Our trip to Kitt Peak National Observatory

On Saturday, February 7, some lifelong friends, my wife, and I took a trip to the Kitt Peak National Observatory. Kitt Peak is located about 50 miles from Tucson, Arizona, so it is only a few hours drive from Scottsdale.

Kitt Peak was established in 1958 as an observatory where astronomers could use high powered telescopes for pure research. Starting with 150 possible locations, a committee worked over a five year period to narrow the search down to two. They then recorded telescopic observations for a year at the two locations and compared the results. The nighttime images from Kitt Peak were superior, so it was selected. The location belonged to the Tohono O'odham Nation who were at first skeptical about astronomers opening up shop in their backyard. The committee set up a telescope and allowed the Native Americans to gaze at the stars. Recognizing man's longtime connection to the heavens, they granted permission to erect the site. As they say, the rest is history. Today Kitt Peak is home to the world's largest collection of optical telescopes.

a few pictures on Facebook

At Autodesk Labs we'd like to think that we are also blazing our own trail. We make technologies and utilities available for your feedback. We're hoping to narrow down our choices in fewer than five years, but we certainly do actively collect feedback for about a year. So in some ways, we are different, yet in others, the same. Please visit the Autodesk Labs site today.

Sharing our enthusiasm for the engineering that lets us see the stars is alive in the lab.