Originally, the Center was named and chartered in 1986 as "BayAstro" for "The Bay Area Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics".  The "Bay Area" in our name was not where we started, but rather, where this project began coming together. As the name implied, much of BayAstro was located in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. However the project has grown considerably and has now spread over the entire state of California. It was decided in 1995 to change the name to "CalAstro" for "The California Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics", to reflect the new growth.  It has truely been a remarkable project that has evolved over many years.

The basic concept for what was to become CalAstro began in the late 1970's & early 1980's at various locations but primarily developed at the University of Arizona in Tucson. It was there that a great melding of people and concepts was occurring. The University had observatories at Kitt Peak, Mount Lemmon, and had just built the Multiple Mirror Telescope Observatory (MMTO) on Mt. Hopkins in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institute. Not only was Tucson teaming with Astronomers and Astrophysicists from the University and other local institutions, there were always many others coming to observe from other national and international locations. On Mt. Hopkins, the Smithsonian had long had their own observatory. There were always plenty of professionals from the Harvard Smithsonian Center For Astrophysics (CFA) in town. Tucson was very much a city of Astronomy.

As is quite common, most major observing teams are made up of one or more professionals who have a small group of graduate students working for them. These are the teams that perform the vast majority of professional research. There have always been a few serious amateurs performing valid research and making a contribution to science, but amateurs generally do not have the resources at their disposal that the professionals do. It was quite rare for an amateur to publish a paper in the major scientific journals. There was also another large group of people. These were the individuals that had completed their education and had received their Ph.D's in Astronomy or Astrophysics, but could not find employment in their chosen field. About this time, several out of work professionals teamed up with a few amateurs to form observing teams that could obtain time on smaller telescopes and publish their findings together. This was the birth of the basic concept of CalAstro.

CalAstro is the result of many peoples contributions and efforts over the years to make this project happen. To name them all here would be an impossible task, but I will mention a few organizations that have supplied ideas and concepts. These include:

We wish to thank these and the many other institutions, commercial companies, and individuals that have helped and contributed to CalAstro over the years.