Palomar 48 Inch Telescope

The Palomar 48 Inch Telescope (Samuel Oschin Telescope) is a 48 inch (1.2 meter) Schmidt camera at Palomar Observatory in southern California. It began operation in 1948, nearly ten years after construction began, part of this delay due to World War II. It was constructed at the same time as the much larger Hale Telescope, but was built specifically for large-scale surveys, with a 47 square-degree field of view. It originally imaged photographic plates but now uses a custom CCD camera. Its survey work has included the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS) and the Palomar-Quest Sky Survey (aka Palomar-Quest Survey) of transients. It is currently automated and since 2018, is dedicated to observing for the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF).