The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States

astronomical Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, ...

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. H ...

located on Kitt Peak of the

Quinlan Mountains The Quinlan Mountains is a mountain range in the U.S. state of Arizona. Its highest point is Kitt Peak at , which is also the second-highest peak on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation, after Baboquivari Peak. The range lies on the eastern e ...

in the

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Arizon ...

on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation, west-southwest of

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive ...

. With more than twenty optical and two radio telescopes, it is one of the largest gatherings of astronomical instruments in the Earth's northern hemisphere. Kitt Peak National Observatory was founded in 1958. It is home to what was the largest solar telescope in the world, and many large astronomical telescopes of the late 20th century in the United States. The observatory was administered by the

National Optical Astronomy Observatory The National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) was the United States national observatory for ground-based nighttime ultraviolet-optical-infrared (OUVIR) astronomy. The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded NOAO to provide forefront astronom ...

(NOAO) from the early 1980s until 2019, after which it was overseen by

NOIRLab NSF’s NOIRLab (National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory) is a United States federally funded research and development center for ground-based, nighttime optical and infrared astronomy. History Before the foundation of the NOIR ...

. In June 2022, the

Contreras Fire Contreras is a Spanish surname of toponymic origin, for "from the surrounding area". It is a common family name in the Hispanic-speaking world. People *Adán Amezcua Contreras (born c. 1969), Mexican co-leader (with his two younger brothers) of t ...

led to the evacuation of Kitt Peak. The fire reached the summit at 2 a.m. on Friday, June 17. Four non-scientific buildings, including a dormitory, were lost in the fire. As of Monday, June 20, the extent of damage to the telescopes is still being assessed.

General information

Kitt Peak was selected by its first director,

Aden B. Meinel Aden B. Meinel (November 25, 1922 – October 3, 2011) was an American astronomer. He retired in 1993 as a distinguished scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He also held the rank of professor emeritus at the University of Arizona College ...

, in 1958 as the site for a national observatory under contract with the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

(NSF) and was administered by the

Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) is a consortium of universities and other institutions that operates astronomical observatories and telescopes. Founded October 10, 1957, with the encouragement of the National ...

. The land was leased from the

Tohono Oʼodham The Tohono Oʼodham (; Oʼodham: ) are a Native American people of the Sonoran Desert, residing primarily in the U.S. state of Arizona and the northern Mexican state of Sonora. The federally recognized tribe is known in the United States as t ...

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 The National Solar Observatory (NSO) is a United States public research institute to advance the knowledge of the physics of the Sun. NSO studies the Sun both as an astronomical object and as the dominant external influence on Earth. NSO is hea ...

facilities at Kitt Peak and

Sacramento Peak Cathey Peak is a peak in the Sacramento Mountains, in the south-central part of the U.S. State of New Mexico. It lies in Otero County, southeast of the community of Alamogordo. Sacramento Peak, at , is a nearby subpeak of Cathey Peak, and is ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

; and the

Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory The Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) is an astronomical observatory located on Cerro Tololo in the Coquimbo Region of northern Chile, with additional facilities located on Cerro Pachón about to the southeast. It is approximate ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

. 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. The largest optical instruments at KPNO are the Mayall 4 meter telescope and the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope; there are also several two- and one-meter class telescopes. The McMath–Pierce solar telescope was for many decades the largest solar telescope in the world and the largest unobstructed reflector (no secondary mirror in the path of incoming light). The ARO 12m Radio Telescope is also at the location. Kitt Peak is famous for hosting the first telescope (an old 91 cm reflector) used to search for

near-Earth asteroid A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU) ...

s, and calculating the probability of an impact with

planet Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...

. Kitt Peak hosts an array of programs for the public to take part in, including: * Daytime tours, speaking about the history of the observatory as well as touring a major research telescope. * The Nightly Observing Program (NOP), which allows visitors to arrive in the late afternoon, watch the sunset, and use binoculars and telescopes to view the cosmos. * Additionally, there is the Overnight Telescope Observing Program (OTOP). This program allows for a one-on-one, full night of observing using any of the visitor center's telescopes. Guests may choose to do

DSLR A digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera that combines the optics and the mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a digital imaging sensor. The reflex design scheme is the primary difference between ...

imaging, CCD imaging, or simply take in the sights with their eye to the telescope. Kitt Peak's Southeastern Association for Research and Astronomy (SARA) Telescope was featured in the WIPB-PBS documentary
"Seeing Stars in Indiana"
The project followed SARA astronomers from Ball State University to the observatory and featured time-lapse images from various points around Kitt Peak. A major project in the 2010s at Kitt Peak is the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument for the Mayall.

History

The Kitt Peak National Observatory of the United States was dedicated on March 16, 1960. At the dedication a 36-inch telescope and various facilities were ready. Construction was underway for the then planned 84 inch telescope. (i.e. the KPNO 2.1 meter) The 84 inch (2.1 m) had its first light in September 1964. Over the decades the mountaintop hosted many telescopes, and achieved a variety of discoveries. Some examples of astronomical research KPNO contributed to include the study of

dark matter Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not ab ...

, cosmic distances, high-redshift galaxies, and the

Boötes Void Boötes ( ) is a constellation in the northern sky, located between 0° and +60° declination, and 13 and 16 hours of right ascension on the celestial sphere. The name comes from la, Boōtēs, which comes from grc-gre, Βοώτης, Boṓtē ...

. In addition, the observatory has engaged in variety of public outreach and education programs. In 2018, KPNO established plans for its ''Windows on the Universe Center for Astronomy Outreach.''

Notable discoveries

In 1976 the Mayall Telescope was used to discover

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Ear ...

ice on

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest k ...

. The 90 cm Spacewatch telescope was used to discover the

Kuiper belt The Kuiper belt () is a circumstellar disc in the outer Solar System, extending from the orbit of Neptune at 30 astronomical units (AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, but is far larger—20 t ...

body,

20000 Varuna 20000 Varuna, provisional designation , is a large trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt. It was discovered in November 2000 by American astronomer Robert McMillan during a Spacewatch survey at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. It is nam ...

in the year 2000. This was discovered by an astronomer noticing the slow moving object in a blink comparison.

Photos

Image:Télescope solaire McMath-Pierce.jpg, Solar telescope, looking down Image:Kittpeak2.jpg, View of Kitt Peak looking towards the Mayall 4-meter telescope Image:Kittpeakteliscope.JPG, Two of Kitt Peak's telescopes (right: Mayall 4-m telescope; left: Bok 2.3-m telescope) Image:A_Vintage_Lightning_Storm_at_Kitt_Peak.jpg, A vintage lightning storm at Kitt Peak Image:View of Mayall 4m Telescope (6843241942).jpg, ''The Mayall Telescope'' Image:Technicolor_Night.jpg, The night sky overflows with light and color in this long-exposure image Image:Starry Horizon from Kitt Peak.jpg, Starry horizon from Kitt Peak Image:Dusty_Skies_at_Kitt_Peak.jpg, Dusty skies at Kitt Peak File:Desert Skyscape.jpg, The star-studded arch of the Milky Way dominates this striking skyscape from Kitt Peak National Observatory File:Red_Dish_at_Night.jpg, An eerily lit radio telescope observes a starry sky in this image from Kitt Peak National Observatory File:Colors of Kitt Peak.jpg, The

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked ey ...

appears to cascade down the skies above Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) File:Seeing_Red_at_Kitt_Peak.jpg, Seeing Red at Kitt Peak Image:Kitt Peak National Observatory - 380° panorama taken from behind the Warner & Swasey Observatory.jpg, 380° panorama of Kitt Peak from the

Warner and Swasey Observatory The Warner and Swasey Observatory is the astronomical observatory of Case Western Reserve University. Named after Worcester R. Warner and Ambrose Swasey, who built it at the beginning of the 20th century, it was initially located on Taylor Road i ...

Image:Kitt Peak National Observatory - 400° panorama taken from the Mayall 4-meter observatory.jpg, 400° panorama from Kitt Peak's Mayall 4-meter Observatory Image:Sun_Beams_Over_Kitt_Peak.jpg, Sun Beams Over Kitt Peak

Climate

Due to its high elevation, the observatory experiences a

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

( Cfb) with a much cooler and wetter climate throughout the year than most of the

References

External links

Kitt Peak National Observatory Visitor Center
– visiting and tour information
Kitt Peak Webcam

Forecasts of observing conditions
NOAA general forecast for KPNO

NOAA detailed forecast for KPNO

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