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Story & photos by Dennis Begin
‘Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries, That all started with the big bang!’ - Big Bang Sitcom Theme Song – Bare Naked Ladies
Not many RV friendly attractions can feature the origin of the universe (The Big Bang Theory) and the most popular TV sitcom on the planet (also called The Big Bang Theory), which are just two of the many reasons to visit Kitt Peak National Observatory.
The name Kitt originated with George Roskrupe, an early pioneer, who named the mountain peak after his sister, Philippa Kitt. The mountain, 96 km (60 mi) southwest of Tucson, on the Tohino O’Odham Indian Reservation, has a winding 20 km (12 mi) paved road to the top of the Quinlan Mountains. The last 609 m (2,000 ft) is very steep and not for the faint of heart. The elevation at the top is 2,096 m (6,883 ft), with a 360-degree view of the Sonoran Desert. There are 80 ha (200 ac) of telescopes with plenty of parking for cars, trucks and RV’s but it’s recommended that Class A and C models not attempt the trip up the mountainside. Turn off your cell phone, pack a picnic basket (no food services) and enjoy the day.
The first telescope on sight was built in 1958 and has expanded to include twenty-five optical and two radio telescopes. It is the largest collection of optical telescopes in the world. The most impressive telescopes are the Mayall 4-metre [158 inches] telescope, the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope and the McMath-Pierce Solar 1.6-metre telescope, which is the largest solar telescope in the world. These three telescopes are open to the public only during the day. Exploring the telescopes, don’t imagine a mad scientist looking through a long tube, as modern reflecting telescopes look more like a big donut connected to digital cameras and multiple computers.
Kitt Peak is part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) based in Tucson. The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) represents 25 universities that are responsible for daily operations. Over the course of a year, more than five hundred scientists spend time on Kitt Peak researching “…what is out there in space”.
Notable achievements include gaining insight into the structure of the universe, measuring cosmic distances by studying supernovae (star explosions) and high redshift galaxies that are millions of light years away. Other contributions include the study of dark matter, black holes, nebulae and star formations.
Non-scientists, such as myself, using these telescopes can see double stars, star clusters, the milky way, all eight planets, other galaxies and of course, a close-up of the moon… a mere 383,023 km (238,000 mi) from earth.
The KPNO, including the Visitor Gallery, Visitor Center and Museum/Gift Shop, is open 362 days a year. Guided Tours are $7.00 a person and take over an hour, but the public is free to conduct their own self-guided tour. Plan on spending the entire day as the three-guided tours only deal with the three largest telescopes. Prior to the visit, it is recommended that the web site be checked for information about the weather at 2100 m (7,000 ft). As the telescopes are not used during daylight hours, other than viewing the sun, the Observatory does offer Nightly Observing Programs (NOP) for both the novice and amateur astronomers, but reservations should be made well in advance. Highway 86 to Kitt Peak includes a U.S. Border Checkpoint, so passports are required. For more information, the KPNO can be contacted at 520-318-8000 or www.noao.edu/kpno/
Astronomers will continue to explore the mysteries of our universe for scientific and philosophical answers. As to the undisputed proof of the Big Bang Theory, even the famous sitcoms genius, Sheldon Cooper, has not found all the answers.
The Sitcom
In 2007, CBS aired a new sitcom, which is now into its eighth season and in 2014 won an Emmy Award as the Best Comedy Series on television. The show draws 23.4 million viewers weekly and Jim Parsons has won the Best Actor Award for the past four years. The original show centred around four young geeks, two of which are physicists (Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper), an aerospace engineer (Howard Wolowitz) and an astrophysicist (Raj Koothrappali). These principal characters are colleagues and friends doing research at Caltech in Pasadena, California. The characters exemplify the nerd stereotype with their obsessive interest in science fiction, action comic books, board games and their socially challenged behavior around women. Penny, a waitress/actress, often upstages the men, with her Masters degree in common sense, relationships, and sarcasm. Her lack of education provides a real-life comic contrast to the scientists’ behavior. Over the years, the show has expanded its characters but not the original storyline. Despite being nerds, the main characters, in some episodes, reveal interesting scientific information about the possible origin of our universe and the Big Bang Theory.
The Theory
The Big Bang Theory states that our universe started at an infinitesimal point called a ‘singularity’ (single point). Prior to this starting point, nothing existed - not space, matter, energy or time. Albert Einstein in 1916 opened the debate about our universe with his Theory of Relativity and his Theory of Gravitation. George Lemaitre further developed the work of Einstein into the Big Bang Theory in 1927. Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking has extended Einstein’s Theory of Relatively to measure time and space, concluding our universe had to have a beginning and is still expanding to infinity and beyond. As a result, Stephen Hawking is often called the man who invented time. More recently in 2014, the BICEP2 Project at the South Pole appears to confirm the Big Bang Theory with new evidence of gravitational waves or ripples in space.
To watch a video about the Kitt Peak National Observatory, click here.