The Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope , also known as the Mayall 4-meter Telescope , is a four-meter (158 inches) reflector telescope located at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona and named after Nicholas U. Mayall . It saw first light on February 27, 1973, and was the second-largest telescope in the world at that time. Initial observers included David Crawford , Nicholas Mayall, and Arthur Hoag . It was dedicated on June 20, 1973 after Mayall's retirement as director. The mirror has an f/2.7 hyperboloidal shape. It is made from a two-foot (61 cm (24 in)) thick fused quartz disk that is supported in an advanced-design mirror cell. The prime focus has a field of view six times larger than that of the Hale reflector . It is host to the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument . The identical Víctor M. Blanco Telescope was later built at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory , in Chile .
21-626: KPNO may refer to: Kitt Peak National Observatory , astronomical observatory in Arizona KPNO (FM) , a Christian radio station in Norfolk, Nebraska, repeating the signal from KGRD in Orchard, Nebraska K-Pop Night Out at SXSW, original name of Korea Spotlight , an annual concert of South Korean artists held in the United States Topics referred to by
42-576: A moon of Saturn noted for its thick atmosphere. The Mayall was also one of several large telescopes that was part of a study of the Andromeda galaxy . The observations helped understand the history of that galaxy , which in turn helps understand Earth's galaxy, the Milky Way . The Mayall was the second-largest telescope when inaugurated, between the Hale (5 m) and Shane (3 m). Largest telescopes 1973: Here
63-532: A much cooler and wetter climate throughout the year than most of the Sonoran Desert . Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope In 1961, after work had moved forward on other telescopes, Mayall proposed an even larger 150-inch mirror telescope for Kitt Peak. Site construction began in 1968 and by 1971 the mirror was delivered to the site. The mirror was made by Owens-Illinois and made of fused quartz , valued for its low coefficient of thermal expansion . The blank
84-645: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Kitt Peak National Observatory The Kitt Peak National Observatory ( KPNO ) is a United States astronomical observatory located on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona - Sonoran Desert on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation , 88 kilometers (55 mi) west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona . With more than twenty optical and two radio telescopes, it
105-583: Is one of the largest gatherings of astronomical instruments in the Earth's northern hemisphere. Kitt Peak National Observatory was founded in 1958. It is home to what was the largest solar telescope in the world, and many large astronomical telescopes of the late 20th century in the United States. The observatory was administered by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) from
126-846: The National Solar Observatory facilities at Kitt Peak and Sacramento Peak , New Mexico ; and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile . The observatory sites are under lease from the Tohono O'odham Nation at the amount of a quarter dollar per acre yearly, which was overwhelmingly approved by the Council in the 1950s. In 2005, the Tohono O'odham Nation brought suit against the National Science Foundation to stop further construction of gamma ray detectors in
147-513: The expansion history of the universe and the mysterious physics of dark energy . The Kitt Peak National Observatory of the United States was dedicated on March 16, 1960. At the dedication a 36-inch telescope and various facilities were ready. Construction was underway for the then planned 84 inch telescope. (i.e. the KPNO 2.1 meter) The 84 inch (2.1 m) had its first light in September 1964. Over
168-592: The CTIO 4-m telescope in the southern hemisphere. Mosaic3 was an imaging camera for the Mayall telescope. This prime focus camera was used for a 3-band survey in support of the upcoming DESI instrument. One instrument used with telescope was the Fourier Transform Spectrograph. The FTS was used between 1975 and 1995, creating an archive of recorded spectra . It was noted for collecting infrared spectrum before
189-628: The Gardens of the Sacred Tohono O'odham Spirit I'itoi, which are just below the summit. The largest optical instruments at KPNO are the Mayall 4 meter telescope and the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope ; there are also several two- and one-meter class telescopes. The McMath–Pierce solar telescope was for many decades the largest solar telescope in the world and the largest unobstructed reflector (no secondary mirror in
210-602: The Universe Center for Astronomy Outreach. In 1976 the Mayall Telescope was used to discover methane ice on Pluto . The 90 cm Spacewatch telescope was used to discover the Kuiper belt body, 20000 Varuna in the year 2000. This was discovered by an astronomer noticing the slow moving object in a blink comparison. Due to its high elevation, the observatory experiences a subtropical highland climate ( Cfb ) with
231-542: The advent of infrared imaging arrays. Over the time of its operation 10,000 spectra were taken of 800 different astronomical targets, and these were made available in the SpArc data archive in the early 21st century. An instrument designed to help understand dark energy , installation of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) was completed in late 2019. Very little is known about dark energy,
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#1732851421025252-457: The decades the mountaintop hosted many telescopes, and achieved a variety of discoveries. Some examples of astronomical research KPNO contributed to include the study of dark matter , cosmic distances , high-redshift galaxies, and the Boötes Void . In addition, the observatory has engaged in variety of public outreach and education programs. In 2018, KPNO established plans for its Windows on
273-504: The early 1980s until 2019, after which it was overseen by NOIRLab . In June 2022, the Contreras Fire led to the evacuation of Kitt Peak. The fire reached the summit at 2 a.m. on Friday, June 17. Four non-scientific buildings, including a dormitory, were lost in the fire. As of Monday, June 20, the extent of damage to the telescopes is still being assessed. Kitt Peak was selected by its first director, Aden B. Meinel , in 1958 as
294-443: The path of incoming light). The ARO 12m Radio Telescope is also at the location. Kitt Peak is famous for hosting the first telescope (an old 91 cm reflector) used to search for near-Earth asteroids , and calculating the probability of an impact with planet Earth . Kitt Peak hosts an array of programs for the public to take part in, including: Kitt Peak's Southeastern Association for Research and Astronomy (SARA) Telescope
315-453: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title KPNO . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=KPNO&oldid=1018813432 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Broadcast call sign disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
336-645: The site for a national observatory under contract with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and was administered by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy . The land was leased from the Tohono Oʼodham under a perpetual agreement. The second director (1960 to 1971) was Nicholas U. Mayall . In 1982, NOAO was formed to consolidate the management of three optical observatories — Kitt Peak;
357-400: The supposed pressure responsible for the accelerating expansion rate of the universe. DESI has five thousand fiber optic sensors, each one being robotically targetable at the focal plane. Planned to examine the nature of millions of galaxies and quasars, the instrument has been a decade in construction and features contributions from hundreds of researchers. The telescope control software
378-536: The world. The telescope was named after Mayall who was the director of Kitt Peak National Observatory for over a decade. Examples of instruments over its lifetime include various spectrographs, Cryogenic Camera, the Phoenix spectrometer, and the DLIRIM. The KNPO Mosaic camera was installed in 1998, and was designed for the prime focus. This camera had eight 2048 × 4096 CCD sensors. This led to another camera Mosaic II for
399-556: Was also upgraded in the 2010s to prepare for DESI. DESI achieved first light in 2019 and was commissioned in March of 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, full operations have been delayed until mid-2021. In 1976 the Mayall Telescope was used to discover methane ice on planet Pluto . The FTS on Mayall was also used to study methane in the outer solar system in the 1980s. The study included observation of monodeutered methane on Titan ,
420-533: Was featured in the WIPB-PBS documentary, "Seeing Stars in Indiana". The project followed SARA astronomers from Ball State University to the observatory and featured time-lapse images from various points around Kitt Peak. A major project started in the 2010s is the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) for the 4-meter Mayall telescope, for conducting spectrographic astronomical surveys of distant galaxies probing
441-461: Was ground at the Kitt Peak optical lab. The telescope primary mirror is designed to function as the first element in a Ritchey–Chrétien optical design. The telescope was originally designed with three focal point options: the prime focus, a wide-field R/C focus, and a coudé focus . The telescope was dedicated in the summer of 1973, at which time it was the second largest telescope by aperture in
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