LICK OBSERVATORY

The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory, owned and operated by the University of California. It is situated on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, USA. The observatory is managed by the University of California Observatories, with headquarters on the University of California, Santa Cruz campus, where its scientific staff moved in the mid-1960s.With the growth of San Jose, and the rest of Silicon Valley, light pollution became a problem for the observatory. In the 1970s, a site in the Santa Lucia Mountains at Junípero Serra Peak, southeast of Monterey, was evaluated for possible relocation of many of the telescopes. However, funding for the move was not available, and in 1980 San Jose began a program to reduce the effects of lighting, most notably replacing all streetlamps with low pressure sodium lamps. The result is that the Mount Hamilton site remains a viable location for a major working observatory. The International Astronomical Union named Asteroid 6216 San Jose to honor the city's efforts toward reducing light pollution.

In 2006, there were 23 families in residence, plus typically between two to ten visiting astronomers from the University of California campuses, who stay in dormitories while working at the observatory. The little town of Mount Hamilton atop the mountain has its own police and a post office, and until recently a one-room schoolhouse.

In 2008, there were 38 people residing on the mountain; the chef and commons dinner were decommissioned earlier in the year.

Current equipment and locations:

• the C. Donald Shane telescope 3 m (120-inch) reflector (Shane Dome, Tycho Brahe Peak)
• the Hamilton spectrometer.
• the Automated Planet Finder (2.4 meter) reflector (First light was originally scheduled for 2006, but delays in the construction of the dome have pushed this back to late 2008 at the earliest.)
• the Anna L. Nickel 1 m (40-inch) reflector (North (small) Dome, Main Building)
• the Great Lick 0.9 m (36-inch) refractor (South Dome, Main Building, Observatory Peak)
• the Crossley 0.9 m (36-inch) reflector (Crossley Dome, Ptolemy Peak)
• the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) 76 cm reflector (24-inch Dome, Kepler Peak)
• the 0.6 m (24-inch) Coudé Auxiliary Telescope (Inside of Shane Dome, South wall, Tycho Brahe Peak)
• the Tauchmann 0.5 m (22-inch) reflector (Tauchmann Dome atop the water tank, Huyghens Peak)
• the Carnegie 0.5 m (20-inch) twin refractor (Double Astrograph Dome, Tycho Brahe Peak)
• CCD Comet Camera 135 mm Nikon camera lens ("The Outhouse" Southwest of the Shane Dome, Tycho Brahe Peak)

The following astronomical objects were discovered at Lick Observatory:

Several moons of Jupiter Amalthea Ananke Elara Himalia Lysithea Sinope  Near-Earth asteroid (29075) 1950 DA

Several extrasolar planets Quintuple planet system 55 Cancri Triple planet system Upsilon Andromedae (with Whipple Observatory) Double planet systems HD 38529 (with Keck Observatory) HD 12661 (with Keck) Gliese 876 (with Keck) 47 Ursae Majoris