Kitt Peak Observatory–Exploring the Heavens

Day before yesterday, Jan. 7, we decided to take a drive to the top of Kitt Peak, west of Tucson to see the telescopes on the top of the mountain.  It was a nice clear day for a pleasant ride.  On a clear day, you can see the main observatory from the outskirts of town.   I am always ready for a scenic drive!  The road up to the top wound its way around the mountain with great views of the surrounding desert and distant mountains that seem to rise up here and there in all direction as far as the eye can see.  You can never truly capture such vast open spaces and fantastic scenery on camera.  But I try!  There was no traffic, so Doug was great about stopping on the road or at an overlook so I could get some good shots.  Yep, we are going to the top of these mountains! 
  

The road up just hugged the side of the mountain. It almost looks like you are going to drive right off into space!
 
It was about 20 degrees cooler than it was in the valley so it was about 55 by the time we reached the top.  The Kitt Peak National Observatory, built in 1958, is the world’s largest collection  of optical telescopes.  It is located on Tohono O’odham Nation Indian Reservation.  There are 24 optical and two radio telescopes representing 8 astronomical research institutions.  According to some background we researched, the telescopes stay in constant use.  As a matter of fact, there are some buildings that look like hotels with signs out front that say “night observers sleeping, please be quiet”.  You can take tours inside some of the observatories but we just took the self guided tour of the grounds.  But we were fortunate that a solar viewing was open.  Fantastic! We got to actually see the sun and see some solar flairs rising off the surface. That was pretty neat.  Of course, the telescopes were HUGE and we enjoyed what we saw.  The views at the top were spectacular!
   
  

Time to head down.  Even this blue bird was welcoming tourists hoping for a snack, which of course I obliged!  A great day that ended with a beautiful sunset over the RV park.