Date: April 10, 2012
Title: Astro Tourism on Kitt Peak
Podcasters: Rob Sparks & Rich Fedele
Organization: National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO)
Link: www.noao.edu
Description: Kitt Peak National Observatory is a major tourist attraction near Tucson, Arizona. In this podcast, the Rich Fedele of the Kitt Peak Visitor’s Center describes what you can see on a visit to Kitt Peak.
Bio: Rob Sparks is a science education specialist in the EPO group at NOAO and works on the Galileoscope project (www.galileoscope.org), providing design, dissemination and professional development. He also pens a great blog at halfastro.wordpress.com.
Rich Fedele is the manager of the Kitt Peak Visitor’s Center.
Sponsor: This episode of “365 days of Astronomy” is sponsored by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. NOAO is a US national research and development center for ground-based nighttime astronomy. We provide astronomers access to world-class observing facilities on a peer-reviewed basis. Our mission is to engage in programs to develop the next generation of telescopes, instruments, and software tools necessary to enable exploration and investigation through the observable Universe. For information on observing proposals or our public programs, please visit www.noao.edu for more information.
Transcript:
Rob: Hi, podcast. This is Rob Sparks of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory and I would like to welcome you to this episode of the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast. I am here today with Rich Fedel of the Kitt Peak Visitor’s Center. Good morning, Rich.
Rich: Good Morning.
Rob: How are you doing today?
Rich: Fine, yourself?
Rob: Oh, wonderful. Last month I talked to Dr. John Glaspey about the history of Kitt Peak and just in case anybody was inspired to visit Kitt Peak, which we hope they are, I figured this month we would talk about some things people can see and do on the mountain. So first could you tell us, if someone were to go up Kitt Peak during the day, what would they be able to see and do up there?
Rich: Sure, we have a variety of different things you can do when you are headed up to Kitt Peak. There are three public tours that you can take, one is at 10am, the other one is at 11:30 and the last one is at 1:30. These are with docents or you can go on your own and explore them on your own. These tours will take you in one of the telescopes on the mountain: the Solar Telescope, the 2.1 meter and the 4 meter. These are tours that are led by doecents or you can go up on your own. We also have a visitor’s center with exhibits, some hands-on activities and a gift shop. All the telescopes that are open to the public have galleries in them with exhibits and there are interpretive panels throughout the whole top of the mountain.
Rob: Could you tell us a little bit about each of those three telescopes that they could tour?
Rich: Sure, the first one at 10am is usually the Solar Telescope. It is the world’s largest (solar) telescope. I have heard it’s not anymore, at least it’s close to it.
Rob: At least for a little while it was, now its close to it.
Rich: For most of its life yep. That’s one of the unique telescopes up there. It’s got an interesting look to it. It’s not a normal looking telescope in the sense that it has a dome. This is more like a right angle, of course it lines up to the Sun. So that’s one telescope you can go to. And inside that particular facility is an exhibit called the Sunnel. It is actually a walk-through of the various layers of the Sun.
Rob: It’s like a tunnel that shows the layers of the Sun so they call it a Sunnel.
Rich: That’s right. They call it the Sunnel. Right. And there’s some exhibits and signs and interpretive panels in there. The next telescope is the 2.1 (meter) telescope which is one of the older telescopes on the mountain. That’s 2.1 meters, that’s the size of the mirror of that telescope. It was built back in 1964 or 1962, one of those two years, and you can actually walk into the area and there’s an overlook to look onto the telescope and see what the whole operation looks like behind glass.
Rob: And the third telescope is the 4 meter.
Rich: That’s the granddaddy of them all. It’s the largest telescope on Kitt Peak. It is interesting. It is the tallest telescope so when you head up that way, it’s the highest part of the mountain. At the 4 meter, of course, there are interpretive panels, there are exhibits, there’s a great 360 degree view of the whole mountain top on top of that with interpretive signs. You can go up to the visitor gallery and see the telescope behind the glass.
Rob: You definitely want your camera ready for that panoramic view up there.
Rich: Yeah, you do.
Rob: Okay, so that’s what you can do during the day, but you also have programs up there at night. Could you tell us a little bit about some of the nightly programs you have up there?
Rich: Sure, every night year round, except we shut down from July 15th through August 31st, we have the Nightly Observing Program called the NOP and that program is an introduction to the night sky. It is a three and a half hour program. This program takes place in one of the three Visitor Center Telescopes. It’s an introduction, you get a box dinner, you get to watch the sunset which is really cool
Rob: I am a big fan of watching for the green flash up there which you see frequently at sunset.
Rich: I’ve seen it. There is such a thing. After sunset you go down and we give you a brief introductory course using star charts and binoculars. You look at some stuff that’s out in the night sky on the patio. And then you head off to one of the three Visitor Center Telescopes where you are looking at a variety of objects through the eyepiece, anywhere from star clusters to galaxies to planets to whatever is up in the night sky at that time of the year.
Rob: I am a big fan of that program. I love that at the end of the night they give you a printout of everything you looked at through those telescopes.
Rich: Right, the give that to you at the end of the night so you can take it home and research it more if you want to.
Rob: So that’s the basic program, but you also have a program for really advanced amateurs, don’t you?
Rich: We do. And it’s not only advanced amateurs but anyone who wants to go up there and look through a telescope all night long. We provide a guide to go with you. The 20 inch telescope is what we normally take people to or the 16 inch ROR (roll off roof). That’s the advanced observing program or the AOP and all this information can be found at our website, that’s www.noao.edu, just click on “Tourist Information”. But the AOP program is more geared for visual viewing or it can be geared for taking images with CCD cameras, some astrophotography and more advanced stuff. We even have some people who do some exoplanet research off those telescopes.
Rob: I know that I have seen several Astronomy Pictures of the Day come from the Advanced Observing Program people.
Rich: Yes, our staff will actually take your data and turn it into a pretty picture for you so you will have it for eternity.
Rob: Yeah, I have seen some great stuff from up there.
Rich: Right.
Rob: And you also have some special events for big astronomical events such as meteor showers and other events. Can you tell us about some of the special events you do, some of the annual ones plus some of the special ones.
Rich: Sure, we have a series of workshops that we run, some of our astrophotography workshops we run at the Visitor’s Center. We have those usually twice a year. One’s an introduction to astrophotography, the other one is more advanced. They are pretty popular. They are geared toward the amateur who is into this a lot. The other program we have, anytime we have a special event, we have a Venus transit coming up in June which is going to be a neat program on the mountain. We have it all scheduled where you can actually stay over until later in the evening and go through the night program. It’s going to be a different program, we have the author of a book who wrote a book on the Venus transit which isn’t published yet, but its coming out soon.
Rob: Hopefully in time for the Venus transit.
Rich: Yes, we’re all hoping for that. She’s going to be signing books but we’re also going to be having lectures, demonstrations and workshops. That’s in June. The other program we have coming up in May which is actually sooner is the solar eclipse which is not going to be total down here but we’re still going t have events set up on the mountain to view it safely.
Rob: I think it’s about 85% down here, isn’t it?
Rich: I think so, yeah. We’re still going to do solar viewing. We’re going to do a bunch of different fun things and that event is taking place during the day but you also have the opportunity to stay into the evening to stargaze in the night sky. We have meteor shower programs various times of the year whenever they happen to be around. The best way to check it all out though is to check our website, www.noao.edu, click on tourist information then click on Kitt Peak and you will see a special programs bar and that will tell you all about our special programs coming up.
Rob: Great. And one other quick thing, what’s the best way up Kitt Peak? How do people get up there?
Rich: Of course you can’t fly there, you have to come to Tucson and its 56 miles from the University of Arizona campus. Easy way to get there is to hop on I10 and take I-19 to Ajo way and take that (east) all the way out until you hit 386 intersection to Kitt Peak. It’s a 12 mile nice drive, beautiful scenic drive up the mountain, paved road, the only thing you have to watch out for is cattle, rocks and an occasional deer here and there. The mountain is at an elevation of 6875feet, so dress for mountain climates. It’s windy at times. Always check to be sure the roads are clear and the weather is okay for you to head up that way.
Rob: It’s an easy drive. I have had worse drives than that. It’s a fairly easy mountain road.
Rich: Its fairly easy. We have deliveries, busses, the whole nine yards. So yeah, it’s safe.
Rob: Thank you for joining me today, Rich.
Rich: You’re welcome.
Rob: and I hope that you have inspired quite a few people to come visit Kitt Peak.
Rich: It’s a unique place. It’s a gorgeous location. The place was built back in 1964 and its almost 47 years we have been doing public outreach up on the mountain so come on out, check us out and I think you will have a really good time.
Rob: Thanks Rich. This is Rob Sparks for the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast. Thanks for listening and we will see you next month.
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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