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Westmont Observatory

Get Spaced Out at Monthly Star Party

The November public stargazing event will feature a Beaver Moon, Owl Cluster and two gas giants, Saturn and Jupiter, on Friday, Nov. 15, beginning at 6 p.m. and lasting several hours at the Westmont Observatory. The college hosts a free, public viewing on the third Friday of every month in conjunction with the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit whose members bring their telescopes to share with the public.

Keck Telescope at a public viewing event — The Keck Telescope inside the Westmont Observatory.

If the weather remains clear, Westmont’s powerful Keck Telescope, a 24-inch reflector, may zoom in on the Beaver Moon, the last super moon of the year. “The story goes that beavers are particularly active this time of the year in preparing for winter so they work under the full moon,” says Jen Ito, assistant professor of physics and director of the observatory.

Later in the evening, she may turn the Keck Telescope toward one of her favorite star clusters, NGC 457, also known as the Dragonfly Cluster, E.T. Cluster or Owl Cluster. “If you haven't seen that one, I highly recommend,” she says.

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 inclement weather, please call the Telescope Viewing Hotline at (805) 565-6272 and check the observatory website to see if the viewing has been canceled.

KECK TELESCOPE

A Powerful Instrument for Astronomical Observations at Westmont

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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.