First Light

Explores the lives and work of astronomers. The book examines eccentric characters such as James Gunn, a near-sighted gadgeteer who builds instruments for the Hale Telescope from junk parts, and Juan Carrasco, a former barber, who is the only person allowed to move the "big eye" across the sky.

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The author writes in this book about the lives and work of astronomers. He spent a year visiting Palomar Mountain in southern California where he learned how astronomers explore the infinite deep. Since the Hale Telescope at Palomar opened its shutter to "first light" in 1949, the observatory has been a mecca for generations of astronomers and remains to this day the largest working optical telescope in the world. The book provides portraits of characters as diverse and eccentric as James Gunn, a nearsighted gadgeteer who builds instruments for the Hale Telescope from junk parts and Juan Carrasco a former barber from Texas who is the only person allowed to move the "big eye" across the sky.