Amateur Astronomer

Chabot Space and Science Center

April 25, 2008 on 8:20 am | In Astronomy |

Took the family to the Chabot Space and Science Center last weekend. We had a lot of fun and the kids want to go back again, but at six and eight, the boys are near the limit of what’s really the target audience for Chabot. My guess would be that any kid over the age of ten is probably going to be bored by Chabot fairly quick. There are a few things that will keep older kids interested, but I don’t think it’s enough for more than an hour of entertainment.

The boys favorite part was the Ask Jeeves Planetarium. We watched a show called Beyond Blastoff: Surviving in Space. We, meaning the wife and I, had decided to become members at Chabot, since the difference between a membership and day use for a family of four was less than it would cost for two visits and gave us reduced entry costs to a number of other museums. Membership also comes with a separate line for the theater, so we were the first one’s allowed in. We chose seats as close to the center of the theater as possible, but the truth be told, I don’t think there were any really bad seats in the whole place. The boy’s favorite part of the whole movie was an animated sequence where a scientist subjected astronaut ‘Chad’ and his clones to all of the hazards of space one by one. They particularly liked the part where cosmic radiation turned Chad into a living DNA molecule. My wife’s favorite part was listening to Ewen McGregor narrate.

For adults, the majority of the Center get’s boring pretty quickly, but it is definitely set up with a lot of photo ops in mind. There’s a mock up of a Mercury lander (or is it a shuttle, I forget) for the kids to sit in. There’s a series of interactive exhibits that are very similar to what you can find at the Exporitorium, each of which are designed to show a particular aspect of space. There was even a real meteorite that one of guides was letting the children (and adults) hold.

The draw for me was the telescopes; Chabot is home to the largest refractor (20″) in the world that’s still open to the public. They also have a 36″ reflector. Both telescopes are open to the public Friday nights. I don’t know when, but I’ll make the time to get there soon! Hidden in one corner of the observatory was a cache of 10 or so smaller telescopes, some of which are models I’ve been looking at purchasing when I have a few (hundred) dollars to spare. Later in the afternoon they had a scope set up for viewing the sun, but I didn’t get to see any of the sun spots they said might be visible.

If you have young children and an afternoon to spare, Chabot is well worth the visit. If nothing else the drive up is beautiful and it’s worth taking a look down on Oakland. Both of my boys want to go back, though my youngest says he prefers the Exploritorium. Given that we’ve been there half a dozen times in the last two years, I’m ready for something different, a role Chabot fills well.