For decades, the 200-inch telescope on Mt. Palomar was the world’s largest optical instrument. George Eller Hale, an American astronomer and founder of the Yerkes and Mt. Wilson Observatories Observatories, was the impetus to build the great 200-inch. It was named in his honor: Hale telescope. The first astronomer to use it was Edwin Hubble, for whom the Space Telescope was named. The Palomar Observatory is operated by a consortium of Caltech, Cornell University, and JPL. It has contributed greatly to our knowledge of the cosmos.