Chabot Space & Science Center

Bring science to life for the kids of Oakland! Donate $20 to fuel free, virtual STEM programs.

The Geminids Meteor Shower peaks tonight from 11 p.m. 3 a.m. December 14. While we have cloudy skies in the Bay Area tonight, you can catch the show via NASA’s meteor shower live stream tomorrow: https://fb.me/e/86YUecsnb If you are somewhere with clear skies, here are some sky watching tips:... -Choose a dark location away from the city lights -Watch during the peak around 2 a.m. -Give yourself enough time for your eyes to adjust to the darkness -Bring some blankets and a warm drink! -Remember to check if there are any COVID-19 closures or restrictions for your destination. Learn more: https://chabotspace.org/how-to-see-the-2020-geminids-meteo/

Decorating pumpkins this weekend? Try some these out-of-this-world designs! https://www.shelterness.com/diy-constellation-pumpkins/

This week, you may be able to spot comet Erasmus with binoculars in the early morning sky! https://chabotspace.org/how-to-spot-the-final-comet-of-2020/

SAVE THE DATE: One of the most spectacular meteor showers of the year, the #Geminids, will peak this year on Monday

Looking for holiday gifts? Give your loved ones a year of discovery AND give back to Bay Area teachers when you buy a Chabot membership. We're saying thank you to local teachers with a special membership drive this month! When you purchase a membership, we’ll donate a membership to a Bay Area teacher. https://chabotspace.org/join-and-give/membership/

How did this celery change color?! Learn how plants absorb water with this easy, at-home experiment! https://chabotspace.org/education/learning-launchpad/ Photo: teaching-tiny-tots.com

Join Chabot Science Educators for a fun and interactive science experiment. Together, we will investigate and observe a phenomenon of science through a captivating demonstration. We’ll ask for observations and explanations of what YOU think is happening before revealing the science behind it. Then, we’ll end with a live Q&A for those burning questions. While this event is free, please consider making a donation so we can continue to create engaging STEM programming while we’re closed: https://14884.blackbaudhosting.com//Support-Science-Educat

The annual Orionids meteor shower will peak tonight! Here’s how you can watch: When: best viewing hours are 2-4 a.m. Where: find a dark place away from the city lights a and look to the southeast sky towards the constellation Orion. The meteors may appear anywhere in the sky, but will radiate from this spectacular constellation. How often: upto 20 meteors an hour... This shower is produced when Earth moves through the dust trail left behind by comet Halley, which last passed by in 1986. Each meteor you see is a piece of that famous comet!

Perseverance is on its way! NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover is 100 days away from landing on the Red Planet. Track the spacecraft in real time: https://go.nasa.gov/38pH3S7 Build your own Mars Rover: https://bit.ly/38t7JRV

Exoplanets are everywhere. Astronomers have discovered more 4,000 of them and today we know that in average each star in our galaxy has 2 planets! Among them, 300 million could be habitable. That’s a lot of worlds! The SETI Institute's Franck Marchis will give us a tour of the most remarkable exoplanets, those who could be a twin of Earth as well as those weird worlds which are very different to the planets we find in our solar system. Lava worlds, ocean worlds, hot Jupiters,... super-Earths? What do those names mean to astronomers? We will dive into these other worlds and discuss why they are important to scientists who are searching for life. About Dr. Franck Marchis Dr. Franck Marchis is a Senior Planetary Astronomer at the SETI Institute and Chief Scientific Officer at Unistellar. Passionate about Astronomy, he has dedicated most of my research to the development of adaptive optics on large telescopes to study asteroids and search for exoplanets. Unistellar is a private company whose goal is to create the largest network of citizen astronomers around the world, capable of reconnecting with the dark sky with a digital, smart telescope and collecting scientific data for space agencies.

Happy National STEM day! Thank you to our stellar community of staff, volunteers and partners that have been bringing STEM to life at Chabot since 1883.

Join our resident astronomers on Facebook Live every Saturday evening live from Chabot’s Observation deck! Each week, our astronomers will guide us through spectacular night sky viewing through Nellie, Chabot‘s most powerful telescope. Weather permitting, we will be able to view objects live through the telescopes and our astronomers will be available for an open forum for all of your most pressing astronomy questions. About Nellie ... Nellie is a 36-inch reflector telescope, housed in a rolling roof observatory that allows access to 180 degrees of sky. This modern, research-quality telescope offers breathtaking views of the cosmos. While this event is free, please consider making a donation so we can continue to create engaging STEM programming while we're closed. Our institution hosts and maintains the largest observatory complex free for public viewing in the Western United States. Any amount counts: https://14884.blackbaudhosting.com//Support-Science-Educat

Discovery Alert: NASA’s TESS satellite is back at it with another exciting find! Get to know WD 1856 b: a gas giant world that is 14 times more massive than Jupiter, and around 10 billion years old.

Enjoy a peaceful moment floating through the Orion Nebula. Video: ESO/M. Kornmesser

Bay Area Science Festival is just around the corner. We are excited to be a part of this virtual festival, and hope you’ll join us for free STEM fun!

We are seeing some satisfying early morning symmetry in the stars! Early risers can take step out and look to the south at about 5:30 a.m. to see the spectacular glittering complex of stars. Look in Orion’s part of the sky to see Betelgeuse and Rigel, the Dog Star Sirius, Procyon, and Capella. Look to the left, toward the eastern horizon, and you'll notice the brilliant white flare of the planet Venus. Look to the right, westward, to find the bright reddish beacon of Mars!

Chabot Space & Science Center and The Oaklandside are teaming up for a special tour of the October nighttime sky. Learn about this month’s constellations and bright stars with Chabot’s astronomers and Oaklandside community reporter Azucena Rasilla. Together, we will discuss what’s new in the sky this month and answer questions from local Oaklandside readers. About Azucena Rasilla... Azucena is an East Oakland native, a bilingual journalist reporting in Spanish and in English, and a longtime reporter on Oakland arts, culture, and community. As an independent local journalist, she has reported for outlets like KQED Arts and the San Francisco Chronicle. She was also an associate editor at East Bay Express. She likes helping readers navigate Oakland’s rich artistic and creative landscapes through a wide range of innovative digital approaches. About The Oaklandside The Oaklandside is a nonprofit newsroom powered by Cityside, a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization committed to building community through local journalism. Cityside also publishes Berkeleyside. The newsroom amplifies community voices, share the power of real information and investigate systems, not just symptoms. It is guided by a set of founding values, developed after spending months asking Oaklanders about how local journalism can help make their daily lives better and help build a more informed, more equitable city. You can learn more about that work, and what we learned. Learn More: https://oaklandside.org/ Your Support Matters Your support fuels exciting STEM programs like these. While this event is free, please consider making a donation to make fun learning opportunities available for our community. https://14884.blackbaudhosting.com/.../Support-Science...

You may have heard rumors of an Election Day Asteroid. But this asteroid is nothing to worry about! Asteroid 2018VP1 is a small asteroid predicted to make closest approach to Earth on Monday, not Tuesday. It most likely will miss the Earth by 250,000 miles! There is a 0.41% chance that it will hit the Earth. No problem though, because it's so small that the asteroid would burn up in the atmosphere.... You’ll still be able to vote on November 3, so be sure to make your voice heard in the 2020 election.

Happy Halloween! Enjoy a special virtual telescope viewing this week, featuring a rare blue moon. Weather permitting, we will be able to view objects live through the telescopes and our astronomers will be available for an open forum for all of your most pressing astronomy questions. About Nellie ... Nellie is a 36-inch reflector telescope, housed in a rolling roof observatory that allows access to 180 degrees of sky. This modern, research-quality telescope offers breathtaking views of the cosmos. While this event is free, please consider making a donation so we can continue to create engaging STEM programming while we're closed. Our institution hosts and maintains the largest observatory complex free for public viewing in the Western United States. Any amount counts: https://14884.blackbaudhosting.com//Support-Science-Educat

Happy Halloween from all of us at Chabot! Check out these costumes from our community. Thank you to everyone who submitted their photos in our Spooky Fashion Show. We will see you tonight at 9 p.m. for our Once in A Blue Moon: Halloween Virtual Telescope Viewing.

I think it’s really important for everybody to vote. If we can do it from space, then I believe folks can do it from the ground, too.

Take an inside look at a caldera! A caldera is a crater formed when a volcano erupts and then collapses in on itself. Calderas are found on terrestrial planets and moons with past or present volcanic activity.

If there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? Scientists! Join us on Facebook Live for our variety show all about spooky science. Tune in for exciting science demos led by our Galaxy Explorers, learn how to make your own Halloween candy and witches brew and hear scientific explanations for things that go bump in the night. Science is so fun it’s scary! How To Watch: We will go live on the Chabot Space & Science Center Facebook page 10-15 minutes befo...re the event. You can find the live video stream on our Facebook page and in the Facebook event discussion. To receive a notification when we go live, like Chabot Space & Science Center on Facebook and RSVP that you’re going to this event. Support These Live Events Your support fuels exciting STEM programs like these. While this event is free, please consider making a donation to make fun learning opportunities available for our community. Donate: https://bit.ly/31Tyn2o See more