The Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO) is an astronomical observatory in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The MWO is located on Mount Wilson, a 5,710-foot (1,740-meter) peak in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, northeast of Los Angeles.

For an experience of a lifetime, view celestial objects through our historic 60-inch or 100-inch telescopes. Conceived & founded by George Ellery Hale in 1904, the observatory is home of some of the most important telescopes in the development of modern astronomy.

Now retired from active scientific service, the 60-inch and the 100-inch telescopes are the largest in the world made exclusively available to the public. With their large light-collecting mirrors and the exquisite skies over Mount Wilson, these historic telescopes provide an unrivaled and unique astronomical experience.

The world's largest telescope from 1917 to 1949, the 100-inch Telescope forever changed our understanding of the scale and nature of our Universe and launched a revolution in astronomy that continues through today.

Jul 18, 2014 · Mount Wilson Observatory is a Los Angeles-area facility with several telescopes open to astronomers and the public. Located on a mountaintop at an altitude of more than 5,000 feet (1,524...

Mount Wilson Observatory sits atop the San Gabriel Mountains above Pasadena, California. Founded in 1904 by George Ellery Hale and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Mount Wilson was home to a series of solar and nighttime telescopes that were the largest in the world.

Jan 12, 2025 · Mount Wilson Observatory, astronomical observatory located atop Mount Wilson, about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Pasadena, California. It was established in 1904 by American astronomer George Ellery Hale as a solar-observing station for the Yerkes Observatory , but it soon became an independent observatory funded by the Carnegie Institution of ...

Jun 19, 2024 · Mount Wilson’s huge, cutting-edge telescopes drew Edwin Hubble to the observatory in 1919, where he’d go on to make one of his biggest discoveries. The 150-foot solar tower stands at Mount Wilson...

Nov 6, 2001 · The first permanent telescope on Mount Wilson was the Snow horizontal solar telescope that Hale brought from the Yerkes observatory in 1904. The Snow telescope was followed by the 60-foot solar telescope in 1907 and the 60-inch reflector, for deep sky observations, in 1908.

Nov 1, 2017 · Perched atop California’s Mount Wilson, the 100-inch reflecting telescope took “first light” on the night of Nov. 1, 1917. The name “100-inch” isn’t the size of the entire telescope. It refers...