Palomar Mountain

Related Category: U.S. Physical Geography

(pl´mär), peak, 6,126 ft (1,867 m) high, S Calif., NE of San Diego, in Cleveland National Forest. It is the site of the Palomar Observatory, operated by the California Institute of Technology. The Hale telescope there, completed in 1948 and named for its creator George E. Hale, was the world's largest reflecting telescope (200 in./508 cm) until 1976, when Soviet scientists constructed an even bigger one. The growing smog from S California urban areas has reduced visibility from the observatory. The observatory, along with the Mount Wilson Observatory, was formerly part of the Hale Observatories, which were jointly administered by the California Institute of Technology and the Carnegie Institution.