telescope at Mt. Palomar

In 1971, using a 5-meter telescope at Mt. Palomar,
Arp discovered a visible “bridge” joining the low
redshift galaxy NGC 4391 to the high-redshift quasar,
Markarian 205 -- an “impossible” connection, unless
popular assumptions about redshift were incorrect.
For years thereafter astronomers debated the validity
of the “bridge.”


Arp was employed by Palomar observatory for
almost 30 years. But in 1983, after warning
him about the focus of his research, the Time
Allocation Committee at Palomar terminated his
viewing privileges. To continue his work, he
found it necessary to join the staff of the Max-
Planck-Institute for Physics and Astrophysics in
Munich, Germany.