Kitt Peak National Observatory

Kitt Peak National Observatory

Various telescopes at the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) in the Quinlan Mountains
Alternative names	KPNO
Organization	Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
Observatory code	695
Location	Kitt Peak, Arizona, US
Coordinates	31°57′30″N 111°35′48″W / 31.9583°N 111.5967°W / 31.9583; -111.5967
Altitude	2,096 m (6,877 ft)
Observing time	260 nights per year
Established	1958
Website	noirlab.edu/public/programs/kitt-peak-national-observatory/
Telescopes
KPNO Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope 4.0 m Ritchey–Chrétien reflector WIYN Telescope 3.5 m Ritchey–Chrétien reflector McMath–Pierce solar telescope Unobstructed solar reflector KPNO 2.1 m Telescope Fourth largest on the mountain Coudé Feed Tower Coudé spectrograph NEID Solar Telescope Obtains disk-integrated light for a spectrograph Coronado Array Three commercially produced Meade/Coronado solar instruments used for public education RCT Consortium Telescope Robotically controlled WIYN 0.9 m Telescope Galactic studies SOLARIO remote telescope Astrophotography CWRU Burrell Schmidt Galactic studies SARA Observatory 0.9m telescope[1] Variable stars, undergraduate training Visitor Center telescopes Three instruments used for nightly public programs Spacewatch 1.8 m Telescope 72 in mirror scavenged from the Mount Hopkins MMT Spacewatch 0.9 m Telescope Spacewatch Super-LOTIS Designed to look for visible signatures of GRBs Auxiliary solar telescopes Two 0.9 m instruments Bok Telescope Versatile MDM Observatory 1.3 m McGraw-Hill Telescope Originally at Ann Arbor MDM Observatory 2.4 m Hiltner Telescope Galactic surveys ARO 12m Radio Telescope One of two telescopes operated by the Arizona Radio Observatory, part of Steward Observatory VLBA One of ten radio-telescopes forming the VLBA DIMM all-sky camera monitors seeing
Location of Kitt Peak National Observatory
Related media on Commons
[edit on Wikidata]

The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States astronomical observatory located on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation, 88 kilometers (55 mi) west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona. With more than twenty optical and two radio telescopes, it is one of the largest gatherings of astronomical instruments in the Earth's northern hemisphere.^[2]

Kitt Peak National Observatory was founded in 1958.^[3] It is home to what was the largest solar telescope in the world, and many large astronomical telescopes of the late 20th century in the United States.^[3]

The observatory was administered by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) from the early 1980s until 2019, after which it was overseen by NOIRLab.^[4]

In June 2022, the Contreras Fire led to the evacuation of Kitt Peak. The fire reached the summit at 2 a.m. on Friday, June 17. Four non-scientific buildings, including a dormitory, were lost in the fire. ^[5] As of Monday, June 20, the extent of damage to the telescopes is still being assessed.^[6]