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Observatory Opens for Total Lunar Eclipse
The app Observatory opens for the viewing of a rare lunar event beginning Thursday, March 13, at 10 p.m. and lasting until Friday, March 14, at 1 a.m. The powerful Keck Telescope will zoom in on a total lunar eclipse, which will be visible throughout North American and in some locations in South American. The last total lunar eclipse in the U.S. was November 2022.
The moon starts entering Earth's shadow at 8:57 p.m. with the full eclipse beginning at 11:26 p.m. Maximum eclipse is at 11:58 p.m. The moon will then move out of Earth's shadow by 3 a.m. Friday morning.
“You can easily see this event without a telescope,” says Jen Ito, assistant professor of physics and director of the app Observatory. “I encourage you to take a peek even if you don't stay up for the whole thing.”
The observatory, which opens every third Friday of the month to the public, will be open again on Friday, March 21, beginning at 6:30 p.m. and lasting several hours.
Free parking is available near the app Observatory, which is between the baseball field and the track and field/soccer complex. To enter app'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 overcast weather, please call the Telescope Viewing Hotline at (805) 565-6272 and check the observatory website to see if the viewing has been canceled.
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 app 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 app 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 app 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.”
History
The original app 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.
Contact
Assistant Professor of Physics | 805-565-6094
Professor of Physics and Chair of Physics and Engineering | rharingkaye@westmont.edu, (805) 565-6835
Manager of Media Relations | scraig@westmont.edu, (805) 565-6051
Telescope Viewing Hotline | (805) 565-6272