On Jun 12, 1:49*pm, dave wrote:
bpnjensen wrote:
On Jun 12, 5:08 am, *wrote:

As Wilson is primarily a solar observatory these days, I doubt the gas
mixture in the street lamps is very important. *I am 18 miles NNW of
Wilson at 1,790', and I can see the Milky Way from my back yard.

That's why it's primarily a solar observatory - the LP from LA has
rendered it useless for dark sky astro. *18 miles can make a big
difference...but it takes a REALLY dark sky for the Milky Way to throw
shadows...

As I recall from some hideous PBS in a hotel room, the 100" [?] was too
tiny for anything else, according to the guy who built the 200" on
Palomar. *I'm way too busy to look it up.

Well, that's funny - up here at Lick, the 120" still does amazing
science. In fact, amateurs with scopes far smaller contribute immense
knowledge every year. I think the interviewee was suffering from
aperture envy.