Cosmic Camp-in: Space Rocks at Chabot Space & Science Center

Tickets required (buy online). Adults without a child are not admitted. Check-in 5:15 PM at the Observatory at the rear of the Center; no entry before check-in.

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About this adventure

An overnight family camp-in at Chabot built around comets, asteroids and meteors. Families check in at the Observatory behind the Center at 5:15 PM and the program starts at 5:50 PM. Children make sublimating dry-ice comets (frozen gases, dust and geysers), K–5 campers design imaginary asteroid-mining machines, and older kids collect and graph comet data and learn about mining careers. The evening also covers how to spot meteor showers, and, weather permitting, a visit to Chabot's historic observatories to meet astronomers. The ticket includes a catered hot dinner, a themed scavenger hunt through the exhibits, a live Zeiss Planetarium show, telescope viewing, a Scout badge or Chabot mission patch and a continental breakfast; the night ends at 8:30 AM. Designed for families and groups with children 9–14; siblings 4 and up may come with their own ticket. Every child needs an adult and every adult needs a child. Families who do not want to sleep over can buy an evening-only Moonlight Mission ticket and leave after the telescope viewing. Pack light: you carry your sleeping gear from the front parking structure to the rear check-in.