Introduction

MIRA: Exploring the Universe
from the Central Coast

The page you are viewing is taken from an exhibit called MIRA: Exploring the Universe from the Central Coast. The exhibit ran from 1 July through 24 September 2000 at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History.
	Monterey County is blessed with some of the best astronomical conditions in the continental United States: dark skies, low light and air pollution, and, because of the modulating conditions of the Pacific Ocean, very low atmospheric turbulence. There are few sites on Earth as well suited for undertaking a high-resolution inquiry into the mysteries of the Universe. The desire to probe these mysteries is as old as our species: What is the nature of the Universe and its parts? How did the Universe start and how will it end? What is our place in the Universe?
*The MIRA telescope at dawn (MIRA image).*
From Stonehenge to the Hubble Space Telescope, every culture has expended substantial resources to enable a few to persue these questions and report back their astounding discoveries. This exhibit is an interim report from a unique independent observatory in Monterey—The Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy.

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*mira@mira.org* © 2000 MIRA
Last updated February 22, 2001 by et.