Telescope Installed Into New Home

Westmont’s powerful Keck Telescope was lowered into its new home, a yet-to-be named observatory beyond the outfield wall of the college’s baseball field.

A crew from DFM Engineering in Colorado traveled to the campus and with the aid of a large crane, delicately installed the telescope under a metallic dome. Michael Sommermann, physics professor, and students will calibrate the high-tech instrument for about two weeks. The telescope will be available for free public viewings every third Friday of the month. Though the Keck Telescope won’t be available Friday, Sept. 18, members of the Santa Barbara Astronimcal Unit will bring their telescopes to the new observatory for the public viewing. The Keck Telescope is expected to be available for its first public viewing in the new observatory Friday, Oct. 16.

The observatory, which contains a downstairs classroom and outside viewing platform, is the first building to be completed in the college’s Master Plan. Faculty and students will be able to view images from the telescope on computer monitors inside the lower level classroom.

The observatory is next to athletic fields to minimize light intrusion and heat waves that rise from paved surfaces during the night.

The 24-inch reflector telescope, an F/8 Cassegrain instrument with Ritchey-Chretien optics, is one of the most powerful public telescopes on California's Central Coast. The W. M. Keck Foundation awarded Westmont a $300,000 grant for the telescope. The James L. Stamps Foundation and other donors also contributed to the project.