The New International Encyclopædia/Lick Observatory

LICK OBSERVATORY. An astronomical observatory situated on Mount Hamilton, an eminence in the Coast range, California, 4285 feet high, and about 25 miles east of San José. It is reached by a carriage road 20 miles long, but of easy ascent. The observatory, which was completed in 1888, constitutes the astronomical department of the University of California. The advantages gained by this particular situation are an unobstructed view for a radius of 100 miles, and opportunity for observation during the greater part of the year, clear nights occurring regularly for six or seven months. The great telescope is the second largest refracting telescope in the world, the objective having a clear aperture of 36 inches, and being surpassed only by the 40-inch telescope at the Yerkes Observatory (q.v.) near Chicago. It has a focal length of 56 feet 2 inches, and the cast-iron column on which it rests has a dimension at the base of 17 feet north and south, and of 10 feet east and west. The point of suspension of the telescope tube is 36 feet from the floor. The dome, which has an exterior diameter of 76 feet, is moved by water-power, as is the observation platform. A smaller dome contains a 12-inch telescope. In front is a piazza, and on the back a plain of about 100 yards in extent has been made by blasting off a peak of the mountain. Upon this a great meridian circle, made by the Repsolds, is mounted; also a transit instrument, a photoheliograph, and a three-foot reflecting telescope, that formerly belonged to Crossley of England. A lens for photography has been so arranged that it can be attached to the end of the big telescope. The entire fund for the construction of this observatory was given by James Lick. See Lick, James.