Chabot Space & Science Center

Explore eclipses, supernovae or take a trip to Antarctica after you visit the heart of the sun.. In Short
Originally built in 1883, the Chabot Space and Science Center (CSSC) sits atop a 13-acre site in the Oakland hills. The 86,000-square-foot facility houses a state-of-the-art planetarium, a 70-foot dome-screen theater (the "Tien Megadome"), two giant telescopes, hands-on interactive science and technology exhibits, a multimedia center, teacher training, student labs, public science programs and a gift store featuring astronaut ice cream. Take a guided tour of the night sky in the Ask Jeeves Planetarium, then top it off by gazing through the country's largest refractor--known as Rachel to her friends--in the Observatory. Rachel's companion, an 8-inch Alvan Clark refractor named Leah, was donated by founder Anthony Chabot in 1883.…