Kitt Peak National Observatory is about 7000 feet above sea level. I notice it occasionally, when I find myself inhaling deeply to get my oxygen-fix. I'm also doing a fair amount of walking, because I don't have a rental car and haven't been on exactly the same schedule as my fellow observers who do. Going from the telescope to the house is relatively easy, but coming back up I'm definitely winded. And my boss has been going for runs every day! I'm definitely out of shape... maybe I'll get into cross-country skiing this winter? We'll see.
Why do I have this much time to post pictures tonight? It's cloudy, and we can't even open the dome for fear of rain. So, enjoy!
The dome of the 2.1-meter telescope. To the right are some components of the coude-feed spectrograph (the rectangular shed and the sloping white tube). We had "the coude" the first few nights I was here, but I was only over there the first night.
The dome of the 0.9-meter (36-inch) telescope, where I've spent most of my time. Also, the Moon.
Looking back from afar at the 2.1-m/Coude (upper left) and 0.9-m (upper-right) telescopes, our tools for the week.
Looking down upon the Tohono O'odham Nation.
The visitor's center has its own telescope for the public! I think that's pretty cool.
More nice views towards the 4-meter.Don't want this to get too unwieldy, so I'll save the rest for later. If the weather stays as it is, that might be later tonight...
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