I got outa Dodge just ahead of the sheriff. All right, I’m exaggerating a bit. It was the modern, sprawling city of Tucson, Arizona. And although I wasn’t in trouble with the Law, I was literally racing a police cruiser out of the city. I found myself there on Tucson Rodeo weekend. Being “new in town” I was heading west on Ajo Way, the one thoroughfare on which I knew which way I was going. Unfortunately for me, this was soon to become the parade route through the city and closed to traffic in a just few minutes. The morning television programs had warned endlessly of traffic congestion and detours. La Fiesta de Los Vaqueros is a big deal in Tucson.

I made it to the city’s limits without running afoul of the authorities or encountering more than rush hour traffic. The desert air was crisp, and the sun shone brightly on the mountain peaks to the west. As the Ajo Way turned into State Route 86, the white domes of Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) rose over a ridge. McDonalds restaurants, car dealerships, over-lit gas stations and shopping malls fell behind as I drove on to the reservation of the Tohono O’odham Indian Nation. Here in the open Sonoran desert, it’s impossible to get lost: there’s only one left turn to make, and it’s well marked. Road 386 winds 12 miles and up almost 4000’ to the parking lot on the summit.

KPNO is a city of telescopes on a mountaintop. The largest optical telescope is the 4-meter Mayall, with its 18-story tall domed structure. All told, there are another 21 optical and two radio telescopes. Since 1958, two hundred acres of the summit have been leased to the National Science Foundation by the Tohono O’odham Nation in perpetuity for scientific research. KPNO is part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). The number of telescopes here is greater than anywhere else in the world, and many other agencies and universities have chosen to build their facilities atop this mountain. The astronomical seeing at Kitt Peak is superb. It may be the jets of steady air from Mexico, visible just to the south. It could be the acceleration of the wind as it flows up the mountainside. Or possibly it is the sophisticated design of the domes themselves. The observatory floors are elevated well above the mountain rock and refrigerated to stabilize the air inside. The WIYN telescope, though a bit smaller than the Mayall’s at “only” 3.5 m of aperture, has a radically different dome design. It’s much more like a reflective, geometric dome with ventilation louvers than the white round-topped spire of the Mayall. It’s also low in profile and perched on the edge of the summit. Getting a good, close picture would require a helicopter or at least a good set of wings.

The visitors center is worth a stop, and there are daily tours of the Mayall 4 m, the 2.1 m, and the McMath-Pierce Solar telescopes. But you’re free to walk (or surf) at your own pace through those domes and among the other facilities. The Steward Observatories Spacewatch reflectors are there. There are several solar telescopes, including the distinctive McMath-Pierce. Perhaps it’s the lack of oxygen, but there seems to be a good sense of humor among the staff. I saw signs for viewpoints (!) and crossing zones (for near-Earth asteroids?). But my favorite visual-joke was the pink flamingo alongside matching handrails at the entrance to SARA’s dome.

Unless you’re staying for the evening’s programs, you are required to leave the mountaintop to the astronomers and astronomer wanna-be’s at 4 pm. The nightly Stargaze program and the Advanced Observing Program (imaging with a 16” LX-200 and a ST-8 CCD) are by all counts quite popular and require advance reservations. My drive down the mountain was uneventful, but the change in elevation made for some interesting (if unintentional) experiments involving empty water bottles, gradually crushed by the increased atmospheric pressure. I had booked into a hotel near the airport, glad to have a room for the night amid all the visitors for the Rodeo. I hear it’s “RO-dee-o” not “ro-DAY-o.” So maybe that’s why all those visitors up at the observatory had cowboys hats...

Moondark is written by Doug Miller, published on the web , and printed in the Delmarva Star Gazers'Star Gazer News and the Delaware Astronomical Society's FOCUS. Please address comments and suggestions to dcmiller@dmv.com. This document was last revised on 24 June 2001. All text and images copyright © 2001 Douglas C. Miller, All Rights Reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without prior permission.