Tonight’s Host: Dr. Jon Rees

7:00 pm	Doors Open	Brief Telescope Visits
8:00 pm	Concert
9:00 pm	Science Talk, Lecture Hall	Telescope Viewings
10:00 pm	Science Talk (repeated), Lecture Hall	Telescope Viewings
12:30 am	Doors Close

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This Evening’s Events

Concert

The Quitters

The Quitters trio consists of a right-side up finger picker (Stevie Coyle), an upside-down flat picker (Glenn “Houston” Pomianek), and an upright bassist (Chris Kee). They were the three original members of The Waybacks quintet, and Chris Kee and Glenn Houston were the long-time bassist and lead guitarist for Houston Jones.

Glenn Houston’s guitarist influences range from Michael Bloomfield to Doc Watson, as shows in his mastery of both the acoustic and electric guitar. Glenn has been voted Best Guitarist by the Northern California Bluegrass Society and has shared billing with Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard, Earl Scruggs, Doc and Merle Watson, Willie Nelson and countless other famous artists. He co-founded the Waybacks in 1999 with Stevie Coyle and Chojo Jacques, and was co-founder of the powerhouse Americana band, Houston Jones.

Stevie Coyle was inspired to take up finger-picking guitar by the first Hot Tuna album. After degrees in Theatre and Theology, he hit the road with The Royal Lichtenstein Circus, doing comedy, magic, wire-walking, sword-swallowing, and juggling. Since then he has released a solo CD and opened his own high-end acoustic guitar shop, Mighty Fine Guitars, in Lafayette, CA. In addition to his stellar musical career, Stevie also claims fame as an actor and comedian, including appearances on Cheers and The Comedy Store.

Chris Kee is a classically trained cellist who studied ethnomusicology at Yale. Much in demand as a hired gun, he has performed with Buddy Miller (including appearances with Buddy, Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, and Shawn Colvin), Jim Lauderdale, Nora Jones, Jim Campilongo, the late lamented Ralph Carney, and crypto-Klezmer sorceress Michelle Alany, among many others.

Go to The Quitters Duo for more information.

Science Lecture

(presented twice)

Dr. Anna Nierenberg

University of California, Merced

“Understanding dark matter through gravitational lensing”

Dr. Nierenberg is a native Californian. She was born in Sacramento, and was raised in the Bay Area and San Diego. She received her B.S. in Physics from UCLA her Ph. D. in Physics from UCSB. After a three year stint at The University of Ohio as a Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Nierenberg was grateful to return to California and is currently a professor in the Physics Department at the University of California, Merced. She has spent many nights observing at Lick Observatory, and is looking forward to sharing her research in this beautiful setting.

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 NGC 7027, the Jewel Bug planetary nebula, in the constellation Cygnus.

Telescope Operators:

36-inch Great Refractor

Pat Maloney | Rolf Weber

40-inch Reflector

Andy Macica

40-inch Control Room

Monique Windju

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 7:00 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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