Colleges to Unveil 1-Meter Telescope Today

The largest telescope run by an undergraduate campus will be officially opened today, officials of the Claremont Colleges announced.

The one-meter telescope, which sits atop Table Mountain about 45 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, will be used by professors and students as an educational tool and to conduct research on how stars are formed, officials said.

Built 10 years ago for the five Claremont colleges, the telescope was never put to use because of a faulty mirror. The colleges were unable to raise the $100,000 needed to replace the mirror until now.

With a National Science Foundation grant paying for half the replacement costs, the colleges pooled their resources to come up with the remainder and get the telescope in full working condition.

The colleges have received an additional $100,000 grant from the foundation to install a $200,000 infrared camera. Alex Rudolph, an associate professor of physics at Harvey Mudd College, said he is hopeful that the opportunity to work with such a powerful telescope will help get undergraduate students get excited about science.

“The telescope is a huge resource to us as astronomers, but it is also great because it will allow undergraduate students to do cutting-edge research,” Rudolph said.