Tonight’s Host: Dr. Jon Rees

7:30 pm	Doors Open	Brief Telescope Visits
8:30 pm	Concert
9:30 pm	Science Talk, Lecture Hall	Telescope Viewings
10:30 pm	Science Talk (repeated), Lecture Hall	Telescope Viewings
1:00 am	Doors Close

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This Evening’s Events

Concert

Samba Cruz

Samba Cruz is an international band based in Santa Cruz, CA. They play Brazilian Popular Music (MPB) and original compositions influenced by jazz and South American folk music. Repertoire includes bossa nova, samba, baião, choro and other jazz-inflected Brazilian musical forms in the spirit of Jobim, Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, and Dorival Caymmi. Included are jazz standards with a unique twist.

Band members are Pablo Rivière on guitar and vocals, Vivian Simon on flutes, Patrice Wallace on upright bass, and Joe Mailloux on drum set.

The album by Rivière & Simon, Boa Vida, available on all digital platforms, features original compositions with special guests.

They have performed at many venues including Mountain View Concerts on the Plaza, Capitola Art & Music Festival, First Night Monterey, San Jose Jazz Festival Special Events, San Jose Convention Center, and the Cabrillo Music Festival. They have also performed for the Santa Cruz Public Libraries, Santa Cruz Museum of Art And History, Santa Cruz Symphony Street Party/Pops Concert, Union Square in Bloom Summer Music Series (SF), and more.

More information at www.sambacruz.com.

Science Lecture

(presented twice)

Dr. Christian Aganze

Stanford University

“Galactic Archeology: Using Stars to Map the Structure and Evolution of the Milky Way”

Dr. Christian Aganze earned his doctorate in physics from UC San Diego in June 2023. Aganze is a galactic archaeologist. In his Ph.D. research, he identified distant brown dwarfs in images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope to map their distribution in the Galaxy. Brown dwarfs are mysterious objects sometimes called “failed stars” because they lack high enough temperatures to sustain hydrogen fusion due to their low masses. Christian’s work also uses stellar streams (groups of co-moving stars) to map the dark matter structure of the Milky Way and other nearby galaxies. Dark matter is a theorized substance that gravitationally interacts with regular matter. At Stanford, he is a member of the DESI survey (based at Kitt Peak in Arizona), where he continues to use stellar streams, low-mass stars, and brown dwarfs to test our current understanding of the structure and evolution of the Milky Way. He is also excited about using the next generation of ground-based and space-based facilities, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, the Euclid mission, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, to explore similar science questions.

Tonight’s Telescopes & Objects

36-inch Lick Refractor. Photo (c) Laurie Hatch.

Lick Observatory’s 36-inch Great Refractor saw “first light” in 1888. At the time, it was the largest refractor telescope in the world. It is an enduring memorial to James Lick’s philanthropy and his final resting place.

For nearly 300 years after Galileo first turned a telescope toward the heavens it was believed that the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter, had just four moons. In 1892, using the Lick’s 36-inch Great Refractor, Edward Barnard discovered a fifth moon, the much fainter Amalthea, the last moon of any planet to be discovered without the aid of photography, electronic detectors or space-based telescopes.

The 36-inch telescope will show you an interesting astronomical object of the telescope operator’s choosing. This may be a globular cluster of stars, a binary star, or a galaxy.

Nickel 1-m Telescope. Photo (c) Laurie Hatch.

The Nickel 40-inch Reflector, named for philanthropist Anna Nickel, was designed and built in the Lick Observatory Technical Facilities at UC Santa Cruz and completed in 1979. The 40” diameter mirror of this modern telescope makes it the third most powerful telescope on Mount Hamilton.

Tonight you will view M11, the Wild Duck Cluster, a cluster of very young stars in the constellation Scutum.

Telescope Operators:

36-inch Great Refractor

Patrick Maloney | Monique Windju

40-inch Reflector

Paul Lynam

40-inch Control Room

Connor Dickinson

Telescopes will be available for viewing, weather conditions permitting, as soon as it is dark enough and will remain open until everyone has had an opportunity to see through both telescopes.

Share tonight’s experience on Social Media: #LickObservatory @LickObservatory

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Additional Viewing Opportunities – Weather Permitting

Amateur astronomers have telescopes set up behind the main building. They will enjoy showing you other objects in the sky.

The Gift Shop is open tonight from 7:30 pm to 11:30 pm.

Refreshments

Snacks and beverages are available at the refreshment table in the main foyer. All proceeds help support the public programs. In the past, we have used proceeds to purchase an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), additional wooden benches in the main building, new speakers and amplifiers for the main building hallway, and partial funding of two spotting telescopes by the flag pole.

Dark Adjustment

Your experience at the telescopes will be better if your eyes have had an opportunity to adjust to the dark. For this reason, we try to keep the light levels low in both wings of the main hall.

Lights

Please refrain from use of flash photography or white light flashlights in the domes or adjoining hallway.

Assistance

We strive to make your visit as complete and meaningful as possible. Please let us know if you will need special assistance (for example, if you will have difficulty climbing stairs) by emailing tickets@ucolick.org, so we can make the necessary arrangements.

Our Volunteers

All of Lick Observatory’s public programs are greatly enhanced by the valuable participation of our many dedicated volunteers.

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