CHABOT SPACE & SCIENCE CENTER FOUNDATION

We serve Oakland and the greater Bay Area as a place for STEM learning and engagement. Our mission is to inspire and educate learners of all ages about the Universe and Planet Earth. Celebrating the diversity of the Bay Area, Chabot aims to make science and space accessible to a multitude of audiences through immersive exhibits, hands-on STEM activities, planetarium shows, education, and youth development programs. In 2021, Chabot opened NASA Ames Visitor Center, featuring hands-on activities and NASA Ames artifacts, that highlight current Ames’ research and space missions, all part of a broader partnership between the Center and NASA Ames. The research-level observatory complex features three large scale telescopes and is the largest observatory complex free for public viewing in the Western United States. The telescope domes house 8-inch (Leah, 1883) and 20-inch telescope (Rachel, 1916) refracting telescopes, along with a 36-inch reflecting telescope (Nellie, 2003). The 20-inch telescope was used to relay information to NASA during the Apollo 13 descent. The 36-inch telescope is actively used for Near Earth Object research. Founded in 1883 as an astronomical observatory, Chabot is located on 13 trail-laced acres in Oakland’s Redwood Regional Park within the largest stand of coastal redwoods in the East Bay.