltech somewhere, though it's likely been moved since I took its picture.

At first you think, "Oh. Well, it's an old room. With old computers in it. And...wait, what are all these dials and knobs and...?"

Then someone turns off the lights.

You know you can't look directly at the sun, but there it is before you on the table, with today's spots.

Every day the sun's spots are mapped, and the information is shared for anyone to see. This research is used worldwide.

Then more magic—I mean, science. Before our eyes, on the table, sunset.

Shadows float across the circle of light, first of the Mt. Wilson radio towers, then of the western mountain range itself.

Then the gloaming fades into night.

A room full of enchanted enthusiasts lets out a cheer. It's easy, then, to understand why our ancient kin worshipped and feared the sun.

Solset on Mount Wilson

THIS POST UPDATED 9/8/15:

Ken Evans, a 15-year volunteer at Mt. Wilson Observatory, wrote to share information about the Solar Tower: 

"The 'little platform' is not the bucket elevator. The platform is a service stop for the bucket elevator. There is equipment inside the tower inner column that needs service and the elevator would stop there. The elevator is stored at the bottom of the tower when not in use. The group of cables on the far right in the photos is what is used by the elevator. The bucket only holds two people easily, but could hold three if one stands in the middle.

I also enjoyed the views inside the 100" telescope. I am part of a team of three that is installing a new control system for the telescope and at times I forget the beauty of the building. I have spent many hours inside the building, on the telescope and in it doing service. I am awed by the engineering of the place having been built in 1912 to 1917. The other day, [we] were studying a problem with the shutter opening system and I had to use binoculars to see the top area. I discovered that the idler pulleys for the cables that operate the upper part have pipes and grease fittings for the pulley. They come from the pulley hub and curve around so that they can be reached from the Newtonian platform as it rides up the dome."

Thanks for the corrections, Ken! They are much appreciated.

Public access to the Mount Wilson Observatory ends at 5pm, unless you're going to a special event. So when I had the chance to be on the Observatory grounds during evening hours, you can bet I grabbed it.

Approaching the 150-foot Solar Tower at sunset...

 ...magic.

Take a closer look. The little platform on the right is an elevator you can ride to the top IF you don't fear heights and IF you know the right people. I don't fear heights. I have to work on the people.

My next post takes place inside the building, with more magic. Or, uh, science.