Palomar Observatory
Located in North County

The Palomar Observatory, located in north San Diego County California, is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology. The Observatory supports the research of the Caltech faculty, post-doctoral fellows and students, and the researchers at Caltech's collaborating institutions.

Palomar Observatory is home to the historic Hale 200-inch telescope. Other facilities on the mountain include the 60-inch, 48-inch, 18-inch and the Snoop telescopes. The 60-inch telescope is home to the Automated Transient Observing System. The 48-inch telescope is home to the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking and Palomar-QUEST surveys. Instrumentation at Palomar Observatory also includes the Palomar Testbed Interferometer.

The Palomar Observatory is open to the public from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily (except December 24 and 25) for a self-guided visit to the 200-inch telescope. The gallery at the 200-inch dome affords visitor's a view of the Hale Telescope and a small gift shop is open daily from mid June through Labor Day and only on weekends for rest of the year.

The museum at Palomar Observatory is open daily.

The 200-inch Hale Telescope is not handicapped accessible but handicapped access is granted at 9:30 am, 1:00 pm, & 3:45 pm.