The Mount Wilson Observatory Funded and operated by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, the Mount Wilson Observatory opened in the early 1900s high in the mountains near Los Angeles. Within a few years Mount Wilson had the largest reflecting telescope in existence. In 1917 an even bigger reflector was completed there, the 100-inch Hooker Telescope. The 100-inch remained the largest telescope in the world for 30 years. With it astronomers at Mount Wilson made several key discoveries that transformed our view of the Universe.
Observing Cage from the 100-Inch Telescope
	This structure, pictured on display inside the exhibition, is the upper section of Mount Wilson's 100-inch telescope, one of several interchangeable observing cages used on the instrument. This cage and the camera attached to it were used by Edwin Hubble in the 1920s and '30s during his monumental work on nebulae and galaxies. An astronomer would sit on a platform beside the cage to use the eyepiece or camera mounted on the structure. Lent by the Carnegie Institution of Washington's Mount Wilson Observatory, operated by the Mount Wilson Institute
Behind The Scenes: Installing the Mt. Wilson 100-inch Newtonian Cage in the exhibition.

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