Kitt Peak and the Tucson Padres!

Tohono O'odham Wheel at Kitt Peak

2.1M Telescope at Kitt Peak

On Tuesday, Ken and I drove out to Kitt Peak National Observatory, about an hour and a half from Tucson. Kitt Peak is at almost 7,000 feet in altitude, so the last 12 miles of the journey were up the side of the mountain. The Tohono O'odham Reservation includes Kitt Peak and an area around it roughly equal to the size of the state of Connecticut (about 3 million acres, of which Kitt Peak is only 200), but with only 25,000 or so residents.

When the observatory was first established in 1958, the Tohono O'odham elders agreed that it could be built on the mountain only under certain conditions: that no military presence be allowed, no commercial presence (other than the museum gift shop) be allowed, that the Indians be permitted to sell their traditional crafts in the gift shop, that the observatory purchase electricity from the reservation, and that they be given hiring preference for jobs there.

View of Kitt Peak from
4.0M Telescope Viewing Gallery

The national observatory selected this site due to its proximity to a medium-sized city (Tucson), its elevation, its distance from light pollution and the scarcity of residents living nearby. It is a beautiful mountain, held sacred by the Tohono O'odham Nation and the site is on perpetual lease so long as research facilities exist on it. It now serves universities and researchers from all over the country conducting projects either on site or, in some cases, remotely using several of the smaller telescopes.

Inside the Solar Telescope

Ken and I started with the 10am tour of the Solar Telescope, a 100 foot tall tower with a 500 foot long shaft pointing at celestial north (an imaginary point in space near the star, Polaris). The solar telescope allows researchers to closely study our sun and warn of potential communications disruptions caused by solar flares and storms. We were invited to look through two different small telescopes, one showing sun spots and the other showing protuberances around the edge of the sun. The guide mentioned that the protuberances were between 5,000 and 10,000 miles tall each, extending off the sun's surface. Fascinating!

4.0M Telescope at Kitt Peak

After that, we took the 11:30am tour of the 2.1M Telescope, a more traditional telescope (though very large) under a huge dome. We learned about some of the projects the telescope has been used for as well as how it rotates and leans to be pointed at a specific spot in the night sky.

After a picnic lunch where we were closely watched by three blue birds looking for snacks, we walked over to the 4.0M Telescope, an even larger version of the 2.1M one. The views from the viewing gallery of the telescope's tower were fantastic.

Once we got back to Dennis and Karen's house, Sumo insisted on standing on the different cacti around their property. He stood on the arm of a saguaro, in the middle of a century cactus and on two different barrel cacti. What a nut.

Sumo Trying Out for the Padres

Later on, we met Emory and Karen for dinner at Chopstix, a local restaurant offering several different Asian cuisines. It was very good!

We headed over to the Kino Sports Complex to watch the Tucson Padres take on the Salt Lake Bees in a AAA baseball game. The stadium, though not well populated, was very pretty and we enjoyed nice seats (for free!) along the first baseline. We had a great time chatting and watching the game with Emory and Karen until the middle of the 8th inning when we threw in the towel...the Padres were down by 10 runs. Still, we had a great time!

What a wonderful day!