The Cellar - April 15, 2009: Hubble's 100 Incher

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- - April 15, 2009: Hubble's 100 Incher (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=20066)

April 15, 2009: Hubble's 100 Incher

You know Hubble, they named that awesome space telescope after him.
This Mack truck is hauling the 100 inch telescope mirror up Mt Wilson for the telescope Hubble would discover galaxies with.

http://cellar.org/2009/mtwilson.jpg

I love those old chain-drive Macks.:blush:

Quote:

Courtesy the Los Angeles Public Library
From the mule trains used to hoist the 60-inch mirror to the mountaintop to the cold nights Edwin Hubble spent rewriting our knowledge of the cosmos, Mount Wilson represents the evolution of the modern observatory, and one of the most important scientific places in history. George Ellery Hale's 60-inch scope, which is no longer used for research, was used for studies of the spectral classification of stars, which forms the basis of modern astronomy. The 60-inch Hale telescope was the largest in the world 100 years ago, but within 10 years, it was replaced by a 100-inch scope next door. Using the 100-incher (pictured en route to the summit in 1917), Edwin Hubble discovered that the smudges of "nebulae" in the sky were actually distant galaxies; that the universe is expanding; and that the speed of that expansion is commensurate with a Big Bang creation. Mount Wilson was the premier observatory in the world for 40 years, until L.A.'s brightness led astronomers to look south.

If you had a 100 incher, you could be famous too.

Major dick, grip and important jobs

My first thought was like, a 100 incher, no way, impossible, even for a major celebrity like Hubble.
By the way, those tires seem to lack grip - thats why this guy at the rear end has to push pretty hard. And the the other guy on top of the vehicle does a very important job as well. Probably bearing responsibility.

Pretty stiff ride. Those solid tire wheels and no suspension to speak of it was a jolting ride at very slow speeds. The guy riding on top will come down after a while, whether he wants to or not.:D

The guy in the rear indicates the vehicle is traveling at walking speed.
He's lookig to see if anything else falls off on the way up.

The guy driving is a professional, why else would he be wearing a tie and looking concerned?

And to do the same thing in these modern times, they use a, um, truck!

This is the MMTO

Bruce, wasn't your first job assembling those chain drives in Allentown? ;)

Ummm... why not set it on edge and roll it up the mountain? I wouldn't walk behind it under those circumstances, but maybe I'd throw some grapes under the front edge and sip wine along the way.

Lens-Crafters could have done it faster and cheaper.

True, but they'd have mixed up America's order with Russia's and have to do them both over.

Good thing they have that BOGO deal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Griff (Post 556488)

Bruce, wasn't your first job assembling those chain drives in Allentown? ;)

Nah, they said I was too old. :p

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetwater (Post 556498)

Ummm... why not set it on edge and roll it up the mountain? I wouldn't walk behind it under those circumstances, but maybe I'd throw some grapes under the front edge and sip wine along the way.

Here's why:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...,0.175095&z=13

Quote:

Originally Posted by JuancoRocks (Post 556468)

I think the guy with the tie is Dick Van Dyke. Are we sure this is not a photoshopped image of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Queen of the Ryche (Post 556535)

Here's why:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...,0.175095&z=13

But where's the Slawson cutoff? :haha:

(Nice pull, but it's Slauson. Over there, by Sepulveda.);)

You're right, Google only has 4310 hits for Slawson cut off, and 6780 for Slauson cut off. Thank you for the correction. :D