Lick Observatory

Lick Observatory astronomical observatory located on Mt. Hamilton, Calif., near San Jose; the first mountaintop observatory in the world, it was founded through gifts made by James Lick in 1874-75 and came under the direction of the Univ. of California in 1888; it is now run by the Univ. of California Observatories. The original telescopes at the observatory were a 12-in. (30.4-cm) refracting telescope (1881, since decommissioned) and a 36-in. (91.4-cm) refracting telescope (1888), second largest in the world after the 40-in. (101.6-cm) refractor at Yerkes Observatory . The principal research instrument now is a 120-in. (3-m) reflecting telescope that went into operation in 1960. Other equipment includes 39.4-in. (1-m) and 36-in. (91.4-cm) reflectors.

Lick Observatory The observatory of the University of California, opened in 1888 at an altitude of 1290 m on Mount Hamilton, 21 km east of San Jose, California. Its headquarters are in Santa Cruz. Its most celebrated telescope is the 36-inch (0.91-m) Lick refractor, opened in 1888 and named, like the observatory, after the landowner James Lick (1796–1876), who donated money for its construction. Another historic instrument at the observatory is the 36-inch Crossley reflector, opened in 1896. In 1959 the 3-m Shane reflector was opened, named after C(harles) Donald Shane (1895–1983), a former director of the observatory. Other instruments on Mount Hamilton are the 1-m Anna L. Nickel reflector, opened 1979, and the 0.76-m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT), opened 1996. http://mthamilton.ucolick.org/