WELCOME TO THE

Westmont Observatory

April Stargazing Features Jupiter

The Westmont Observatory opens to the public for a free stargazing event Friday, April 25, beginning about 8 p.m. and lasting several hours.

The powerful Keck Telescope housed at the Westmont Observatory

Jen Ito, Westmont assistant professor of physics, says the college’s powerful Keck Telescope will zoom in on the gas giant Jupiter. “This will probably be the last time we'll get to see it before it becomes a morning planet for the rest of the year,” she says. “We'll see it in the evenings again in December.”

The free stargazing event will also feature views of Mars and Orion Nebula, a diffuse nebula in the Milky Way and one of the most photographed objects in the night sky. “We’ll also look at Mizar and Alcor in Ursa Major,” Ito says. “Mizar and Alcor could be considered the first eye exam as those who could see the two stars were selected as Persian archers. In actuality, there are six stars here. Alcor is a binary pair, and Mizar are two binary star systems.”

The Westmont Observatory is usually open to the public every third Friday of the month but was postponed a week due to Good Friday. The viewings are held in conjunction with the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit, whose members bring their own telescopes to share.

Free parking is available near the observatory, which is between the baseball field and the track and field/soccer complex. To enter Westmont's campus, please use the Main Entrance off of La Paz Road. The lower entrance off of Cold Springs Road is closed to visitors after 7 p.m. In case of cloudy weather, please call the Telescope Viewing Hotline at (805) 565-6272 to see if the viewing has been canceled.

KECK TELESCOPE

A Powerful Instrument for Astronomical Observations at Westmont

Physics Department Home

The Keck Telescope, a computer-controlled 24-inch F/8 Cassegrain reflector with Ritchey-Chretien optics (the same configuration used on the Hubble Space Telescope), has served as a versatile instrument for Westmont faculty and students for over a decade and remains one of the most powerful telescopes on the California Central Coast. Not only has the device been used for a variety of research projects and coursework, but it has also been a source of awe and inspiration for the greater Santa Barbara community.

The Westmont Observatory also serves as one of the free, public observing sites for the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit (SBAU) every third Friday of the month. In particular, the Keck Telescope has provided clearer and more dramatic demonstrations of the splendor of God’s creation to members of the broader Santa Barbara community, including young children and students in local schools.

“The observatory remains a signature component of the Westmont campus and a favorite among our current students and returning alumni,” says Professor Bob Haring-Kaye from the Department of Physics and Engineering. “We are excited to see how this facility will continue to be used to provide outstanding educational experiences, including meaningful research experiences, to our students and point to the artistic grandeur of the Creator.”

Three students walking in front of the Carroll Observatory.

The Keck Telescope

History

The original Westmont College Observatory was dedicated on June 1, 1957. (It has since been replaced by a new observatory in 2010.) The main dome featured a 16.5-inch reflector which was made and donated by George Carroll. The scope was equipped for spectroscopic and micrometric work, whose introduction originally made national news.

More recently, the original telescope caught the limelight as a group of amateur astronomers from the Santa Barbara Astronomy group observed the rotation of Mars with a CCD camera (Astronomy Magazine, Feb. 1989, p. 92.) These were some of the very first CCD images of Mars taken by amateurs.