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This is very interesting to me, and I will certainly have to look up the image of the seemingly amazing eclipse photo that is referred to in the text!

I was born and raised in the veritable shadow of the Lick Observatory, which sits atop Mt. Hamilton immediately east of the Santa Clara Valley, which forms the south end of San Francisco Bay. Originally known by a quote from Jack London, as "the Valley of Heart's Delight". We generally called it "Pruneville grown large" in my youth, as it was formerly perhaps some of the world's finest orchard land before population and subdivision took out all the orchards and replaced them with housing tracts and shopping centers.

It is now known worldwide by the moniker "Silicon Valley" due to the computer based high-tech industries that centered there about the time I moved away!

Perhaps coincidentally, I now live only about 100 yds south and over two hundred miles East, of a due East-West line, that essentially passes through Mt. Hamilton and the Lick Observatory, from the house that I was raised in.

Lick was originally built as a world class observatory that housed what was then known as "The Great" 36-inch refractor scope that was a truly significant instrument in its day. It was also perhaps the first significant "mountain top" observatory ever built. However, like so many other early astronomy sites, its usefulness was eclipsed by light pollution from the ever-growing Santa Clara Valley and other, more modern facilities. Still, its significance did persist as an educational tool in part due to its close proximity to U.C. Berkeley and Stanford University. I do remember taking a couple of school field trips up to the observatory for some great tours and also going up a few times at night for special open house events that allowed viewing through lessor scopes, though once we did get to "look through" the BIG scope, or at least the monitor hooked to it!

It is interesting to note that the observatory is experiencing a sort of Re-birth due to "adaptive technologies" that once again allow it to do real cutting-edge science, and thus new larger instruments have been installed and used in unique ways that overcome the light pollution and low altitude of the site!

I well recall the glint of the afternoon sun shining off of the distant dome of the observatory, easily seen from most anywhere in the valley. Took girls on dates up there as well ... just to show them some stars!!!  ;c)

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Image of eclipse totality, captured by 1922 Lick Observatory's Australian Expedition, which proved in part, Einstein's Theory of Relativity!