Some photos of Tucson attractions before going into Mexico

We've been here in Lo de Marcos since last Thursday, November 17.  We spent some time in Tucson exploring the area and some of the great places to visit.  We went to Biosphere 2, Kitt Peak Observatory,  the Reid Park Zoo and San Xavier Mission.


You can find information on Kitt Peak Observatory and Biosphere 2 on the net so I am just going to give you a camera's view of all of these attractions.

It was a windy day

Path down to the facility

The different climate zones are housed in this huge framework

This area represents the oceans and has a viewing station underneath

This is one of two 'lungs' that are used as life support for the  scientists who lived here in the '90's

Inside the Lung

Outside in the fresh air again

The area is outstanding; high desert and cannot be seen from the highway.  Worth a trip for a guided tour.


Now, some photos of Kitt Peak Observatory which is west of Tucson off of the Old Ajo Highway.  It is on native reservation land and is 12,000 feet above sea level.  The view from up here is truly outstanding and Tucson can be seen on a good, clear day.  Our son and his partner had come up here the winter before and warned us to wear warm clothes.  Good thing we did; as we rounded the last corner to the entrance there was icy snow on the road.  We had a docent (guide) give us a talk about the origin of the Observatory before we went to see some of the telescopes.  We came back from viewing the solar telescope and had another docent give a small talk before taking us to one of the over 20 telescopes in operation at Kitt Peak.  If you want to experience the night sky be prepared to pay big bucks for this experience.  

Kitt Peak 4m telescope seen from as far away as Tucson

Yes, there was snow and it was very cool

A nice view from the solar telescope site
  

The Solar telescope (yes it is)

Inside the viewing room of the 2m telescope

The large white turret is the 4m telescope

Yes folks they have a solar telescope and it is a very interesting huge piece of machinery and mirrors.  After viewing the inside of the solar scope we walked out and around to a small round building that housed the camera that received the images from the sun.  I saw spots, and for a moment thought it was just the floaters in my eyes but I was assured that yes those were sunspots and there was a solar flare happening as I watched through the camera.  The sun is right now at the top of the solar activity cycle, which may or may not account for strange blips on your TV and interference with other communication devices. 


 I would like to point out that Kitt Peak is a teaching observatory and that it is open for the public to use.  If you have something you want to study, you have to submit an abstract with your intentions, etc. and hopefully they will find a telescope that you can use.  One famous amateur actually discovered a comet up here at the Observatory.  His last name was Levy.


I'm going to sign out now, but I'll be back tomorrow with the trip to the zoo photos in another blog.