Kitt Peak National Observatory

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Kitt Peak National Observatory
Overview of some of the telescopes at the Kitt Peak National Observatory.
Organization	NOAO
Code	695  (observations)
Location	Tohono O'odham Nation, Arizona, United States
Coordinates	31°57.5′N 111°35.8′W / 31.9583°N 111.5967°W / 31.9583; -111.5967Coordinates: 31°57.5′N 111°35.8′W / 31.9583°N 111.5967°W / 31.9583; -111.5967
Altitude	2,096 m (6,875 ft)
Weather	72% clear nights
Website http://www.noao.edu/kpno/
Telescopes KPNO Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope 4.0 m Ritchey-Chrétien reflector WIYN Telescope 3.5 m Ritchey-Chrétien reflector McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope Unobstructed solar reflector KPNO 2.1 m Telescope Fourth largest on the mountain Coudé Feed Tower Coudé spectrograph SOLIS Monitors solar variability Coronado Array Three solar instruments used for public education WHAM Telescope Milky Way temperature and density mapping RCT Consortium Telescope Remotely controlled WIYN 0.9 m Telescope Galactic studies Calypso Observatory Only private telescope on the mountain CWRU Burrell Schmidt Galactic studies SARA Observatory Variable stars, undergraduate training Visitor Center telescopes Three instruments used for nightly public programs Spacewatch 1.8 m Telescope 72 in mirror scavenged from the Mount Hopkins MMT Spacewatch 0.9 m Telescope Spacewatch Super-LOTIS Designed to look for visible signatures of GRBs Auxiliary solar telescopes Two 0.9-m instruments Bok Telescope Versatile MDM Observatory 1.3 m McGraw-Hill Telescope Originally at Ann Arbor MDM Observatory 2.4 m Hiltner Telescope Galactic surveys ARO 12m Radio Telescope One of two telescopes operated by the Arizona Radio Observatory, part of Steward Observatory VLBA One of ten radio-telescopes forming the VLBA

The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States astronomical observatory located on 2,096 m (6,880 ft) Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono O'odham Nation, 88 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Tucson. The observatory is considered to be part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), although some of the telescopes located here, like those at the MDM Observatory, belong to other groups such as the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory. With 26 optical telescopes, it is the largest, most diverse gathering of astronomical instruments in the world.

General information

Kitt Peak was selected by its first director, Aden B. Meinel, in 1958 as the site for a national observatory under contract with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and was administered by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy. The land was leased from the Tohono O'odham under a perpetual agreement. The second director (1960 to 1971) was Nicholas U. Mayall. In 1982 NOAO was formed to consolidate the management of three optical observatories – Kitt Peak, the National Solar Observatory facilities at Kitt Peak and Sacramento Peak, New Mexico, and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.The observatory sites are under lease from the Tohono O'odham Nation at the amount of a quarter dollar per acre yearly, which was overwhelmingly approved by the Council in the 1950s. In 2005, the Tohono O'odham Nation brought suit against the National Science Foundation to stop further construction of gamma ray detectors in the Gardens of the Sacred Tohono O'odham Spirit I'itoi, which are just below the summit.^[1]

The principal instruments at KPNO are the Mayall 4 metre telescope; the WIYN 3.5 metre telescope and further 2.1 m, 1.3 m, 0.9 m, and 0.4 m reflecting telescopes. The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope located on the facilities is the largest solar telescope in the world, and the largest unobstructed reflector (it doesn't have a secondary mirror in the path of incoming light). The ARO 12m Radio Telescope is also in the location.

Kitt Peak is also famous for hosting the first telescope (an old 91 cm reflector) used to search for near-Earth asteroids, and calculating the probability of an impact with planet Earth.^[2]

The Observatory also runs what it calls the Kitt Peak Advanced Observing Program (AOP) for advanced amateur astronomers. ^[3]

Photos

Solar telescope, looking down

View of Kitt Peak looking towards the Mayall 4-meter telescope

Two of Kitt Peak's telescopes (right: Mayall 4-m telescope; left: Bok 2.3-m telescope)

See also

• List of observatories
• List of radio telescopes

Notes and references

• Discover Magazine article about Kitt Peak, May 2005
• Kitt Peak docent training book, 2008

External links

• Media related to Kitt Peak National Observatory at Wikimedia Commons
• Kitt Peak National Observatory - official site
• Kitt Peak Webcam
• Kitt Peak NightSkyLive overhead webcam, nighttime only
• Kitt Peak Clear Sky Clock Forecasts of observing conditions