Knudsen's History: January 3rd, 2008.....

On January 3rd, in the year 1888, the 91 cm refracting telescope at Lick Observatory, which is located just outside of San Jose, California, was used for the first time. The telescope, which was the largest in the world at the time, allowed astronomers to discover a number of objects in deep space, including several of Jupiter's moons. But the most memorable events involving the telescope revolve around the observatory's first director, Edward Singleton Holden.

E. S. "Ed" Holden, suffering from boredom, took to spying on neighbors in adjacent states with the use of the powerful 36-inch refracting telescope, and was able to obtain clear views of the back of several apartment buildings, their inner courtyard, and the persons dwelling within. Over time, Ed came to believe that a murder had taken place in the building across the courtyard in nearby San Francisco, though his friends, his graduate student Stella, and his girlfriend, Elise Karrel Freeman initially thought that he was imagining the whole affair.

After the several days travel necessary to reach San Francisco, Ed eventually was confronted by the suspected murderer, Hans Odinwald, who pushed him out of a window after an intense struggle. The police arrived in time to arrest Odinwald for the murder of his wife. Ed was then able to return to the observatory just in time to discover several extrasolar planets.