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���ϰٿ�’s powerful Keck Telescope will be the focus of attention for Central Coast stargazers Friday, Oct. 21, beginning at about 7 p.m. The observatory opens its doors to the public every third Friday of the month in conjunction with the , whose members bring their own telescopes to ���ϰٿ� for the public to gaze through. The viewing lasts for several hours. In case of inclement weather, please call the Telescope Viewing Hotline at (805) 565-6272 and check the ���ϰٿ� website to see if the viewing has been cancelled.

���ϰٿ� physics instructor Thomas Whittemore says he hopes to focus the Keck Telescope on one of the finest binary star systems in the autumn sky, . “This two-star system exhibits a spectacular color contrast with the primary star — a G type star very similar to our Sun — being yellow while its smaller companion is reddish,” he says. The stars lie about 19 light-years from Earth and take nearly 500 years to circuit one another. “In my 8-inch reflector at 60X, I see the dimmer companion glowing with a ghostly amber hue,” he says. “I think that the public will really enjoy this pre-Halloween piece of eye candy.”

The Globular Cluster, , in Pegasus may also impress stargazers.  M15 is located about 40,000 light-years from us, containing a few hundred thousand stars in a ball about 125 light-years in diameter.  “Larger telescopes have found that M15 is a source of X-rays, which implies that one of its members is a neutron star, or possibly a black hole,” he says.

Jupiter will rise after 6:30 p.m., but will not be in a good viewing position until after 9:30 p.m. “Even then, it’ll only be about 30 degrees above the horizon,” Whittemore says. “But hopefully at least one of Jupiter’s four will be in view — Io, Callisto and Ganymede on one side of the Gas Giant and Europa on the other.”

���ϰٿ� students and faculty use the 24-inch reflector telescope to conduct astronomical research. The Keck Telescope is housed in the observatory between Russell Carr Field and the track and field/soccer complex. Free parking is available near the baseball field.