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Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), supports the most diverse collection of astronomical observatories on Earth for nighttime optical and infrared astronomy and daytime study of the Sun. Sharing the mountaintop site with the National Solar Observatory, KPNO, founded in 1958, operates three major nighttime telescopes and hosts the facilities of consortia which operate 19 optical telescopes and two radio telescopes. (See the Tenant Observatories list.) Kitt Peak is located 56 miles southwest of Tucson, AZ, in the Schuk Toak District on the Tohono O'odham Nation and has a Visitor Center open daily to the public.

QUOTA image of the open star cluster NGC 6791

WIYN One Degree Imager (ODI)
Prototype Camera

The Quad-OTA CCD camera, QUOTA, has just completed an engineering run at the WIYN telescope. An OTA is a Orthogonal Transfer CCD Array and are the new generation of orthogonal transfer CCDs (OTCCD) being developed at the WIYN observatory. OTCCDs are special purpose CCDs that, when used with the NOAO developed MONSOON controller, allow the collected charge to be moved within the array during integration. Fast imaging of one or more bright guide stars in certain parts of the array allow atmospheric and other motion compensation to be made in the form of low order tip-tilt corrections. WIYN has operated the original prototype OTCCD camera, OPTIC, for over 4 years.
Full article here.

Link to previous homepage images.

Click on the photo for a live [almost] daytime image from the summit.