Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer

This is an optical pyramid used at the Cassegrain focus on the Hale 200-inch telescope to split light into four beams and sent them into an instrument called the "4-shooter." This array of four CCD-based cameras was a proof-test of the split field concept design for the Wide Field/Planetary camera of the Hubble Space Telescope. The NASM collection holds the complete, working camera including split field optics and two of the original four CCD camera units that were used programmatically on the 200-inch for many years and featured in Richard Preston's "First Light" as a galaxy and quasar finder. The California Institute of Technology donated this object to the Museum in September 1999.

 Display Status

This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.
Object Details
Country of Origin United States of America Type INSTRUMENTS-Scientific Manufacturer California Institute of Technology, Palomar Observatory
 Dimensions 3-D: 10.2 × 38.1cm, 6.8kg (4 × 15 in., 15lb.)
Storage (Aluminum pallet and frame with fabric dust cover): 123.2 × 124.5 × 119.4cm, 241.3kg (48 1/2 × 49 × 47 in., 532lb.)
 Materials Aluminum, Glass, Iron Alloy (Steel), Paint
 Inventory Number A19990211002 Credit Line Gift of the Palomar Observatory, California Institute of Technology. Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Usage conditions apply
For more information, visit the Smithsonians Terms of Use.