Tour of Kitt Peak National Observatory

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of staying at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tuscon, Arizona for three nights, as a continuation of the Astronomy in Chile Educator Ambassador Program. Seeing these friends, these fantastic astronomy educators, after two years was a very joyful feeling.

I met up with a new friend Bill, and old friends Peter, Brian, and Ryan at the airport.

It was also wonderful to meet the ACEAP 2016 team, who visited the same sites in Chile as our group did in 2015. After gathering at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) offices on the University of Arizona campus, we learned about the Tohono O’odham Nation. Kitt Peak is on Tohono O'odham land and leased to the NSF under a perpetual agreement. The NOAO staff have been working in the past decade to continue improving relations between the tribe and the observatory - O'odham members can visit the observatory free of charge, and many education and public outreach efforts are concentrated on reservation schools. 

Polaris is the central star in this image by my friend and fellow ambassador Peter Deterline. The Tohono O'odham call it "the star that never walks".

Tohono O'odham means "people of the desert". Like most cultures, the tribe has some of their own constellations based on their myths and legends, and a sky-watching culture. Polaris is called "the star that never walks", since it doesn't appear to move as the Earth turns, demonstrated in the above time-lapse photo. The Pleiades were called the lost women, and the Big Dipper was either called the drinking gourd, or described as a hook for harvesting saguaro fruit.  

It was about an hour drive through the desert to get to Kitt Peak. As we drove up the mountain, the wind and rain grew more intense. A severe storm was rolling through, with driving rain and wind gusts up to 80 miles an hour. The folks who work there hadn't seen a storm so strong in several years. The first night we had meetings inside, and walked through the crazy weather to find our dorms. The howling wind woke me up several times in the night. When we woke in the morning, the rain had turned to ice, and it was like walking in a cold and windy cloud to get to breakfast.

It was difficult to see through the mist and wind - a telescope dome was just visible through the cloud.

After a breakfast meeting, we were off to tour our first telescope! The icy conditions made it a toss up on whether driving or walking the half mile was safer. A group of us decided to brave the wind and walk. It was an adventure! The wind gusts were still about 70 mph at the top of the mountain, and I often had to bend over to stay on my feet. At the worst point, I had to hold on to the building to avoid getting knocked off my feet. 

The half mile walk was very cold, but I was very happy to be on another adventure.

After the gusty walk, we toured the Mayall 4 meter telescope. This telescope is the sister telescope to the Blanco Telescope I toured in Chile, which you can read about here. 

The Mayall suddenly appeared through the mist.

The optical telescope had first light in 1973.

A four meter reflecting telescope. The light hits the primary mirror at the bottom (not visible here) and bounces to the secondary mirror suspended from the tall top structure. It is then directed through a hole in the primary mirror to the instruments below.

This year, the Mayall will be outfitted with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). It will be part of the Dark Energy Survey, which is currently using the Blanco at CTIO to survey the sky looking for signs of dark energy with the Dark Energy Camera. The new instrument will look for signs of dark energy using spectroscopy - how scientists detect the chemicals in far away objects. This will complement the survey being done in Chile.

A big scope!

The telescope was completed in the early seventies, and some parts of it still use the original technology. It is still aligned using bar codes all around the base of the room. 

Bar codes to align the telescope.

Control room for the 4 meter.

A short video from inside the Mayall: 

After our tour of the Mayall 4 meter, we had another cold and windy walk to the WIYN 3.5 meter telescope.

 

We didn't see any snakes.

The University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, Yale University and the National Optical Astronomy Observatories operate this 3.5 meter optical telescope, thus the name WIYN. It is the newest telescope on the mountain. It saw first light in 1994.

WIYN control room.

The WIYN is similar to many optical telescopes we have seen, with a large primary mirror and actuators on the back to change the shape of the mirror for adaptive optics. 

These actuators change the shape of the primary mirror to compensate for gravity, which would pull and distort the mirror as it moves to different positions.

David checks out the scope.

 The secondary mirror and support structure:

The primary mirror had a cover on it when we were touring. 

Next year the WIYN will be outfitted with a new instrument from NASA to study the spectra of exoplanets: planets orbiting the stars we see at night! 

After a windy and wet morning, it was a joy to have the Sun come out Saturday afternoon.

Kitt Peak in the afternoon, with everything covered in ice.

A decorated pine tree, covered in ice.

Shannon Schmoll, me, and Sarah Komperud.

After working on ongoing projects in the afternoon, we toured the 2.1 Meter Telescope, and watched the sunset from its catwalk. 

The 2.1 meter is one of the oldest scopes on the mountain. It saw first light in 1964. 
 

The operator, an employee of Caltech, explained that the telescope was being outfitted with robotic controls. Caltech's goal is to completely automate the operations of the telescope. It would be the first large telescope to operate automatically.

2.1 meter optical telescope.

We walked out onto the catwalk of the telescope to watch the sunset. It was gorgeous. And very, very cold. 

The tall telescope on the top of the hill is the 4 meter Mayall telescope.

Cold, but very happy.

 A video of sunset from the top of Kitt Peak:

That night, we had our first chance to observe. It was partially cloudy, but through gaps in the clouds we could see some of the best skies I have seen. When we were in Chile, the skies were super dark and clear, but I didn't recognize the constellations. Here, I was so excited to see the skies better than the stars in my planetarium! I was finally able to see all the stars, even the stars in the faintest constellations. 

The next morning, a rainbow started our day.

 

The only major telescope on Kitt Peak we hadn't seen yet was the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope, the world's largest solar instrument. We walked up to the solar telescope on Sunday.

The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope has a 500 foot shaft. 200 feet above ground, 300 feet buried below.

Under the solar scope.

This telescope was dedicated in 1962, and recognized as a great achievement by President Kennedy. The Sun's light hits a small mirror at the top, and is directed through the long shaft. 

Barely visible at the bottom is the primary mirror.

The light hits off the primary mirror and is directed up to one of three secondary mirrors. From those, it goes through portholes in the shaft down into the control room. 

Image through glass, two of the secondary mirrors.

The Sun's light comes through holes in the ceiling of the control room and to the instrument tables below. 

Portholes in the control room ceiling.

Instrument tables.

Sunday evening was the highlight of the visit. We were invited up to a 16 inch telescope that Kitt Peak staff uses for their Visitor Observing program. Anyone can observe on Kitt Peak! Through that scope I saw very clearly the Orion Nebula with stars forming, the planet Uranus, the Pleiades, the Andromeda galaxy, and much more. The sky and stars were so clear and vivid. It was the best I have ever observed the night sky.

I am so grateful I got to spend time at Kitt Peak with my ACEAP family. We made great progress on programs we are working on, saw beautiful telescopes and fantastic skies, and had time together again, which I treasure. These people are all amazing educators and friends, and it was good to be among them again. 

ACEAP team in the 2.1 meter. Image by Robert Sparks

As always, we will teach you about the current night sky and the latest news from space every day at the Dome Planetarium at the Peoria Riverfront Museum. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter for daily updates. 

Celebrate Valentine's Day with us!