Sunset at Kitt Peak

Credit:

KPNO/NOIRLab/AURA/NSF/P. Marenfeld

At Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), a Program of NSF NOIRLab located near Tucson, Arizona, it’s unusual to have a cloudy night like this Image of the Week. The high desert climate and mountaintop location make it a great environment for world-class scientific research. The 19 research telescopes on the peak experience over 300 clear nights a year, allowing near year-round observing opportunities. This is great for the many exciting projects at KPNO. For example, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), led by the US Department of Energy, is acquiring the spectra of tens of millions of galaxies and quasars to construct a 3D map that will reveal the effects of dark energy in the Universe. Another instrument, NEID, funded by the joint NASA/NSF Exoplanet Exploration Program, is designed to measure the motion of nearby stars with extreme precision with the WIYN 3.5-meter Telescope.

This aerial image was taken before the 2022 Contreras Fire, which affected KPNO. Read more here.