County Considers Buying Financially Pressed Observatory
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The county Board of Supervisors is looking into the possibility of buying the Mt. Wilson Observatory in order to preserve the mountaintop landmark 10 miles northeast of Pasadena.
On a motion Tuesday by Supervisor Pete Schabarum, the board voted to instruct its Department of Parks and Recreation to meet with Mt. Wilson officials to discuss the feasibility of taking over the financially troubled facility.
In a written motion, Schabarum noted that the observatory’s famed 100-inch Hooker telescope was closed by the Carnegie Institute last week because of budget problems. He called the observatory “a valuable scientific facility,” and said that each year thousands of county residents travel to the mountains to see it.
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