Table Mountain Facility, originally named Table Mountain Observatory, was founded in 1926 by the Smithsonian institute. Its location in the San Gabriel mountains at an elevation of approximately 7500 ft. This location offers a great reduction in light pollution from surrounding populous and the arid environment typically offers cloudless nights. Initially the facility was used for atmospheric, solar, and astronomic observations until the facility was acquired by JPL in 1962 and underwent several renovations. In the 60s, part of the facility was used to test spacecraft solar panels. In the 70s/80s, Table Mountain Facility did spectroscopic studies of carbon dioxide of Venus in the near infrared wavelengths. As upgrades were completed, eventually scientists were able to study methane and ammonia content of Jupiter and its satellites. In the late 90s, modifications were made to the telescopes, addition of air conditioning units, to help with the reduction of seeing.
Some current projects/devices include:
The Atmospheric Visibility Monitor (AVM) which is an automated telescope the records the transmission of light through the atmosphere and records stars at multiple wavelengths.
The Fourier Transform Ultraviolet Spectrometer (FTUVS) measures the spectroscopy of earth's atmosphere using the moon or sun as a light source to provide data on long term atmospheric composition changes. The data is used by scientists at Cal Tech, JPL, and Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) to study depletion of stratospheric ozone and climate change.
The Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) device measures atmospheric conditions such as water vapor, ozone, temperature, and aerosol profiles at altitudes up to 90km in the atmosphere. The data collected from this project are also used for studying long term atmospheric changes.
The Optical Communications Telescope Lab (OCTL) is used to establish communication with spacecraft and high precision tracking of LEO(?) and deep space objects (< 2" rms).
The NRL uses spectroscopy to monitor middle atmosphere water vapor content. The studies at TMF played a pivotal role in finding a large increase in water vapor in the 90s.
The Table mountain facility works in cconjuction local colleges, such as the pomona colleges, using a 1m telescope to study Jupiters atmosphere, galactic star cluster and the variability of quasars. The 1m telescope is outfitted with a nitrogen cooled camera, a ultra low expansion mirror, adaptive optics, and a filter wheel that allows for narrow and broad band imaging.
Sources:
http://tmf.jpl.nasa.gov/tmf-web/
http://www.astro.pomona.edu/blog/2010-astro/?page_id=72
3 points.
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