Our Beloved Griffith Observatory

 

By Soumya Karlamangla California Today, Writer

It’s Wednesday. Roughly seven million people have looked through the main telescope at Griffith Observatory. Plus, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill for supervised drug-injection sites.

The Zeiss refracting telescope at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.Gabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York Times

LOS ANGELES — Atop a hill that offers views of glittering freeways and golden mountains is one of this city’s most popular attractions, drawing tourists who spend hours waiting in line to gaze upon it.

The must-see isn’t a collection of Hollywood memorabilia or a dazzling museum installation, but a telescope that has been operating in the Los Angeles hills for almost nine decades.

The 12-inch Zeiss refracting telescope is arguably the showpiece of Griffith Observatory, housed in the easternmost dome that forms the building’s crown-like outline. And like any proper Los Angeles icon, the telescope has its own claim to fame.

“More people have looked through that telescope than any other telescope else in the world,” E.C. Krupp, director of Griffith Observatory, told me.

To be clear, this is only a claim. There’s no “telescope sheriff” or other authority to officially bestow this title on the Zeiss, Krupp explains. But his evidence is difficult to dispute.

Tourists and locals enjoying the sunset at the Griffith Observatory, home to the Zeiss telescope.Gabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York Times

On a recent Los Angeles summer evening, tour buses unloaded crowds of visitors onto the lawn in front of a gleaming observatory. Couples took selfies with the Hollywood sign in the background, friends shared picnics and locals laid on the grass beside their dogs and bicycles.

Around 6:45 p.m., I climbed the stairs to the observatory’s roof to see the Zeiss. There was more than an hour till sundown and telescope viewing hadn’t begun yet, but already two dozen people were lined up.

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Here we encounter the first piece of Krupp’s evidence: Griffith Observatory is extremely popular. It’s a major landmark in a metropolis that attracts millions of tourists from around the world each year.

The Zeiss telescope after viewing hours last month.Gabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York Times

The Zeiss isn’t a modern marvel like the new James Webb Space Telescope, but rather a 9,000-pound, German-made behemoth that’s been here since 1935, when Griffith first opened its doors. The observatory’s benefactor, Griffith J. Griffith, believed that the public, not just scientists, should be able to look at the stars.

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“The real charm of the telescope is that people actually get to look through it, and that’s the fundamental principle of this place,” Krupp said. “We really intend to put people’s eyeballs to the universe.”

By 7 p.m., dozens more people had lined up behind me, and the growing queue was cordoned off as if we were at an amusement park. Around me were sunglasses, cameras, backpacks and a mélange of languages and accents.

“Is this the line?” asked a man wearing a Dodgers hat. He shook his head when he found out that it was.

By Krupp’s count, approximately seven million people have pressed their eye to the Zeiss telescope since it opened. He believes this figure, which comes from tallies kept by observatory staff who man the telescope, is almost definitely greater than that for any other telescope because:

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Griffith Observatory is one of the oldest public observatories in the world, so the Zeiss has had more time to rack up views. And it’s free. Its fame has beget more fame. “The very fact that you have to wait in line creates its own sort of mystique,” Krupp said. Los Angeles’s weather means that the telescope operates for more days out of the year than one in, say, Berlin or Philadelphia. (A reminder to Angelenos be grateful for clear skies.)

Griffith Observatory

Krupp, who has been director of the observatory since 1974, told me that he began advertising the Zeiss as the most looked-through telescope in the world about two decades ago. He would be “surprised and disappointed” if someone proved him wrong, he said.

“We’ve been claiming that for a very long time, with the idea that if there were challengers wishing to take us down a notch or two, they’d do that,” Krupp said. “And they haven’t.”

When I made it to the front of the line, I entered through a low doorway into the dome that houses the telescope. The masked faces around me craned their necks to look at the metallic monstrosity.

I climbed a few steps to reach the telescope’s eyepiece, pointed at a star 25.3 light-years from Earth. A staff member grabbed a microphone to narrate the experience.

“More people have looked through it than any telescope in the world,” he boomed. “You join that illustrious history tonight.”

For more:

Krupp believes people are drawn to the Zeiss because it looks like a classic telescope, unlike the new James Webb Space Telescope, which he says more closely resembles “an alien creature.” Looks aside, the James Webb has captured some incredible images. The best telescopes for beginners. Griffith Park, Pershing Square — what’s behind Los Angeles park names? Read more from The Los Angeles Times.