Portal:San Francisco Bay Area/Selected article/67

Mount Hamilton is a mountain in California's Diablo Range, in Santa Clara County, California. Mount Hamilton, at 4216 ft is mountain overlooking Silicon Valley, and is the site of Lick Observatory, the first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory. The other summits along its mile-long summit ridge are known by astronomy-related names.

The highest Copernicus Peak at 4363+ feet (1330+ m) is named for Nicolaus Copernicus. Kepler Peak, named for Johannes Kepler, and 4213 ft Observatory Peak follow. The latter was more than 30 ft taller before it was leveled during the construction of the observatory in the 1880s. The asteroid 452 Hamiltonia, discovered in 1899, is named after the mountain. Golden Eagle nesting sites are found on the slopes of Mount Hamilton. On clear days, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Monterey Bay, and even the Monterey Peninsula are visible from the summit of the mountain. (more...)