Solitude

Been surrounded by the variety of different aspects that Los Angeles holds, it never seems to surprise me when I find something new. As a young kid, I used to visit a family friend on Mulholland drive and always wondered what those big antennas were on the peak of the San Gabriel Mountains over looking all of L.A. Last week, I finally got to encounter these immense antennas that point straight up the sky, and the telescopes that neighbor them. Mount Wilson observatory is an astronomical observatory that was built in 1908. It holds two historical telescopes that we had the privilege to visit, The Hale telescope, which has a mirror blank of 60 inches, and the Hooker Telescope, which has a mirror blank of 100 inches. The whole compound sits 5710 feet high from ocean altitude level. As soon as we arrived at the sight, it was hard not to take a million photos and really take in the cool breeze and the fact that we were only 40 minutes away from Los Angeles. Only 40 minutes away from one of the busiest cities in the world, and one can still find a moment of peace and solitude, this is what intrigued me straight off the bat. As the sky got darker, one of the caretakers showed us around and gave the group some knowledge and history of the whole compound. Another amazing sight was the 150-foot high solar tower, its tall and outstanding structure for some reason reminded me of the Egyptian towers and how the peak of the monuments would connect with the sky and beyond. As the night went on, the experience got better and better, seeing the 60 in telescope move and point to different stars was already amazing, but then looking through the viewfinder was the icing on the cake. Our whole group took turns looking at the M82 nebula, Jupiter, a ghost planet, Mars and last but not least Saturn. Seeing Saturn so clear through the telescope was something else like I had never experienced. The beauty of its rings, and the clarity of its gas filled colors left me speechless and in aw. While all of this was going on, everyone had their cameras set and positioned around different areas of the telescope while doing long exposure astrophotography. In all, this experience was one that will not be forgotten, as a space nerd I hope to go back up there with more equipment to capture different ideas I developed as I was up there.