Arcs and Angles at Kitt Peak

This Image of the Week contrasts the beautiful curve of the Milky Way with the geometric architecture of NSF's recently retired McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope at the U.S. National Science Foundation Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), a Program of NSF NOIRLab, near Tucson, Arizona. The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope was once the largest solar telescope in the world, standing 33 meters (110 feet) tall with a 60-meter (200-foot) long diagonal shaft that continues underground. As a reflecting telescope, this instrument relied on mirrors to see the skies, and its diagonal bend led towards its 1.6-meter-diameter primary mirror.

Soon the public will have the unique opportunity to visit the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope in a brand new guise, as it is being transformed into a dynamic astronomy education center. NSF’s new Windows on the Universe Center for Astronomical Outreach at Kitt Peak will allow the public to experience the cutting-edge research carried out at Kitt Peak and NSF’s other astronomy facilities around the globe, including ground-based optical, radio, and gravitational wave facilities. The public opening is scheduled for late 2025, when visitors can expect an experience built on NOIRLab’s foundational principle of Discovering Our Universe Together.

You can find a close-up of this image here as well as this image in 360 degree panoramic and fulldome formats.

Petr Horálek, the photographer, is a NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador.