NOAO > Celebrating 50 Years—Kitt Peak National Observatory
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NOAO > Celebrating 50 Years—Kitt Peak National Observatory |
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Kitt Peak was selected in 1958 as the site for a national observatory from a survey that included more than 150 mountain ranges across the United States. Located on lands of the Tohono O’odham Nation in the Sonoran Desert southwest of Tucson, Arizona, Kitt Peak today is home to the world’s largest collection of optical telescopes under desert skies that continue to be some of the finest in the world for astronomical observations.
We will be hosting a series of events in Tucson and on Kitt Peak throughout the anniversary, including open houses, special speakers and a special pullout section in the Arizona Daily Star. And there is more to come, so please be sure to check back with us often!
Two symposiums will take place in Tucson during the month of March, 2010. From First Light to Forming Planets happens from March 14-16, followed by An Eventful Universe March 18-20. March 17 will bring together both symposiums with additional speakers to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Observatory.
We are celebrating the first 50 years of your national observatory and will continue through March 2010, the anniversary of the dedication of Kitt Peak National Observatory. The landmark concept of a national observatory open to all astronomers based on the merit of their scientific proposals would not have been possible without support from our user community!
How has our national observatory affected you? Are there special people or experiences that you recall and would like to share? Do you have images of the observatory, its telescopes, or its people that you would like to share? As we collect your comments, we’ll post many on the web site, so everyone may enjoy these stories of our historic past and ongoing evolution.
To share your memories simply send an email to kp50@noao.edu with a subject line of “Kitt Peak Memories.” Include your memories in the text of the email, or attach it as a Word file. Give your memory a title and feel free to attach up to two images that you would like to share. Images should be at least 1000 pixels in the longest dimension and in JPG format. Also, please include a caption for each image. If you would like to share more images, you may send an email to the same address and let us know how many images you would like to share so we can help you get them to us.
We also have some links of interest below.
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NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. |
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NOAO > Celebrating 50 Years—Kitt Peak National Observatory |
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