View of the Observatory grounds as we drove up the mountain.

Another view driving up. The building on the left is the one we took a guided tour of.

Looking thru the telescope, we are looking for those little flares around the sun's edge.

I managed to capture a tiny flare with my camera at the telescope eyepiece. (Marked by black ring)

I believe used now for some of the technicians and visitors staying overnight for night programs.

Walking down to one of the buildings on a self tour.

Control module inside the solar telescope building

Computer room. The telescope's brain center. A vintage PDP-11 computer.

Close up of Rosanne and I with the infrared camera

View walking to the telescope building we did the guided tour in.

Another view. It's the building on the right that we toured.

Some more Observatory buildings and telescopes on Kitt Peak.

Our tour guide giving us some information on the walk up to the telescope.

Another view of all the telescopes on Kitt Peak.

The telescope we saw on the guided tour.

Kitt Peak Observatory

January 19 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 64 °F

Most of today was spent touring the Kitt Peak Observatory and it's telescopes. Founded in 1958, Kitt Peak National Observatory is home to one of the largest arrays of optical and radio telescopes in the world! We were able to tour two of the telescopes. All very interesting. Also got to see some solar flares with a smaller telescope that we could actually look through. Learned that most astronomers work remotely. There are very few staff on the grounds. Other than some maintenance technicians, ground's people, and administrative staff, it's the docents that are there to answer questions and provide a few tours. The drive up was steep and windy, as the observatory is about 4,500' above the surrounding valley, with great views of that valley below. Back at the room, we ate supper, and then we all went to relax in the hot tub.Read more