May Day Celebration

Description: Edison Pettit was an astronomer on the staff of the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories for thirty-five years. An observer and instrumentalist, he was a pioneer in the early fields of infrared and ultraviolet research. His collaboration with Seth B. Nicholson on the heat radiation from the planets and moon was the most significant research on these bodies during the first half of the twentieth century. Footage taken by Edison Pettit, consisting of views of Mount Wilson Observatory, the construction of the Mount Palomar Observatory, solar prominences (the jets of gas that shoot from the sun), family activities of the Pettit family, life on Mount Wilson, and Carnegie Observatories of Washington, shot between 1925 and 1940. This reel includes unloading 200" mirror at Caltech, Mt. Wilson, fishing at Santa Monica Pier, San Diego Fair, a trailer show at Automobile club, and Griffith Park Zoo.