Amateur Astronomy at Kitt Peak
May 14th, 2009 | 
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I have always been fascinated with astronomy. The shear sizes and forces present in the universe is mind-boggling, to say the least. I remember as a kid sitting in the planetarium at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History imagining what it would be like to see these phenomenon up close and personal. Well, I am much older now. Sadly, I don't think I'll be placing any bets on the opportunity occurring within the remainder of my lifetime.
A few years ago, my wife and I did some research on amateur astronomy programs offered by observatories that were open to the general public. We were fortunate to find just such a program right in my own backyard.
The Kitt Peak National Observatory is located about 60 miles southwest of Tucson, AZ, in the Schuk Toak District on the Tohono O'odham Nation. After browsing through their spectacular collection of images, we found a program that we thought would meet our needs to view the cosmos through a professional telescope. The Kitt Peak Visitor Center has a group of public programs tailored to your specific desires.
The Kitt Peak Visitor Center offers an Advanced Observing Program (AOP) geared towards anyone with an interest in observing the night sky using a high quality telescope or using our state-of-the-art instruments. No previous experience in astronomy is necessary. You can observe at the world's largest optical observatory under some of North America's finest skies.
We both thought this is the program for us. A chance to visit a world-renowned observatory, have the opportunity to talk with astronomers from other countries, and to have exclusive access to a telescope/imaging system. Little did we know what we were in for.
We booked our reservations after a few e-mails back and forth. This is a high-demand program and requires some planning to obtain a desirable viewing date. Often the better viewing dates, dates when there is no moon visible, the objects viewable at certain times of the year, etc., are booked far in advance. I recommend that you start now if you plan to participate in this program in the near future.
My wife and I arrived mid-day and were greeted by the very gracious staff at the visitors center. We were escorted to our living quarters (We had our own room in the astronomers dorm) and then given a tour of the numerous and large facilities. Our program was not scheduled to start until later that evening, so we had free run of the place for the rest of the afternoon. During which, we met our own personal astronomer, Adam Block.
Adam showed us as many different facilities as we could before our program started. One in particular stood out among the others. The National Solar Observatory shares the mountaintop site, and is home to the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope. This telescope is currently the largest unobstructed-aperture optical telescope in the world, with a diameter of 1.5 meters. The solar images from this telescope are truly remarkable. This telescope alone is reason to visit Kitt Peak.
Part of our program included dining in the cafeteria. You may think, "Great. Cafeteria food. Blech!" You would be wrong. Kitt Peak is an exceptionally run facility, with a highly competent staff, including their chefs. Kitt Peak is host to astronomers from around the world, and consequently, is capable of satisfying many of their unique requirements.
Adam guided us to the cafeteria where we selected our dinner from the buffet of entrees. We sat with an astronomer whose name I cannot recall (It's that old-timers thing). This astronomer was working on disproving the procedure of discovering other planets by monitoring and measuring the oscillation present from an orbiting body(-ies) around a central star. Our dinner conversation was not the norm.
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