The Big Eye

Newsletter for the Friends of Palomar Observatory

Since the summer of 2005, Friends of Palomar Observatory receive our newsletter The Big Eye two or three times a year and articles are about the current research, history, and educational outreach mission of Palomar Observatory contributed by Palomar Observatory staff, researchers, and associated enthusiasts.

Sketch of the 200-inch Hale Telescope, popularly known as the 'Big Eye.' (D.Woodbury, "The Glass Giant of Palomar")

• Vol 17 No 8 (Summer 2024): A Shared Astronomical Heritage on Palomar Mountain  •  A Docent Workshop at Lick Observatory  •  Andromeda Exhibit Update
• Vol 17 No 1 (Summer 2022): Native Americans Name Asteroid 'Ayló'chaxnim or “Venus Girl”  •  Hale Observations in Modern Astrophysics: Compact Binaries  •  The Universe in Color Digital Exhibit
• Vol 16 No 2 (Fall 2021): Dome Construction Digital Exhibit  •  Hale Observations in Modern Astrophysics: The SAGA Survey  •  Hale Primary Mirror Recoating in Mid-November 2021
• Vol 16 No 1 (Spring 2021): Hale Primary Mirror Travel Log  •  It Was a Dark and Stormy Night  •  Observatory Update
• Vol 15 No 2 (Fall 2020): The All New Palomar Observatory Gift and Book Store  •  Palomar Pandemic Operations  •  The Greenway Series: Palomar Outreach Now Offers Online Talks and Virtual Tours  •  NSF Support Success
• Vol 15 No 1 (Spring 2020): Palomar Observatory's New Virtual Tour  •  Max Mason: The Under Appreciated Hero of Palomar Observatory  •  COVID-19 Response  •  Upcoming Events
• Vol 14 No 1 (Summer 2019): Planetary Systems in the Making  •  From the Director’s Office: New Palomar Instrument Sees First Light!  •  Upcoming Events
• Vol 13 No 2 (Summer 2018): Accelerating Discovery: The 2018 Palomar Science Meeting  •  Commemoration  •  COO Directorship Transition  •  Upcoming Event
• Vol 13 No 1 (Spring 2018): Palomar 70th Anniversary: Celebrating the Legacy and Anticipating the Future  •  Zwicky Transient Facility  •  Palomar Science Meeting 2018
• Vol 12 No 3 (Fall 2017): Weather Reports from Exoplanets  •  Palomar Docents  •  Final Season Friends Event
• Vol 12 No 2 (Summer 2017): LIGO, Gravitational Waves, and a New Window on the Universe  •  Astronomical Interferometry at Palomar  •  Upcoming Events
• Vol 12 No 1 (Spring 2017): Not Your Grandfather’s Museum Anymore  •  Zwicky Transient Facility Taking Shape  •  This Summer’s Events
• Vol 11 No 1 (Spring 2016): Planet 9 From Outer Space  •  HPWREN Partners  •  Season’s Events
• Vol 10 No 2 (Fall 2015): Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics at Palomar Observatory  •  The Friends of Palomar Observatory, 2015
• Vol 10 No 1 (Spring 2015): Imaging Exoplanets  •  Legacy of Discovery  •  Friends of Palomar Observatory: Activities for the Year
• Vol 9 No 3 (Fall 2014): Griffith Observatory  •  The Zwicky Transient Facility  •  Frequently Asked Questions  •  Palomar’s New Website
• Vol 9 No 2 (Summer 2014): David Ciardi (IPAC/Caltech) on Finding the Youngest Exoplanets  •  The Luiseños Nation, Asteroids, and Palomar Mountain  •  Caltech’s Cosmic Web Imager Sheds Light on “Dim Matter”  •  Ask This Old Docent
• Vol 9 No 1 (Spring 2014): Sasha Hinkley (Caltech) on The New Era of Exoplanet Direct Imaging  •  Searching the Sky for Dangerous Neighbors  •  The New Astronomy  •  Ask This Old Docent
• Vol 8 No 1 (Spring 2013): Gravity-Bending Find Leads to Kepler Meeting Einstein  •  The Palomar Observatory Docent Corner
• Vol 7 No 2 (Summer 2012): Project 1640 Sifts Through Starlight to Reveal New Worlds  •  George Ellery Hale, MIT and Caltech
• Vol 7 No 1 (Spring 2012): Updates  •  Embrace the Turns
• Vol 6 No 5 (Winter 2011): A Life in Balance: A Tribute to Bill McLellan  •  The Palomar Observatory Docent Corner
• Vol 6 No 4 (Fall 2011): We celebrate two Birthdays this month at Palomar Observatory
• Vol 6 No 3 (Summer 2011): Caltech-led Astronomers Find a New Class of Stellar Explosions  •  Summer Friends of Palomar Events  •  PALM-3000 Adaptive Optics  •  Palomar People: Keepers of the Glass
• Vol 6 No 2 (Spring 2011): Robo-AO Comes to Palomar  •  My Dream of Palomar  •  Remembering Gus Weber  •  75 Years Ago This Month  •  Friends of Palomar Observatory Programs for 2011
• Vol 6 No 1 (Fall 2010): 60-inch Mirror Successfully Re-aluminized in August  •  Exoplanets Photographed with Hale Telescope  •  Palomar Transient Factory Supernova Count on the Rise  •  Last 60-inch Night of the Season
• Vol 5 No 2 (Spring 2010): A Faint Star Orbiting the Big Dipper’s Alcor Discovered  •  A Brief History of the Telescope - Part 2  •  2010 Programs  •  Hale Telescope Mirror Support Engineering Project Completed
• Vol 5 No 1 (Summer 2009): Unique Sky Survey Brings New Objects into Focus  •  Palomar Stories: Paul Jett & Walter Baade  •  A New Exoplanet Discovered Using the Hale Telescope  •  Fred Givant: 1943 – 2009
• Vol 4 No 2 (Spring 2009): Celebrate the International Year of Astronomy  •  A Brief History of the Telescope  •  Palomar Observatory Needs You
• Vol 4 No 1 (Fall 2008): The Journey to Palomar on PBS  •  See The Journey to Palomar at Palomar Palomar’s New Outreach Center
• Vol 3 No 3 (Spring 2008): Edwin Hubble Honored  •  A Shot in the Dark  •  Palomar Stories: Ben Traxler
• Vol 3 No 2 (Winter 2007): Observatory Escapes Poomacha Fire  •  Sharpest Images Ever Palomar Stories: John Strong
• Vol 3 No 1 (Fall 2007): Journey to Palomar at Temecula Film Festival  •  Biggest Exoplanet Yet  •  Palomar Stories: Marcus Brownie Brown  •  2007 Season Almost Gone
• Vol 2 No 2 (Spring 2007): The Big Picture  •  Oh, The Things You Will See, The Things You Will Do, and the People You Will Meet
• Vol 2 No 1 (Fall 2006): Solar System Now Has Eight Planets  •  Palomar’s Astronomical Bandwidth  •  Adaptive Optics Moves Forward  •  Did You Know?  •  Mickey and Pluto?
• Vol 1 No 2 (Spring 2006): Eight or Ten?  •  The Little Telescope That Could
• Vol 1 No 1 (Summer 2005): Welcome to The Big Eye!  •  Now and Then  •  Artificial Stars at Palomar  •  Donations and Docents Boost Outreach