Feb 20/16 Weather clear, sunny, high 85. Low 49. The weather is consistently sunny and clear. Ideal climate especially for the place we are riding to today.
We started with lunch at Todd's Restaurant on Ryan Airfield. What a unique setting, over 220 small aircraft based out of Ryan. Our booth sat right on the window while the many small planes came and went. Saturday morning seemed to be an active time for the airport.
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| our view for lunch,,, a real old time aircraft just coming in |
The
Kitt Peak National Observatory. From Tucson the astronomical observatory is about 55 miles west in the Quinlan Mountains/Sonoran Desert on Tohono O'odham Nation land.
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| approaching the summit of Kitt's Peak, you can see about 8 scopes |
The observatory is the largest most diverse gathering of astronomical instruments in the the world with 24 optical and two radio telescopes. In 1958 scientists chose Kitt Peak after a 3 year study of over 150 mountain ranges in the United States. It is leased from the Tohono O'odham Nation for as long as it is used for scientific research only. The list of Universities that use Kitt are a mile long, well at least big enough to fill this impressive sign.
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| 25 Universities listed in the Association to use Kitt |
We were able to take a guided tour around the top of the observatory area and our docent took us into the 4 meter Mayall telescope that is now funded by the US Department of Energy.
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| 4 meter mayall scope |
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument will chart out the role of dark energy in
the expansion history of the universe. To
carry out its mission, DESI will measure the red shifts of more than 30
million galaxies and quasars and create a map of the universe out to a
distance of 10 billion light years. Are you geeked out yet? The young fellow informed us of this and so much more. We are ready for the next episode of Big Bang!!!!!! excellent tour, oh and the ride up Kitt's Peak is 12 miles to hovering at 7000 feet, breathtaking views on the Harley:)
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