. The opening bid: $12,500.The ultimate top bidder will have all expenses paid for two, including travel from a major U.S. city and four nights accommodations in Hawaii. The guests will spend one night in the Keck control room with Marcy, who co-leads the world's most prolific planet hunting team responsible for discovering dozens of worlds around other stars. Marcy will also join the winners for dinner.
The auction is a fundraising and promotional effort arranged by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP). Bidding runs through 9 a.m. PST on Jan. 23.
"Unless you are a real research astronomer, you just never have the opportunity to actually spend time in a major observatory's control room, let alone with one of the world's best-known astronomers during a night of real research," said Michael Bennett, the ASP's executive director.
Bennett told SPACE.com he's banking on the desire of amateur astronomers -- some of whom are prone to traveling widely to observe eclipses and meteor showers -- to make the auction a success.
Bidding might ramp up in the final moments of the auction, Bennett figures, but he won't guess how high it might go.
"When we came up with this idea we had no idea if anyone would really bid on a night at Keck with a well-known astronomer," Bennett said. "When people started suggesting this was the amateur astronomer's version of a ride on the space station, we began to get hopeful. But I still have simply no idea how high the bidding might go."
The present bid (the minimum allowed) would result in a modest success, assuming the bid is legitimate. Proceeds will support the ASP's nationwide astronomy education efforts, which include a free newsletter for teachers. The society will also donate 5 percent of the top bid to the amateur astronomy club of the winner's choice.
"The auction is a great way to contribute to the ASP's programs that build science literacy, inspire kids and nurture the next generation of scientists and astronomers," Marcy said.
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