#lick-observatory — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #lick-observatory, aggregated by home.social.
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On February 3rd and 4th, the temporary cover for the storm-damaged 36-inch refractor telescope dome at #LickObservatory was completed: The time-lapse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEwnZ-YFEqE shows the installation of the final waterproof layer on the dome slit cover and metal flashing around the edges to ensure that wind or storms will not remove the waterproofing.
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#LickObservatory needs your help:
"Early on Thursday, Dec. 25, severe winds gusting up to 114 miles per hour tore across Mount Hamilton. The multi-ton shutter section fell outward onto the roof of the Great Hall, crushing several structural beams.
The Great Refractor telescope was not damaged during the incident, but its precision lenses and electrical systems could now be vulnerable to rain."They're looking for donations: https://give.ucsc.edu/campaigns/53679/donations/new
(Just an interested bystander)
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And a video clip from #LickObservatory with the removal by crane of the torn-down shutter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYooaiylVEg
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A local TV report from #LickObservatory showing the exterior damage to the refractor's dome caused by the storm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPoIrMzOubU
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Historic #LickObservatory closes to public following significant wind damage: https://news.ucsc.edu/2025/12/historic-lick-observatory-closes-to-public-following-significant-wind-damage/ - early on Thursday, Dec. 25, severe winds gusting up to 183 km/h tore loose half of the shutter on the 140-year old 36-inch Great Refractor dome; no one was injured.
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Our company observes MLK day, so I did some avoidance by riding up Mt. Hamilton again. Riding to the beginning of the climb, we had some gusty winds that almost persuaded me that climbing would be a bad idea. Weirdly, the winds were stronger at low levels with very little towards the top.
It was warmer than last time at the top and I again enjoyed the somewhat hidden courtyard. This time I spotted the plaque thanking the Jon Graff fund for helping with the maintenance.
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Looking down on the final corner climbing to the #LickObservatory on #MtHamilton.
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Here’s a more typical pic of the #LickObservatory on #MtHamilton.
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Not the usual picture of #lickobservatory - there’s a sheltered courtyard round the back that’s a good place to recover from the cycling effort to climb #mthamilton
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My California: Lick Observatory
What was once the largest refracting telescope in the world looks out high above Silicon Valley…
https://chasingdings.com/2024/09/03/my-california-lick-observatory/
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@futurebird More than 40 years ago, the #CityOfSanJose agreed to switch all of the street lights to low-pressure sodium-vapor lamps, because their light is a monochromatic yellow with a wavelength near 589 nm that could be filtered out by the telescopes at #LickObservatory. They were also more energy efficient. The effort was somewhat half-assed, since upscale mechants didn’t like the aesthetics and the PD didn’t like the loss of color—you can’t tell a purple car from a green one. Early LEDs were monochromatic, I think, but white LEDs are not.
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As others have already noted:
Whenever the mountain looks like this, Caltrans closes the roads up to the public to avoid too many people doing unsafe things driving in the snow.
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RT @UCSCscience
Sitting at 4200', the #LickObservatory overlooks Santa Clara County from atop Mount Hamilton. Every now & then, it turns into a winter wonderland ❄️ Today was one of those days!📸 Photos: 1 - Elinor Gates; 2, 3, 4 - Joe Halay
#santacruz @L…
https://twitter.com/UCSCscience/status/1629183268817100803 -
I learned a bunch of stuff today thanks to @seb's latest custom #emoji for the #sfba: Lick Observatory! :lickobservatory: (https://www.lickobservatory.org/)
#LickObservatoryIt's on Mt Hamilton, east of San Jose, https://goo.gl/maps/hyMpaHoKeyMpzw5y7
It's owned and operated by the University of California.
It was founded by a bequest in 1874 from James Lick, real-estate entrepreneur and California’s wealthiest citizen.
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Lick Observatory, atop Mt. Hamilton, in the Diablo Range east of the Southern San Francisco Bay Area.
#uc #lickobservatory #astronomy #mounthamilton #sfbayarea #blackandwhite #monochrome #historic