Nestled in between the arms of Building 52, the Cal Poly Observatory is both a portal to the stars and a tool for meaningful research. It was originally constructed in the late 1960s and rejuvenated by faculty in recent decades to empower advanced Learn by Doing experiences.

Today, it’s home to a 14-inch Meade research telescope that uses a digital camera to record images and track dimmer objects that can’t be observed with the naked eye. In 2021, physics student and Frost scholar Kailei Gallup used the research telescope to gather her own data on exoplanet transits — planets orbiting stars outside our solar system — for her senior project.

> Read the full article from 2022