A high old time on Kitt Peak

It was another fine day in the Old West.  The day started with my weekly Men’s Bible study at the resort at 8 a.m. I’ve met a nice bunch of men and the number has grown each week. Today there were about 18 men at the study.

Joan at the Kitt Peak Observatory Vistor Center

Following that I returned to the trailer where Joan was not only stirring, but up and at ‘em.
Since we arrived here Joan has wanted to make a trip up to Kitt Peak, which is the only National Observatory in the world. Not that there are no other observatories in the world, but the United States is the only country to designate this one mountain as the location of a National Observatory.

And to be clear, it is not the place of one observatory, but a group of separate observatories scattered over 200 acres on the top of a 7,000-foot mountain located in the Tohono O’odham Reservation, which is the second largest Indian reservation in the country.

Joan looking at the surface of the sun

In fact, the National Observatory was almost not built there because the Tohono O’odham tribe at first declined the use of the mountain owing to its sacred meaning to its people. Only the intervention of a University of Arizona astronomer who invited leading members of the tribe to another observatory to view the moon through the lens convinced the tribe that this was a noble use of the mountain.

Seeing the moon close up through a telescope, a moon that is an object of worship to them, inspired the tribe to give a rubber stamp to the idea and construction of the observatory complex back in the 1950s.

A large number of leading universities, including Michigan and Michigan State University, are partners in the mountaintop complex. Because much of the work is done at night there are dormitories on the mountain with warnings that visitors should be quiet so as not to disturb “day sleepers.”

Out in the haze is Tucson

When we arrived there we saw how far apart and how much walking would be required to see all the telescopes I asked and received a special pass to allow me to drive Joan, who is having difficulty with her knees, to the individual telescopes.

We signed up for the tour guide at 1:30 p.m. but used the time before the guided tour to head to the solar observation telescope where we were able to look at the sun close up through a filtered telescope. So close that you could see small flares (well, small is probably a relative term) leaping up for the surface of the sun.

Then we toured the large building that houses a larger solar observatory which is literally built into the side of a mountain. We were told that sometimes the folks working there will invite visitors in to see the lab close up, but today was not one of those days.

The tour started with some interesting history on telescopes and the theories of the universe, most of which my retired high school science teacher wife already knew.

Yes, that is snow

The walk to the 4-meter (which means the polished glass mirror for the telescope is 158-inches in diameter) would have been about 15 minutes up a steep hill, so we drove ahead of the tour group. While waiting for the group to walk up the hill to the telescope I took some great photos of the vistas from the top of the mountain.

Even though Tucson is a good 50-plus miles away you can see the city from the mountain. It would have been a better view if there hadn’t been some haze in the air. The road up and down was a curvy, 25-mile-per-hour, 12-mile two-lane highway.

After the tour we drove back to the solar observatory hoping, but failing, to get an inside view.

Then we drove to the 2-meter telescope just to get a comparison with the larger one we saw on the tour.

It doesn't look like much, but the food is good

With Joan’s science appetite satisfied for this day we headed back down the mountain.

On the way back home we decided to try a little Mexican restaurant that several people in the park have told us about. It’s not much to look at from the outside, but “Poco & Mom’s” did not disappoint. The prices were reasonable and with the warning to watch out for the hot sauce we ended up having a very nice dinner and it was done very quickly.

By the time we left at 6:10 p.m. there was a line out the door (they also have a drive-thru take out window that was backed up as well) waiting for tables.

If you want to see some more photos of today’s mountaintop experience scroll down.