Kitt Peak National Observatory

Infobox Observatory
name = Kitt Peak National Observatory


caption = Overview of some of the telescopes at the Kitt Peak National Observatory.
organization = NOAO
code=695
location = Tohono O'odham Nation, Arizona, United States
coords = coord|31|57.5|N|111|35.8|W [http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&hl=en&ll=31.959372,-111.597319&spn=0.00406,0.010064&t=k map]
altitude = 2,096 m (6,875 ft)
weather = 72% clear nights
established =
closed =
website=http://www.noao.edu/kpno/
telescope1_name = KPNO Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope
telescope1_type = 4.0 m Ritchey-Chrétien reflector
telescope2_name = WIYN Telescope
telescope2_type = 3.5 m Ritchey-Chrétien reflector
telescope3_name = McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope
telescope3_type = Unobstructed solar reflector
telescope4_name = KPNO 2.1 m Telescope
telescope4_type = Fourth largest on the mountain
telescope5_name = Coudé Feed Tower
telescope5_type = Coudé spectrograph
telescope6_name = SOLIS/Kitt Peak Vacuum Telescope
telescope6_type = Solar telescope
telescope7_name = Razdow Telescope
telescope7_type = Weather monitoring for the solar telescopes
telescope8_name = WHAM Telescope
telescope8_type = Milky Way temperature and density mapping
telescope9_name = RCT Consortium Telescope
telescope9_type = Remotely controlled
telescope10_name = WIYN 0.9 m Telescope
telescope10_type = Galactic studies
telescope11_name = Calypso Observatory
telescope11_type = Only private telescope on the mountain
telescope12_name = CWRU Burrell Schmidt
telescope12_type = Galactic studies
telescope13_name = SARA Observatory
telescope13_type = Variable stars, undergraduate training
telescope14_name = ETC/RMT
telescope14_type = No longer operating
telescope15_name = Spacewatch 1.8 m Telescope
telescope15_type = 72 in mirror scavenged from the Mount Hopkins MMT
telescope16_name = Spacewatch 0.9 m Telescope
telescope16_type = Spacewatch
telescope17_name = Super-LOTIS
telescope17_type = Follow-on to the ETC/RMT
telescope18_name = HAT-1
telescope18_type = Recently relocated to nearby Mount Hopkins
telescope19_name = Bok Telescope
telescope19_type = Versatile
telescope20_name = MDM Observatory 1.3 m McGraw-Hill Telescope
telescope20_type = Originally at Ann Arbor
telescope21_name = MDM Observatory 2.4 m Hiltner Telescope
telescope21_type = Galactic surveys
telescope22_name =
telescope22_type = HF radio-telescope, built atop a tank turret
telescope23_name = ARO 12m Radio Telescope
telescope23_type = One of two telescopes operated by the Arizona Radio Observatory, part of Steward Observatory
telescope24_name = VLBA
telescope24_type = One of ten radio-telescopes forming the VLBAThe Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States astronomical observatory located on a 2,096 m (6,880 ft) 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 23 telescopes, it is the largest, most diverse gathering of astronomical instruments in the world.

General information

Kitt Peak was selected 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. 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.

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 National Radio Astronomy Observatory 12 m radio telescope that was decommissioned in 2002 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.

ee also

* List of observatories
* List of radio telescopes

External links

* [http://www.noao.edu/kpno/ Kitt Peak National Observatory] - official site
* [http://www.noao.edu/kpno/kpcam/index.shtml Kitt Peak Webcam]
* [http://nightskylive.net/kp/ Kitt Peak NightSkyLive overhead webcam] , nighttime only
* [http://cleardarksky.com/c/KittAZkey.html?1 Kitt Peak Clear Sky Clock] Forecasts of observing conditions

Photos