We have a few more pictures and anecdotes to share from our trip to Kitt Peak. After a productive Thursday night of observing, we drove to the 2.5 – m telescope around 2 AM to meet John Thorstensen, a Haverford alumnus who is a professor at Dartmouth. On Friday morning, we drove into Tucson for lunch and a trip to the Tucson Desert Museum. I highly recommend visiting this museum; much of it is outdoors, and it hosts a myriad of local animals and plant life.
Here we are at the Tucson Desert Museum,
And here is one of the friends we made there. After touring the desert and returning to Kitt Peak for another night of observing, we toured the 4 – m telescope. We walked out of the control room and into the dome just as a group of tourists came up the stairs; they thought we were resident scientists!
A few people in the tour group asked for Jonathan’s autograph; this was definitely a highlight of the trip.
We miss Kitt Peak already. Expect more posts soon about our observing experiences and the undergrad astronomy experience.
NSF AST-1151462, the Boughn-Gollub-Partridge Fund, the KINSC, and the Green Fund provide support for our student trips to observatories.