Observatory nears 50th year and remains a vital presence

[Ptah]

http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/235635.php

Observatory nears 50th year and remains a vital presence
By Dan Sorenson
arizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 04.23.2008
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Kitt Peak National Observatory is turning 50. And while it no longer boasts the world's
second-largest telescope and has been passed over as the site for a new generation of
ever-larger telescopes, it still bristles with more than two dozen telescopes and plays an
important role in the exploration of the universe.

The world's newest telescopes, those getting the public's attention and money — some with
multiple 26-foot-diameter mirrors and costing hundreds of millions of dollars — are
being located elsewhere. Higher mountaintops, mainly in Chile and Hawaii, offer better viewing,
with less light pollution and distorting atmosphere between them and space.

But there's more going on than meets the eye at Kitt Peak and at its parent organization,
the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, headquartered on the University of Arizona campus.
Kitt Peak, and the NOAO, hold a long-term lease with the Tohono O'odham Nation for the Kitt Peak site.

Kitt Peak's newest major night sky telescope, the WIYN Observatory 3.5-meter telescope
(the 3.5 meters refers to the diameter of the telescope's primary mirror), was dedicated in 1994.

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http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/observers/bestof.html

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080109.html



http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951109.html

[Ptah]

1. Here is another page, with links to many images.

http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/



http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/telescopes.html

[Duppers]

2. quite some links there, Ptah

folks, have a peek at those....here's an example:


"National Optical Astronomy Observatory/Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy/National Science Foundation"

Thanks for posting.

[Ptah]

3. Thanks. Here's a picture I took in January of a sundial