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The University of California helps students reach for the stars literally! As a youngster watching on TV as Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon, Leroy Chiao dreamed of being an astronaut. After completing his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Santa Barbara and working at UC's Livermore national lab, Chiao is now a veteran of four space flights. And Steve Robinson, a UC Davis graduate, was a crew member of the 2005 Discovery mission that marked the return to flight following the 2002 Columbia tragedy. And they're just two of several astronauts who began their path to the stars at a UC campus.
If you can't travel in space just yet, visit one of UC's observatories
today to see the stars for yourself.
W.M.
Keck Observatory
Using the world's largest optical and infrared telescopes, atop
the summit of Hawaii's dormant Mauna Kea volcano, astronomers probe
the deepest regions of the universe with unprecedented power and
precision.
Lick Observatory
Located atop Mount Hamilton in the Diablo Range east of San Jose,
California, UC's Lick Observatory was founded in 1888 and remains
among the most productive research observatories in the world.
Berkeley
Lawrence Hall of Science Planetarium
The William K. Holt Planetarium has developed an international reputation
as leaders in the design of audience-participation planetarium programs.
See the moon, planets, star clusters, galaxies, and more through
astronomical telescopes every first and third Saturday of each month
on the plaza.
Irvine
Observatory
Located in the fields on the outskirts of the Irvine campus, this
UC observatory has a large computer-controlled telescope and numerous
other smaller, portable telescopes. The observatory is used in astronomy
classes and physics experiments and hosts public tours and visitor
nights.
Los
Angeles - UCLA Planetarium and Telescope Shows
The planetarium's free shows are given by UCLA professors, post-doctoral
researchers and graduate students. Suitable for all ages, the shows
commonly include discussion about the current night sky, constellations,
astronomical phenomena and more!
San
Diego - Cecil and Ida Green Piñon Flat Observatory
Located between the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults, the two
most active faults in Southern California, the Piñon Flat
Observatory is close enough to monitor the deformations that drive
the earthquake process.
San Diego - Proposed “POLARBEAR” telescope will—for the first time—use gravitational waves to allow physicists to better understand how the universe began.
White Mountain
- Barcroft Observatory
North America's highest research station
UC Research on Air, Climate
and Space
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Keck Observatory
Lick Observatory
Stargazing in Berkeley
Irvine Observatory
Laser beam from inside Lick Observatory. (photo:
Laurie Hatch, Lick Observatory)
UC Sees More Clearly
Learn how adaptive optics at UC ushers
in a new era in ground-based astronomy.
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