B, which is a companion to Alcor in the famous Big Dipper constellation. In 2010, a new satellite of planet Jupiter was discovered with the 200-inch Hale, called S/2010 J 1 and later named Jupiter LI. In October 2017 the Hale telescope was able to record the spectrum of the first recognized interstellar object, 1I/2017 U1 ("ʻOumuamua"); while no specific mineral was identified it showed the visitor had a reddish surface color. Direct imaging of exoplanets Up until the year 2010, telescopes could only directly image exoplanets under exceptional circumstances. Specifically, it is easier to obtain images when the planet is especially large (considerably larger than Jupiter), widely separated from its parent star, and hot so that it emits intense infrared radiation. However, in 2010 a team from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory demonstrated that a vortex coronagraph could enable small scopes to directly image planets. They did this by imaging the previously imaged HR 8799 planets using just a 1.5 m portion of the Hale Telescope. Comparison The Hale had four times the light-collecting area of the second-largest scope when it was commissioned in 1949. Other contemporary telescopes were the Hooker Telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory and the Otto Struve Telescope at the McDonald Observatory. See also List of astronomical observatories List of largest optical reflecting telescopes List of largest optical telescopes historically List of largest optical telescopes in the 20th century Lists of telescopes References Further reading External links The Hale Telescope Palomar Skies: Palomar History Photo of the Week The Journey to Palomar, PBS, November 2008 Telescopes Palomar Observatory Infrastructure completed in 1948 1948 establishments in California 1948 in science de:Palomar-Observatorium#Hale-Teleskop