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Just an hour east of San José, up a steep road with bursting wildflowers and crooked oak trees winding through the Diablo Range, sits one of California’s most remarkable scientific outposts. Perched 4,200 feet up Mount Hamilton, the Lick Observatory has been scanning the cosmos for nearly 150 years.
Researchers working at Lick Observatory — a major site in the University of California Observatories’ multi-campus research unit — discovered Jupiter’s moon Amalthea in 1892, contributed to dark matter research with the Shane telescope, and have made other pivotal contributions to astronomy research.
Edwin Hubble used the site’s instruments to study galaxies, and the clear skies around the observatory helped early astronomers like Sherburne Wellesley Burnham identify dozens of double stars…