Star Attractions: : <i> Beyond the Milky Way </i>

The Palomar Observatory is probably the most famous place to gaze at stars in the world, but its 200-inch Hale telescope is no longer the largest.

The Soviet Union operates a 236-inch telescope and Cal Tech, the operator of Palomar, is building the Keck observatory in Hawaii whose scope will measure 400 inches when it is completed next year.

But the Hale is still a very popular telescope. According to Robert Brucato of Cal Tech, researchers must submit proposals by Oct. 15 for the following calendar year. The telescope is in use all 365 days, but the scope is still oversubscribed by a factor of three or four, Brucato said, so many researchers go away disappointed.

In all, there are four telescopes atop North County’s Mt. Palomar.

The planning of the site was begun in 1934 as the home for the Hale, named for astronomer George Ellery Hale. The first scope, an 18-inch model, went into service in 1936. World War II delayed installation of the Hale until 1947. It was officially dedicated in 1948. A wide angle scope was placed at Palomar in the late 1940s and in 1970, a 60-inch scope was installed to take some of the load off the Hale.

Although the public can visit the observatory during the day, at night it’s open only to the scientists working there.