UC reverses decision to discontinue funding for Lick Observatory
University of California reversed its decision to cut funding for the Lick Observatory. (UC Observatories)
By River Sween
Nov. 17, 2014 1:10 a.m.
The original version of this article contained multiple errors and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for more information.
The University of California recently reversed its decision to discontinue funding for Lick Observatory after reexamining its budget and realizing it could afford funding for UC observatories, officials said.
Scientists in the UC system, however, said they think the UC Office of the President’s decision is more of a result of public outreach from UC astronomers and legislators than a result of further budget reviews.
Some Lick researchers said they think the observatory’s funds have not been enough to cover the facility’s costs, and the UC has not increased its budget for the past five years. The UC said last year that it did not plan to provide funding to Lick after the 2016-2017 fiscal year, resulting in a planned closure of the site’s facilities.
UCOP has no plans at the moment to discontinue or change funding for Lick, said Brooke Converse, UC spokeswoman. The observatory’s current funding is $1.5 million per year.
After UCOP overturned its plan in October, scientists who use Lick will be able to continue their research uninterrupted.
UC astronomers said they think UCOP reversed its decision because officials saw that Lick serves a specific niche in the UC astronomy community. Elinor Gates, support scientist at Lick, said she thinks a new UC Observatories Interim Director Claire Max and a new UCOP Provost Aimée Dorr also likely influenced UCOP.
Outreach from the public, UC scientists and state and federal legislators also likely influenced UCOP’s choice to continue funding for Lick, said Robert Kibrick, treasurer of Friends of Lick Observatory, an organization focused on securing the funding for the observatory.
The UC system has access to other, newer telescopes on Mauna Kea’s Keck Observatory and the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope in Hawaii. However, UC astronomers said they get a fraction of the observing time at these facilities compared to Lick.
“Roughly half the observing time across the UC system is provided by Lick,” Kibrick said.
Some scientists said they think getting observing time at Keck is difficult. Whereas more than 1,000 observing nights at Lick are distributed annually to UC astronomers, Kibrick said all UC astronomers combined get only about 240 nights at Keck annually, which the UC shares with the California Institute of Technology and other institutions.
Lick allows UC astronomers to conduct research over many years, sometimes working on projects that have been in progress for more than 10 years, said Michael Rich, a UCLA astronomy researcher.
Rich said he thinks the UC observatories act as a pyramid system. Lick is the first place researchers go to try to find interesting stars, he said. Scientists can then take what they see at Lick Observatory and look into that with more detail at Keck Observatory and the Thirty Meter Telescope.
Moreover, Kibrick said he thinks the continued funding for Lick helps to sustain available observing time for students and researchers.
“Lick is our primary facility where graduate students and (postdoctoral scholars) can apply for research,” Kibrick said.
UC scientists said they acknowledge the problems facing Lick in the present and the future. Alexei Filippenko, astronomy professor at UC Berkeley, said he is pleased that UCOP will still fund the observatory, but he thinks funding will be a serious issue for Lick moving forward.
“My hope is that we can find partners (outside of the UC) that want to provide better instrumentation at Lick (in exchange) for observing time,” Rich said.
Gates said she thinks scientists at Lick may need to tap into the technology industry for money to expand funding for Lick, but UCOP’s continued support makes it easier to get funding from outside sources, since she thinks it makes the observatory appear more stable.
Correction: Kibrick said scientists combined could get 240 nights at Keck annually, not 25 to 40. The organization that worked to restore funding to Lick is Friends of Lick Observatory, not Friends of Lick. Postdoctoral scholars, not postdoctoral students, can apply for research at Lick.
