Whenever I travel, I seek out observatories to visit. This seems like an
appropriate place to share my experiences.
Kitt Peak National Observatory
The
"star" of Kitt Peak (no pun intended) is the 4-Meter
telescope.
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Kitt Peak is our "home" observatory. Just
outside Tucson, Arizona, we can reach Kitt peak in a little over an
hour. We've been there a number of times, and I learn more each trip.
The
photo at right (taken from inside the 4-meter observatory building)
shows the scale of the Kitt Peak facility. There are instruments of all
sizes for a variety of applications, including a radio telesope and a
solar telescope.
Kitt
Peak Website |
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National Radio Astronomy Observatory |
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory "Very Large Array"
(VLA) was featured in the movie "Contact".
Located just west of Socorro, NM, this is definitely worth the trip for
an astronomy fan.
The VLA consists of 27 dishes, or antennas, 9
on each arm in a "Y"-shaped arrangement. |
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| The array can "zoom" in and out on a radio source by
moving the antennas into one of four configurations (close together or
further apart) along the arms of the "Y". The 235 ton antennas
are moved along two parallel sets of railroad tracks with the
transporter shown in the picture. It takes about a week to reconfigure
the entire array. |
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| A 28th antenna is kept as a spare in this shelter / maintenance
shed. |
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I thought I might get into radio astronomy, so I checked with my
telescope store. Unfortunately, he did not have any 82-foot dishes in
stock. Oh well, my neighbors probably would not have liked it anyhow.
For
an idea of the size, notice the people at the bottom of the picture.
VLA
Website |
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