A correction to an earlier version of this article has been appended to the end of the article.
A huge slab of ice and snow slides off the huge domed roof of the Great Refractor telescope at Mount Hamilton’s Lick Observatory and smashes thunderously to the asphalt.
“Don’t stand too close to the dome,” warns resident astronomer Elinor Gates, who has worked for 25 years at the research station atop the Bay Area’s highest peak. “That would’ve hurt.”
Mount Hamilton and Lick’s nine telescopes spread out over a half mile of ridges and peaks east of San Jose have received more than five feet of snow this winter. Historical data