By Nicole Gleason/Arizona Sonora News A lot of astronomers start out as stargazing children whose curiosity for the cosmos is fueled by a key experience. For Carl Sagan, it was the 1939 New York World’s Fair, where he saw a flashlight shining on a photoelectric cell. For Neil deGrasse Tyson, it happened after he visited…
Kitt Peak National Observatory is receiving a two-year, $6.4 million transformation to save its historic solar telescope facility and renovate its aging visitor center. Built in 1962, the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope with its iconic V shape is about to be knocked out of first place as the world’s largest solar telescope. The government stopped funding…
Saturdays, for most people at the University of Arizona football stadium, focus on tailgating and touchdowns. But for some, the focus is on making the world’s largest and most advanced mirrors. The Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab, located on the stadium’s east wing, makes mirrors the size of swimming pools for the biggest telescopes in…
Beneath the east bleachers of Arizona Stadium, the most delicate and perfected mirror-making process takes place. The University of Arizona’s Richard F. Caris Mirror Laboratory is famous for building mirrors for some of the world’s most powerful telescopes. Engineers at the mirror lab are working on mirrors for the Giant Magellan Telescope; each mirror is…
The former astronomical hot spot of the world is finding itself in a battle to remain relevant. Kitt Peak National Observatory, located about 55 miles southwest of Tucson, was founded in 1958. It is on the Quinlan Mountains on the Tohono O’odham Nation reservation and is at an elevation of roughly 7,000 feet. Director of…
