ATM A Visit to Griffith Observatory

[Richard Schwartz <richas@chelsea.ios.com>]

-- [ From: Richard Schwartz * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --

Today I visited Griffith Observatory.  When there, I informed my wife that I
first ground glass in the basement ATM workshop there, 25 years ago.

The 40" hole from the Palomar 200" has been demoted from its original shrine
.  Half of the reflective coating has been stripped to reveal the interior
of the glass.  

What a MESS!!!  It has striae, dirt clods, internal cracks, a grogzillion
bubbles, edge and surface chips, and every other imaginable defect.   You
can clearly see the different layers of glass that result from the several
pours into the mold.  I think it a miracle that a working telescope could be
made of that piece of garbage!

Now I know I made the right decision to give up on melting the glass. 
Cutting and fuzing clear sheets together eliminates most of those problems.

It is tragically obvious that some of the edge and surface defects are
obviously due to mishandling by the Griffith Observatory.   They would do
well to work that blank into a 40" mirror to replace their 12" telescope.

Is the Palomar 200 Satanic?  I hear its focal length is the same as the
number of the Beast!