"Mars 'aint the kind of place to raise your kids." But, Kitt Peak National Observatory is the kind of place you want to take someone who is a kid at heart to. (*I know, I know...I just broke the rule about not finishing a sentence with a preposition, and it sounded a bit awkward. My bad. I'll try to write more-gooder from now on.) Captain's Log: Star date May 1st, 2026. The entire crew of the Star ship, "Wait for the Western Wind*" thoroughly enjoyed the experience. (*That's is the name that I christened to the van that we rented) We have now returned safely to home base, and our journey of exploration can only be described as a success. All mission-objectives have been achieved...the goals of having fun, joining together for a little family camaraderie, and fulfilling a quest for knowledge were all clearly met. Sadly, I must report that I did fail at one of the mission's intended targets...that being: my finding a way to work-in a joke about the 7th planet from the G2V star located in the Arm of Orion, in the "Via Lactea" (latin for Milky Way) galaxy. As I get older, I have found that discretion, indeed, is the better part of valor. So, when our guide (Sam--who was wonderful) asked the group that she was leading if there was anything that we hoped to see that night, I pulled my hand back down quickly... realizing, at that moment, that a joke about "Uranus" would most-likely, "land" like the 1967 Apollo 1 tragedy. The carbon-based humanoid life forms that inhabit the rocky crevices of I'oligam Du'ag possess advanced intelligence. As they spoke about the numerous telescopes, history of the area, and shared their deep knowledge of the wonders of space, they all exhibited kindness and patience, as well as a passionate enthusiasm for the work being done there. I also observed, on a number of well-timed occasions, that they were prone to "launching" some corny paternal-space-exploration humor. The one about being careful to not put Saturn in a bathtub--because it might leave a ring...(Ha!) that one would cause a, "super-nova of laughter" from here to Andromeda (M31): "Ground control to Major Tom". Here are two bits of advice to fellow travelers who might choose to boldly go where no human (in your family) has gone before (to the Kitt Peak Observatory)... Dress warmly and maybe bring a blanket. It was a balmy day in Tucson, but at 6,880 ft up, you will find yourself beneath the night sky of the exposed high desert and quick drops in temperatures happen as the Jackson Pollack-painted sky comes to light. Secondly, don't be like the guy who, as the night was wrapping up, got into his car, turned on his car lights, and pulled away from the presentation prematurely. What a, "back side of a black hole" move! There are easy-to-follow guidelines that have been set up to protect the experiments from white lights. If we all show a little cooperation, we all succeed. That kind of behavior is not to be tolerated, so we all agreed that the laser-guided missile launch that followed was completely justified. (I'm kidding!--we just watched as he drove away and his tail lights disappeared on the horizon--wondering to ourselves, "What kind of parents raise a person like that?") I will now close by putting our experience into a, summarized "capsule": "It was was a 'blast'!" The night indeed, was very memorable and enjoyable-- on many levels. And, I am glad that we signed on for the mission. So...fellow Earth beings, Take your protein pills and put your helmet on (Ten) Ground Control (Nine) to Major Tom (Eight, seven) (Six) Commencing (Five) countdown, engines on (Four, three, two) Check ignition (One) and may God's love (Lift off) be with you Oh, one final shout out. Back in the late 1950's, the Tohono O'odham Nation, (meaning "Desert People,") graciously allowed for the construction and use of the observatory on one of their most-treasured and sacred mountains. This should be acknowledged and respectfully appreciated as one travels there. read more

Kitt Peak National Observatory - Patrons moving into one of the sky gazing telescope rooms. According to legend, Buzz Aldrin slept here as NASA readied him for space. - Observatories Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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If you live in Arizona or are visiting, Kitt Peak is a must do at least once. The science and astronomy community we have here are doing great things! It was fascinating to hear about the history of Kitt Peak and the contributions Arizona has made. The telescopes are huge and amazing to see up close and the docents that lead the tours are all extremely knowledgeable. read more

Absolutely one of the BEST experiences here ! Took my family and it was worth every penny . The staff was above and beyond ! It was in fact very cold up there so listen to all the staff members recommendations . They were even able to accommodate my vegan dietary needs as well . Learned so much ! read more

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Fantastic visit! Did the Night Observation Program, with my twin 13 year old grandsons. Cloudy night so we did lots of discussion and exhibit reviews then the sky cleared and we got to look thru one of the telescopes for at least an hour. Mind blowing views with great explanations. One of the coolest things we did living in Tucson. Great staff. read more

Toured the solar telescope today with Sean and Robert. The tour was AWESOME and so were Sean and Robert. Thank you Kitt Peak and docents!!!

Kitt Peak is just over an hour from downtown Tucson on Tohono O'odham Nation land. The drive up to the observatory is breathtaking. There are a few unofficial spots you can pull over and view the area for many, many miles. There isn't any food at the top but you can buy some premade sandwiches and a drink at the visitors center. There are public bathrooms at the top too. If you bring your own food for a picnic, note that the official picnic area, which is about a mile before reaching the visitor center, is closed and has been for the two times I went up in 2024 which were spread out. I suspect it's permanently closed. There are a couple of picnic tables in the parking lot of the visitors center. There is also plenty of parking. You cannot actually see any of 3 options they offer to the public without a ticket. The my ate the 4m, 2.1m, and solar telescope. The other telescopes are not for public viewing. It is best to order the tickets online a day or two ahead. I would not drive all the way there and try to buy them as you risk wasting your time driving and the tours frequently sell out. You can visit the little museum and gift shop for free and there is a little shed with a telescope tracking the sun that you can view for free. You cannot walk the property on your own. You need a tour guide. The tours are informative and you get to go inside and see the telescope from a distance. It's really quite cool if you think about it. You don't get to look through the telescope. There is a night program and another expensive option at night if you want to look through a telescope. I've seen the 2.1m KPNO and the McMath-Pierce Solar telescopes. Tours are $20 for each tour per person + service charge of $1.50. They last about 90 min and you walk about 1/2 mile. The McMath Pierce solar telescope is no longer in use since 2012. It is being transformed into an education center. read more

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I went with my brother, his wife and sister on Saturday 4/11/26. It was a amazing experience. The only problem was our tour guide. Her name was Marsha. My brother has a hard time walking. I was talking to another guide and a man that works there. They said they could take us in the van. Which was perfect. Marsha made such a big deal out of us riding in van, that it was interrupting her tour. She made 3 or more comments to the group of people about him being in the van. It made my brother feel self conscious and bad. The guy that drove us told us not to worry about her. But the observatory is great. Thank you Mary Jo Faber read more

Disorganized, disappointing and unprofessional..... I would still recommend others come here! We had spent at least an hour leading up to our visit, talking, emailing and arranging transportation for two disabled adults with partial walking limitations with Vanessa and others. We were then told just two days before the event, that we'd be in a special small group of only 6-8 participants which would allow us to enjoy even more time at the telescope. This seemed great. Upon arrival we found the four adults were split into two different groups despite my inquiry at check in. When our friends checked in after us they learned they were in a different group without us. Then came discussions with many staff members seemingly being involved. 'Don't worry, we'll get it fixed'. So we picked up our pathetic single slice of turkey plus single slice of cheese and lettuce on a poorly cut croissant and began eating as instructed. Then the head honcho came over and asked the four of us to please step outside with him, despite that the presentation had begun and we were clearly eating. Balancing half eaten plates of food, walking canes and jackets we assembled before him outside to be told, we've put you in the same group! Here are new badges for two of you! Why he had to drag us out to accomplish that was not only disruptive to us eating but unnecessarily had the disabled participants join his assembly. Then we learned that our small group was now 15 participants, the largest of the night! It was so large that extra chairs had to be brought up to the inferior smaller telescope viewing area which resulted in markedly less telescope time per person. Our perky guide Sam has advanced degrees and military experience in Cyber Security! Ain't that great! I came for a Sky Show led by an astronomer- not to learn about her torn hip muscle while running in Afghanistan, husband in the service, Belmont NY childhood and other important things which dominated our telescope discussion time. Of the 8 things she pointed the telescope at, only Jupiter looked substantially interesting. Others in our group also remarked they were unable to appreciate blue halos and many features we'd have loved to learn about and seen. One guest decided to tell us all She Knew about the Universe and had a remark for each thing the guide began talking about. A good guide would have deftly redirected the conversation to enlighten us or at least involve the other guests. We've been to a few similar night Sky Shows and compared to, for example, Bend Oregon's evening this was run by amateurs. Someone with a skill set in hospitality should advise these folks asap. I am glad that my $200 went primarily to support these types of programs for scientific research as it certainly wasn't spent on food! It still went to a good cause. We are not interested in a refund at all.... I'm certain our experience was not the norm..... just disappointing that we drove from Scottsdale, spent the night here in a hotel to see few shooting stars, a dozen satellites and Jupiter in a show overseen by amateurs. read more

Someone left the gate open and i snuck in about 10pm. Wayyyy colder than tucson by like 20°!! Once on top the clouds opened up and the milky way was shining like this Florida boy has never seen!! It was amazing, jaw dropping beauty of the heavens. I can only imagine how cool the telescopes are on the night tour. No pictures just the memory of that night sky. You gotta see it for yourself! read more

Cool place to see. It's a bit of a drive from Tucson like 54 miles one way, but it's a nice drive. It took over an hour to drive to the top via Gates Pass. See Kitt Peak National Observatory with it's over 20 telescopes and take your time and truly enjoy the drive up there. You can see beautiful mountains all around for miles and miles when you get to the top at over 6800 feet elevation. It's a bit windy and much colder up there then Tucson so be prepared for that. Fantastic panoramic views! Pictures don't do justice compared to what you will see with your own eyes! Great day trip! read more

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Great day or night! We had the three-telescope tour and got to see the solar, 2.1m. and 4m scopes. Guides are super friendly and knowledgeable, keeping a good pace for the waking tour and answering lots of questions. Night observation was the absolute best, though. Cold and windy, but the guides again are very clearly loving the events and showed us great sights on a clear night. Be sure to book ahead for the night tours - and if theyre full check day-of before noon and before 1pm. Beautiful sunset views and stunning night skies. read more

The tour started off ok. Finding out about the various telescopes and seeing the sunset was cool. They rotate the groups through three stations. The first group we rotated through with the SeeStar was very cool. Things went downhill after that. The next activity with Sadie was looking at stars through binoculars. The worst and biggest disappointment was the BIG telescope. This was the type of telescope we were hoping to see things like Jupiter up close in detail. We did happen to see Jupiter up close but Lucas then for some reason thought it was a great idea to try to find super-distant objects that hid behind clouds. So even when we could see the object for a second before they rotated out of sight we were basically squinting to see a few white tiny pixels. Nothing like the stripes of Jupiter or something you'd expect to see with a huge high-powered telescope. Plus, Lucas was not a particularly tall guy and he had the telescope set for his height which meant I had to crouch down to see. He should have had it set higher up and let people use the step stool that was right there if necessary. Finally, my daughter who is more of an astronomy enthusiast agrees with me about this tour. We were a party of 3 so it cost us around $250. It was maybe worth $100. Very disappointing considering the other reviews. Maybe we just had two dud tour guides in Sadie and Lucas. read more

We bought the night sky tickets and happened to luck out with a very clear night. It took us 100 minutes to drive from Catalina foothills. Our tour guide, Vince, was knowledgeable, entertaining, charismatic, and overall the highlight of our evening. There were at least 30 cars of people - we split into two groups. We all watched the sunset together, and Vince explained Sky Glow and the belt of Venus. The telescope experience was amazing - we looked at Jupiter, the moon, and a galaxy, I forget which one. The binoculars segment was less memorable. Note that the program goes until 10 PM which makes for a very long night. I highly recommend for amateurs or experts. So many fun facts presented in an easy to understand format. read more

An absolute must visit for any self-proclaimed astronerd! Some the darkest, clearest skies and great telescopes! You have to make reservations for the special viewing nights, but it is well worth the wait, the price, and the drive! Go a couple of hours before your scheduled time to thoroughly explore the area and the grounds. They have great interactive exhibits and a museum plus a great gift shop. The tour starts at twilight and we were treated to the most gorgeous band of Venus I've ever seen! The delineation of the hues and the curve were just spectacular! The tour is super informative, so whether your a novice or a seasoned space geek, you will learn and most likely see something new. We lucked out with a crystal clear night & no moon, so everything was vibrant, bright, and the images in the scopes crisp, as well as for the blind eye. It was such an incredible experience! The tour and our guide were exemplary and the staff in the visitor center were so nice and will answer any questions you could possibly have! My companion for my visit here is not as into astronomy as I am and they are not easily excitable as they have lived a very exciting and adventurous existence...so when the highlight that actually got a squee out of them was driving down the mountain w/no headlights guided by the ranger truck, I knew it was something special! Whether you live in or near Tucson or visiting AZ, this place has got to be on your hit list! read more

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Beautiful drive to the Visitors' Center. Interesting and informative displays in the Center. We were on Kitt Peak twice in two weeks. The second time we enjoyed interactive presentations under the now-retired solar telescope by two excellent volunteers. A must-do Arizona excursion. read more

i was very excited to experience the Night Sky Program on December 28, 2024. The cloud cover did not clear enough for us to have the regular program and we were given an alternate program instead. Disappointing but you can't control the weather. What could have been controlled was the number of attendees that were signed up. 40-45 people were there which resulted in a LOT of standing around and waiting for small groups (11) to climb to the roof of a building to see Venus through a telescope. About 15 seconds per person. Then waiting for everyone to follow that routine and then repeat it to see Jupiter, and the Saturn. We were then transported by van to another presentation in another building. The problem was the van only held 12 people plus 2 docents. More waiting for everyone to arrive and then the same process and waiting to be transported back to our cars. Poorly planned and managed. We can get a "refund" in the form of a future ticket for the same program. I'm thinking....No read more

This rating is for the lady who answered our call- she is friendly, accommodating and gave an excellent recommendation on other place to visit. Unfortunately, the observatory is closed (June 2023) and undergoing repairs/rehabilitation, tentatively opening mid-summer. Just want to post this review for tourist/families who are planning to visit. read more

Went here with the family on a beautiful winter day. We took the first tour of the day (solar telescope). We were lucky and it was in operation for some scientist. Kind of cool that you get to go inside a working telescope. The views from up top are incredible. We got super lucky and they had a couple of small solar telescopes available and we got to actually view the surface of the sun and see sunspots and other solar features. The docents are know their stuff and are happy to pass on their knowledge. I'd be curious about the night tour and the view at night away from the city lights, but that wasn't in the cards this time. read more

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Get your science on! Kitt Peak National Observatory is a great place for learners of all ages. The first time my partner and I went was before we moved to Arizona. The night was cloudy, but no one called to cancel, and everyone with reservations showed up. The guide asked why we all came, and most of us stated that we were heading back home in the next day or two. While we ate our box dinner, the guide made some quick phone calls and got us a tour of one of the radio telescopes on the mountain. This is not on the normal program, but the operator had a good time showing us how it worked and answering questions. Recently, we trekked to Kitt Peak again for a clear and moonless night. The group was split in half for viewing, and we had a vivacious, knowledgeable student to guide us. We were able to check out 4 different objects with the telescope and 5 more with binoculars. We heard that the other group didn't get to see as much at the telescope, but I'm sure what you see is dependent on the guide and who is in the group. This is a place we'll visit again, and a definite stop for out of town guests. read more

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This place says it's open online and in google maps. Be assured, do not waste over an hour out of your day one way to go there. They're closed. They need to update the website and google. read more

My wife and I went to Kitt Peak for the Nightly Observing Program on Halloween, and it was great. Charles is extraordinarily passionate and a fantastic presenter and speaker. One of my favorite things to see is a presenter who is genuinely interested in the things they're talking about, their enthusiasm is infectious and it makes everything that much better. Freddie was great too, and was able to guide us in the use of the telescope, though I wouldn't have wanted the group size to be any larger. Next time we're back in town we'll definitely try to do the Dark Sky Discovery program! read more

A world class slice of astronomy that will last a lifetime as you look up at the stars. We had made reservations for the nite tour - the only correct way to visit this place in my opinion, stars are meant to be viewed in the darkness of nite - the darker the better. Kitt Peak had about 28 working observatories - each owned by a different group of universities or foundations, we got to look thru three of them. We had viewed the moon, Mars, Venus, Saturn, Mercury, the Orion Constellation, The Big and little Dippers, and numerous other unbelieveable star systems. I now know how to read a star chart and plot the stars. Do dress warm (cold and windy) - none of the observatories are heated so as not to affect the telescopes. The visitor center is very comfortable and full of displays and a good film. The tour guides are very very good - space junkies. There is no food other then a simple boxed lunch supplied with the tour. The mountain top is in total darkness and walkways are lite up only in red lights, this prevents any potential problems for the sensitive telescopes. When you leave, you caravan behind a Kitt Peak tour guide with your lights OFF or covered up until you reach a mile below the top. The best nights are when a full moon is NOT present !! (Easier to see) What a great experience. read more

Great day-trip when visiting the Tucson area! You'll need to devote a good portion of your day for this trip, but it's completely worth it. The drive out to Kitt Peak takes you through some beautiful Sonoran Desert scenery and it's just gets gets better as you climb to the top of Kitt Peak. Seriously, the drive alone is worth coming out here. Once you reach the observatory you'll find a very informative visitors center as well as a gift shop with numerous Kitt Peak and Astronomy related merchandise. You can take a guided tour or grab a map and show yourself around the facility. Tours are free and well worth the time. The guides were very knowledgeable and were obviously very passionate about Kitt Peak and all the research that is being conducted there. Best Tips- Take your time! You'll want to stop at many of the pull-offs to take in the beautiful views of the Sonoran Desert. Also- Bring a light jacket, at the very least. Temperatures up there are usually ~20 deg. cooler than down on the desert floor. read more

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Wow. What can I say. Extremely informative, super cool people, and what an amazing night. We signed up for the Nightly Observing and we got to use a real astronomy telescope. Got to see with my own eyes Jupiter, Saturn, and the moon. Just absolutely beautiful. We also learned how to star chart and how to use a planiscope and binoculars. Not to mention they bring you up to one of the hills and let you watch the sunset. Breathtaking. 10/10, would definitely recommend. read more

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About an hour and a half or so away from Tucson and the home of the most number of research telescopes in the entire world. So cool. The nightly program was actually quite lengthy as we didn't leave until nearly 11 pm, but we were able to look at a number of objects through the telescope, use the binoculars, and maybe the coolest part of it was catching the unbelievable moon rise (which I have never witnessed before in my life). Worth the trip! read more

We did the Night Program and found it very informative and fun. The weather was not great(some clouds and pretty cold), but the guides still made it a good experience. We saw Saturn, Venus and the Moon through high powered telescopes and learned a lot about the night sky. read more

So went on a ride today with the pop's to Kitt Peak. Once you turn onto the road (386 I believe) the views get better and better. Once you are up there, at least in my experience, there was not much to do or see. They did offer one tour that would walk you around the park, but I could not find anything about actually seeing the insides of any of their telescopes. It was really dead up there, only saw one other person, and one guy that looked like he worked there. Basically do it once, see the view, and probably not go back again kind of trip. read more

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Wow! This attraction is not only educational and entertaining, it's awe inspiring to say the least! This magnificent observatory gives both wannabe astronomers and laymen stargazers a peak at the far reaches of our galaxy. The location itself is a fantastic experience in nature views and celestial visions not allowed in city or close-in rural areas. It's elevation alone gives you a closeness to the stars unlike you've ever seen. The staff are fantastic, knowledgeable and outright attentive in their desire, interest and drive to show us the big picture of the galaxy we live in, and how miniscule we are in the scheme of things. We decided to enjoy their six hour jaunt into stargazing from magnificent real telescopes, tour of the facility, history of the observatory and views of all the incredible equipment, structures and landscape - as well as the sunset as we've never seen before! This is a highly recommended adventure for young and old alike. Breathtaking in so many ways, and soothing feelings of relaxation, along with having an opportunity to see the bigger picture of our world. read more

Kitt Peak is quite the gem in our region- A thorough tour of the facilities, a boxed dinner (super basic) and a viewing through their giant telescopes is well worth the visit. For the price, fifty bucks, it's a fair deal. It's definitely a drive, but the views and educational experience are second to none. Guides vary- but they're all super enthusiastic about what they teach. It's super fun as a group outing too. It cools down significantly, so bring a jacket and closed toed shoes! read more

Such a nice escape during the hot desert summers! We visited last week during our trip to Tucson. The 12 mile winding road up the mountain to the observatory was so scenic and worth the trek upon arrival - great views and so much to see and learn. We went on the 10am solar tour and enjoyed seeing something different at an observatory. We took a small picnic lunch and enjoyed it before heading back to civilization. Definitely worth the trip...and an extra bonus that it is much cooler at elevation there too! read more

It was a fairly long drive from Phoenix. Though we were initially amused by the unique red rock formations on either sides of the freeway and the vast and seemingly never-ending landscapes, it got a bit monotonous. At some point of time, when we were about an hour away from Kitt's, we saw the observatory perched up high above the mountains. The bright white color of the observatory stood out amongst the crisp brown mountains, large green cacti growing on the mountain slopes and the clear blue sky. The road up to Kitt's observatory was just like the road to any other observatory - narrow and serpentine. Though the weather was scorching in Phoenix, it was a bit nippy and brisk in Kitt's. Right outside the Visitor Center, we saw signs to "Solar Viewing" and followed the directions. Right about the time when we thought we had lost our way, a docent came out of a small enclosure said that we were indeed at the right place. He led us inside a small room, where two telescopes were arranged, pointing to the sun. One of the telescopes revealed the sunspots and the other one, the prominence around the sun. Like little kids, we got up on the small ladder to see through the eyepiece. There it was, the big orange ball, the sun! The docent started talking about the health of the sun and it sounded like Greek and Latin to me. "The sun has a health?" was going on inside my mind. The docent even mentioned about a recent incident in the space that might have destroyed all the telecommunications. Being so disconnected from the day-to-day things happening around the Earth, it sometimes is really hard to imagine that a world-wide black-out like what we've seen in the movies could have actually happened. Oh well, I guess I would have welcomed it for a day or two; would have given me lots of time to catch up with sleep and relax and do literally nothing. We then took the guided tour to see the 2.1 meter telescope. The docent was extremely knowledge and very passionate about astronomy. By the end of the tour, it felt like an information overload. I don't remember half of it, but I certainly found it very intuitive and informative. A long triangular structure nearby piqued our interest and we walked over. It was solar viewing telescope. We also wanted to see the biggest telescope in Kitt's, the 4.1. While driving towards the 4.1, we realized there was no parking nearby and making a U-turn on those narrow roads was going to be a challenge. So we just left! read more

As the other reviewer said, ignore the address, that is for the Tucson office. The peak itself is on a native American reservation about 60 miles outside of Tucson. I attended the nightly observing program as described on their web site. You show up about an hour before sunset. You check in, and wander around for a while. Then you get an quick tour of the mountain, and watch the sun set on the horizon. It's a cool experience from this high altitude - once the sun hits the horizon you can see it quickly disappear. Then back inside while they feed you a (decent) box lunch. Then we alternated sessions of instruction inside (how to read a star chart, different star formations, etc) and viewing outside through a telescope. The telescope we used was like a large home model worth $20k, not the large scientific ones. However, we could see details on the surface of Jupiter, binary stars, etc. The instructors did a fabulous job, they were very informative and entertaining, and answered questions. You could tell that they loved their jobs. As you walk from the telescope back toward the visitor's center, just look up with your naked eye and be totally awed by the stars you can see on a clear night at that elevation without the city's light pollution. Spectacular. I could hear Carl Sagan in my head saying "billions and billions..." The whole event was about 4 hours. Definitely worth the $50. Everyone needs to do this. Do dress for the weather. Expect it to be 20 degrees colder than Tucson, with the typically quick cooling at night time. read more

There were no docents when I went, so I did the self guided tour. The gift shop has free maps, and you can wander the complex and go inside the three largest telescopes. Cool! There are also little exhibits and displays in each building and and informative plaques scattered about the grounds. Pack a picnic; there are plenty of tables and the weather is great... low 80s when I went vs 105 on the desert floor. Even if you don't care about astronomy, the views up here are PHENOMENAL. I highly recommend it. If you like weird things that aren't supposed to be attractions, check out the the small junkyard by the decaying tennis courts near the solar telescope. I guess it's not worth hauling dead vehicles all the way down the mountain to Tucson! read more

Kitt Peak National Observatory - Boy howdy lookit all them telerscopes! - Observatories Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

I enjoyed the tour of the night sky and mostly agree with all the other reviews posted here. - The tour was glorious, both the stargazing segment and the telescope segment. Probably best to be at least a little interested in the heavens, though, as it is both long ~4hrs and expensive ~$50. - One docent seemed better informed than the other, but neither was by any means bad. - It's cold. The night I went in May got down to 44 degrees. I just saw in a review that they have loaner jackets. Good idea. - No refunds if it's cloudy. - Evidently this place gets no funding from the government, so know that the observatory needs and is making good use of your purchases. - Except for the scenic drive, I also don't see the point of making the drive during daylight hours. read more

Nightly Observing Program: this is a dream come true for anyone remotely interested in the stars. My wife and I live in Phoenix and made reservations for a Saturday that was unfortunately pretty cloudy during the day. The staff called us that morning and mentioned that we might have to do some alternative activities if the weather didn't cooperate. We still drove the 1 hour 20 minute drive from Tucson to the remote site and up to the elevation of 7000ft. We arrived at 4:45pm and were greeted in the parking lot by Brian, who was super friendly. He explained that I needed to point my vehicle away from the telescopes and he would need to tape a red canvas over my headlights to prevent light pollution when we would be leaving later that night. We then met Robert inside the visitor center, our other super friendly guide for the night. We killed some time until dinner started at 5:10pm, and then the introduction began at 5:35pm. We learned several surprising things about the area, including that the several different observatories on the mountaintop are owned and independently operated by several different world class research groups across the world, and that it's actually a real privilege that visitors get to come up there. We took a walking tour, watched the sunset and learned about several of the different sized telescopes in the different observatories. I was wearing 3 long-sleeve layers and it was still cold due to the wind, dress warm!! We then went inside the visitor center observatory and were able to use their 20" reflector telescope to look at distant stars, nebulas and galaxies ranging from 1000 light years away to 2 million light years away. We only looked at five structures but each were mesmerizing!!! I felt super lucky since it had been so cloudy earlier. They said we had to close up early due to increasing humidity outside. We then learned how to use a handheld constellation map to map the stars above. We also got to use their binoculars and I was super surprised how many more stars are visible. We closed out the night with some time in the gift shop, then around 9pm we slowly drove a couple miles down the mountain with our headlights covered to not disturb the view of the larger research telescopes viewing distant objects. We pulled over and they removed our headlight covers and drove the rest of the way to Tucson. read more

Kitt Peak National Observatory - The enormous Mayall observatory that house a massive 4-meter mirror in their reflector telescope. - Observatories Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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Ok. I'm a geek. Drove to Tucson from Scottsdale on vacation to visit. Even though there were some clouds, they dint cancel my reservation. I really enjoyed the talks and history from the guides but the group was simply too big to enjoy the actual viewing portion. Random stars look like random stars. I think it'd been ALOT better I'd they'd concentrated on planets and the moon. Plus, group size needs to be half of what it is. Spent most of the time waiting to peek thru the telescope for 15 seconds. I'd probably return. Next year, I'll try out the Mt Lemmon Sky center....compare contrast. read more

Not much to say here that hasn't been said by others. I've made two visit, the first for the nighttime viewing, the second for the day tours. Contrary to what other reviewers have said, if you're interested in the cosmos and/or science in general and/or telescopes themselves, it is absolutely worth the drive during the day. The docent-lead tours (there are three, total) are inexpensive ($9 for all three, IIRC) and very interesting. Sure, you can tour those three telescopes by yourself, but having the docent there to give information and answer questions was great. The day we went we had three different docents which was nice -- all gave the same background information, but each had their own voice and area of focus and way of presenting so it wasn't painfully repetitive. The night sky observation is great, especially if you go on a darker night. If you want to get some good moon views, go closer to the full, but if you're more interested in stars, nebula, etc. then you want a darker night for viewing. As others have said, it's colder than you think up there, so come prepared. There is no food for sale save for chips and candy bars sold in the gift shop. (This is per agreement with the tribe who actually owns the mountain.) I also agree that it's not great for young kids. There is a lot of talking and a lot of walking, and not very much hands-on type stuff. Even if you're not into space, the drive up (at least to the picnic area) is beautiful in the day and the views are incredible. read more

If you're interested in telescope astronomy this is my only recomendation. From the world largest sunscope, to great Orion Nebula software. If they apperciate your visit, they'll even give personal nighttime tours with the expensive shit in use! read more

From a photographic point of view, the Kitt Peak National Observatory is visually stunning -- on the way up the peak, at the observatory and on the way down. I've never seen anything quite like it. I didn't arrive in time to take the guided tour, but the exhibits at the visitors center and inside the telescope buildings were well done and informational. This is a must see if you have a chance to visit. read more

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On a whim I drove up to Kitt Peak by myself to see it for the first time since I was a child. It was wonderful! I didn't experience it all as I started late in the day and just wanted out of town and to get some cool air. But I walked around and popped inside a couple of telescopes and saw some wild looking buildings. It was so quiet and I barely saw any people. The visitor's center is really cool and full of stuff for kids and adults, and there's a great gift shop that also has a few limited snacks and coffee and soda. They have night showings at a fee, so that would be fun- it's really quiet up here and isolated and yet there are telescopes everywhere and living quarters. I loved it and the drive up the mountain was quick, beautiful views, and cooler weather. It was very tranquil. read more