Kitt Peak National Observatory......

Kitt Peak, home to the world's largest collection of telescopes, was on our wish list of places to see in Tucson! Especially for Tom! For more information, click here. It is located at the top of 6900 foot mountain peak on the Tohono O'odham Nation in the Sonoran Desert. The national observatory is on land leased from the Indian nation. The peak itself is the second most sacred peak in the Nation. As part of the lease agreement, nothing commercial or military is allowed. Kitt Peak Observatory is purely for scientific research. You can see the most sacred peak of the Tohono O'odham nation, Baboquivari Peak (the home of the creator), from Kitt Peak.

On the road to Kitt Peak, we passed a border patrol check point. This is the first one I've seen, though I know we are close to the border. We drove through on our way to Kitt Peak, since the road heads toward Mexico. The way back is a different story. The border patrol is looking for illegal immigrants, and there are dogs at the checkpoint as well. We were asked if our car was a rental or if we owned it. The border patrol officer was from NJ (can you believe it?), so we talked a bit about Jersey and then we were off on our way back  home. Tom noticed cameras on the road as well, most likely to see if anyone turned around to avoid the checkpoint? Not sure...this is all new to me.

telescope on the top of the peak straight ahead

border patrol

The 12 mile drive up the mountain afforded us beautiful views. There were several pullouts to stop and admire the beautiful surroundings, but the best views were from Kitt Peak itself. The road is not one I'd want to be on in the dark. In fact, I think the road closes at 4PM for people going up. You can go back down though. We could see the telescopes around some of the turns and just knew we were in for something special. There are so many telescopes here!

note the vegetation here

don't look now Tom...but the view is great

no smoking allowed!

just look at all those telescopes!

its like a little campus up here

There were 3 tours available the day we visited, to three different telescopes. We went on two tours.  (Don't forget your coupon book)! The guides were great...both of them. So knowledgeable and passionate about astronomy, and they were able to converse with lay people. Very interesting! They not only talked about the telescopes, but about the history of the beginnings of the observatory, including finding the "peak" and negotiating with the Tohono O'odham people.

The first tour was to one of the solar telescopes. A solar telescope is used to view the sun. It is not "solar powered". The guide explained how it worked before we went in, and then once we were in there, he pointed out the mirrors and different things so it all made sense and we could appreciate what we were looking at. Of course, it was all simplified for the likes of me, but the simple explanations were enough to get the idea and appreciate the science behind it.

so happy to be here

our tour...we went on 2 of the 3 tours available

this was the first telescope we saw..a solar observing telescope (looks at the sun)

the most sacred peak of the Tohono O'odham nation is directly across-that big rounded peak

check the view...awesome

really????

views of the scope from inside

i can't catch it all in one pic

our guide was so knowledgeable...an engineer by profession, astronomy is his passion and you could tell

looking down at a mirror

more of the campus

more views

this is the same solar scope, but down below, where the "data" comes in 

instrumentation to analyze the images from the scope (detectors)

not updated since the 60's (the computer control, that is...if it ain't broke, don't fix it)

image equipment

spectrograph and other data collection instruments

cool stuff, but no one was working here this day 

We were so lucky this beautiful day....a solar telescope was being used, and we were able to view two different images of the sun. The filter on one telescope made the sunspots on the sun visible. There were so many! The other telescope had a filter that allowed us to see the hydrogen corona of the sun. It was so cool!!! The only way I can describe it is as red hairlike lines on the surface, and all around the edges you could see exactly where the gas was flowing out...protrusions could be seen from that angle. So so cool! (Very bad description...sorry)!

Another solar telescope..and someone was working!!

two different scopes here...look through one viewpiece to see sunspots, the other had a filter to see hydrogen gases off the sun

the coolest part of this tour! Really great!! We were lucky he was working and shared with us since we were such a small group

more stunning views..and the most sacred mountain peak from a different angle

The campus is set up nicely. There is  quite a bit of hilly walking between telescopes, allowing for beautiful views all around. And that's during the day! I image the nights are fabulous! There is a dormitory up there as well, I think for the scientists. They do have programs there for the public as well. Would be very interesting!

our tour guide talking shop with Tom

you can rent a room for $90/night 

visitor center

waiting for the second tour to start

The second tour was to a 2.1M telescope, which looks at the night sky. That means that the mirror is 2.1 meters in diameter. The largest one at Kitt Peak is 4M. Telescopes being made now are 8M, but there is no way to get that size mirror up the mountain.

our next tour guide...also excellent...so passionate about astronomy

more views of more scopes

lots of walking here, and lots of beautiful views

look, the road we came up

2.1 M telescope

here's another view of the solar telescope we saw in the morning

this is unusual because of the elbow control (gray piece) that diverts the light to the spectrograph

that yellow sheet is removed when viewing

wasn't this interesting?

The tours were great...we didn't go on the last tour, which was to the 4M telescope. Just for information, if you are interested, mirrors are ground at the Steward Mirror Lab at the University of Arizona and tours are available.

We had a picnic lunch before our drive back down the mountain. By the way, there is no food available (except for candy and chips), so you need to bring your own food if you are planning on staying for the day. There are plenty of picnic spots though!

sharing a picnic spot at Kitt Peak 

looks like we have company for lunch

no you can't have my sandwich

but i love tuna

right after we left, these guys came to check for crumbs

give it up buddy

The drive has plenty of views of the gorgeous scenery surrounding the area. You really need to pay attention to the road though. There are a few pullouts so the driver can enjoy the views as well:)
We were glad we were able to make the visit to Kitt Peak. I'm sure its really great at night! See the link in the beginning of this blog post for more information if you are interested in that.

extreme fire danger here

just look at the view from the drive down-really spectacular

that's the highway we want

no "looking" when you are driving! Only at pullouts!

nice, huh?

and for the more adventurous, another way to the top

we think that's for climbing, but really we don't know what that is

oh, and a radio telescope

uses radio waves instead of light 

another view of the most sacred peak

nice

heading back on "flat" ground now...hahaha

up ahead...border patrol...we already passed the big cameras set up on the side of the road

a farm along the way...the pumpkins caught our eye

pretty picture of the farm...unusual sight in the desert

looks like there was corn too

Cindy Lou's cafe....looks interesting!