Lookback Time
The title of the exhibition refers to an essential condition of astronomical observation known as “lookback time.” Light reaching our telescopes has traveled from the depths of space and hence shows us images from the past: the greater the distance the light has traveled, the older the image. Through the presentation of artifacts from the Lick archives, the exhibition also looks back in historical time to the emergence of astrophysics in the first decades of the observatory’s operation. Finally, the show also looks back at Crotty’s career, offering a retrospective view of his work along with his new installation, created in response to his IAS residency.