The University of California Observatories (UCO) is a multi-campus astronomical research unit of the University of California, with headquarters on the UC Santa Cruz campus.[1] UCO operates the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, and the technical labs at UC Santa Cruz and UCLA. UCO is also a managing partner of the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, and the center for the UC participation in the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) project.
UCO was founded in 1988 to recognize the expansion of responsibilities of the Lick Observatory Headquarters to include managing the UC share of the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii.