Loading...
Skip to Content

Sunset over Kitt Peak National Observatory

Jan. 1, 2020

Credit:

KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R.T. Sparks

Every year around the winter solstice, the Sun appears to set behind Kitt Peak National Observatory as seen from Mount Lemmon almost 100 km (60 miles) away. Local photographers meet every year around the holidays to capture photos and videos of this interesting alignment. For a brief time, you can see many of the Kitt Peak telescopes, from the distinctive McMath-Pierce Solar telescope (left) to the large dome of the Mayall 4-meter telescope (right). The still image depicts the silhouettes of the telescopes with a green segment above the Sun and was taken on 17 December 2016. The video was captured on 20 December 2019.

Links

About the Image

Id: iotw2001a
Type: Photographic

About the Object

Name: McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope

Image Formats

Original
28.2 MB
Large
346.3 KB
Medium
2.0 MB
Small
50.9 KB

Zoomable

View more