Shortly before arriving at Centro de Conferencias, the first indication of one’s destination is a brief glimpse of the center’s observatory. Lifted on a solid concrete foundation, the observatory dome can be seen against the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean.
One of the great experiences during a stay at the Conference Center is to visit the observatory.
The observatory dome is constructed as a geodesic dome, based on a geodesic polyhedron. During the construction of the observatory dome, 629 triangular elements were bolted together to form a sphere. The upper part of the dome can turn in all directions so that the dome opening can be lined up with the telescope for observations.
On a clear night, the visitor to the observatory can view Mars, Venus, Saturn with its rings as well as Jupiter with four big moons. The telescope can also take pictures of objects in the night sky; some of the pictures taken over the years have captured objects as far as 33 million light years away.
The observatory is part of a voluntary network of amateur astronomers who cooperate with NASA and Arizona University in the search for asteroids. Every year at the end of November, the observatory is used for participation in the “Target Asteroids!” campaign in cooperation with the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC).
Over the years, the setup and development of the observatory have also benefited from knowledge and advice from the Astronomical Institute at the UNAM University in Ensenada.
