KPCC / NPR Exclusives
Mt. Wilson Observatory: Private Night Hike + Dinner on the Mountain for 12
- Item Number
- 681
- Estimated Value
- 2500 USD
- Sold
- 5150 USD to oldgraves
- Number of Bids
- 29 - Bid History
Item Description
The lucky winner of this once in a lifetime experience and up to 11 guests will join science reporters Sanden Totten and Jacob Margolis on a private excursion to the historic Mt. Wilson Observatory, led by the Director of Carnegie Observatories Dr. John Mulchaey.
Round-trip transportation from the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena to Mt. Wilson will be provided, along with an informal catered dinner that the group will enjoy on the mountain.
Weather permitting, the historic 60-inch telescope will be available for viewing the night sky in this landmark year.*
The experience will be held from about 5:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. on moonless or new moon.
*This year marks the centennial of the great 100-inch telescope on Mt. Wilson, built by eminent astronomer George Ellery Hale, founder of the Carnegie Observatories, who also built the prior largest telescope in the world on Mt. Wilson, the 60-inch, in 1908.
For the first half of the 20th century, every great discovery in modern astronomy was made via these two telescopes, by all the great figures of that era. — the most important being those by Edwin Hubble, also a Carnegie Observatories astronomer. Prior to Hubble, it was believed that the Milky Way was the entire universe; Hubble was the first to identify galaxies beyond the Milky Way, to realize that there were countless numbers of them, and to realize that the universe was not only far, far larger than previously imagined — but that it was also expanding.
Mt. Wilson truly became the world center for astronomical research and today remains a peerless site in the history of the field.
Item Special Note
Participants must be over 12 years in age, should be able to climb stairs and walk moderate distances, and should wear walking shoes.
Be prepared for cool nighttime temperatures.
The experience must be redeemed one year from purchase date.
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