Chabot Space & Science Center

Chabot Space and Science Center, located in Oakland, California, is a hands-on center featuring interactive exhibits, a digital planetarium, a large screen theater, hands-on activities and three powerful telescopes.

The Center is the continuation and expansion of a public observatory that has served San Francisco Bay Area schools and citizens with astronomy and science education programs since 1883. It is named after the father of hydraulic mining and benefactor of the original Oakland Observatory, Anthony Chabot.

My favorite attraction would have to be the telescopes. Theyhave three observatory telescopes. "Leah", an 8" refractor telescope that was built in 1883."Rachel" is a 20" refractor telescope, commissioned in 1914. It is the largest refractor in the western United States regularly open to the public. "Nellie" is a 36" reflecting telescope which opened in June 2003. The telescopes are available for free public viewing on Friday and Saturday evenings when the sky is clear.

Aside from its telescopes, it contains, The Ask Jeeves Planetarium. It is a full dome digital projection system, with various shows running daily. They also have the Tien MegaDome Theater, a 70-foot dome screen auditorium with various IMax shows running daily. Lastly, it contains the Challenger Learning Center. This is a hands on simulated space mission environment where 8 teams work together to complete a mission.