Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2024

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2024 inception. Established in 1964, KPVC is one of the world’s oldest visitor experiences in a research observa- tory. But before becoming an estab- lished outreach center with multiple programs, KPVC started as an unas- suming section in the lobby of the KPNO 2.1-meter telescope. The cen- ter displayed educational posters and sold baskets and other native crafts made by Tohono O’odham Na- tion members. Selling native crafts A lthough this appears to be a daytime scene, star trails circle and illuminate the night sky in this long-exposure photo of Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. The telescope visible at the highest peak is the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope and almost directly above it, at the center of the concentric star trails, sits the North Star, Polaris. As the Earth turns and the stars appear to move through the sky, Polaris remains stationary at the north celestial pole, our planet’s axis of rotation. The lights of Tucson, Arizona, glow yellow on the horizon about 89 kilometers (55 miles) to the northeast. The NOIRLab citizen science campaign Globe at Night enables stargazers of all ages to help monitor their city’s light pollution no matter where they are in the world. [KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA] K itt Peak Visitor Cen- ter Operations Manager Peter McMahon gives a media briefing at the celebration of the Visitor Center’s 60 th anniversary on 27 September 2024. [NOIR- Lab/NSF/AURA/ R. Sparks]