Exploring The Firmament (1933)

Titles read: "Exploring the Firmament - In the heart of the Californian Mountains, is the Mt. Wilson Observatory, home of the World's largest telescope, magnifying the power of the human eye, 160,000 times, enabling man to peer to the very fringes of space." California, United States of America. Various shots show a car arriving at the Mount Wilson Toll House and driving up the mountain to the Observatory. M/S of a deer in the grounds of the Observatory. Photographs taken through the telescope show 'sun spots' in relation to the size of the earth. Several shots show the huge telescope as commentator gives us some technical details and more photographs taken through it, of Saturn, several stars, a spiral nebula and the surface of the moon. Commentator says "Popular belief to the contrary, it is highly improbable that man will ever be able to bodily explore stellar space, but by the aid of this amazing telescope, and greater ones to follow, it is reasonable to believe that we are on the verge of great visual voyages of discovery to the very ends of the Universe." FILM ID:1070.24 FOR LICENSING ENQUIRIES VISIT http://www.britishpathe.com/