Motorcycling to the Stars Part 2

Places like this have always been extremely exciting to me and Patti and I both felt a sense of wonder as we walked on the grounds and began to get a sense of the scale and grandness of the facility. Founded in 1958 the Kitt Peak Observatory is home to 23 telescopes making it the largest collection of astronomical instruments in the world.





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View from the observation deck of the four meter telescope looking south

There are three guided tours provided each day for a nominal cost and each one covers a different area of the facility. We arrived just in time to take the last tour of the day which was to the main attraction; the four meter telescope. It was quite a hike from the visitors center to the telescope, and because of the lay of the land, it really is uphill both ways. At 8000 feet the temperature was significantly cooler than on the desert floor. We were wearing all of the layers that we had brought, which was not a lot, and felt quite chilled. In addition, at that altitude, the wind was blowing at a pretty good clip.



Trudging up the hill to the four meter telescope building



And it gets even more imposing as you actually approach it.



We had a really great guide for the tour and got more information than we could possibly have retained. The view from the observation deck of the four meter is stunning. One of the things that stuck in my head was the story about the near-earth collision detection program. The telescope pictured below is part of a government project that does nothing but scan the sky constantly for space objects that have the potential for hitting the earth. As of October 2008 982 of these near earth objects NEOs have been detected. Kind of an alarming fact when you think about it.





The silver dome in the center of the above picture is the NEO telescope

There were also some stunning views of the road we had just come up...





Above: US 386 as seen from the observation deck of the four-meter telescope looking to the west

After spending some time on the observation deck our group climbed a narrow set of stairs to view the instrument itself. Without the proper photographic equipment it is impossible to get the right shots or even convey the scale of the inside of the dome, but here is my meager attempt.



One of the things that made this trip visit special was we had a really great guide, I am not sure what his education or background was but he made the trip very interesing.



Definitely a trip worth making!