CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON THE NOIRLAB WINDOWS ON THE UNIVERSE CENTER FOR ASTRONOMY OUTREACH

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Published on August 20, 2021 2:28:21 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqTv5ctM1Hk

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What was once the largest solar observatory in the world is now undergoing a transformation to become a one-of-a-kind facility for sharing the wonders of astronomy with #people around the globe. Construction work has started to recast the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope facility at Kitt Peak National Observatory into the #noirlab Windows on the Universe Center for Astronomy Outreach.

Dedicated in 1962 and retired in 2017, the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, in southern #arizona was used to make numerous scientific discoveries about the Sun, the Moon, and the planets, including detecting water vapor on the Sun. In 2018, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $4.5 million grant to convert the facility into a unique outreach center that will provide the public with new ways to experience the cutting-edge research being carried out at KPNO and NSF’s other astronomy facilities around the globe.

“Instead of getting the wrecking ball, the McMath-Pierce is going to be transformed,” said #billbuckingham, Project Director for Windows on the Universe. “It’s being given a new mission, which is just as important as research, to demonstrate why the public should support astronomy research. I don’t know of any other retired federal telescope being repurposed like this before in the US.”

Visitors to the center will explore the wide variety of research carried out at NSF’s astronomy facilities, including KPNO, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, the international Gemini Observatory, Vera C. Rubin Observatory, and the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope — all managed by AURA — as well as the Very Large Array (VLA), Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), South Pole Telescope, IceCube Neutrino Observatory, and Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). The center will ultimately feature a digital planetarium, interactive exhibits, and a Science On a Sphere display. Part of the center’s mission is to convert data, images, and video from NSF observatories into formats that can be shared and displayed in planetariums and Science On a Sphere exhibits around the world, expanding the center’s reach globally. The center will also preserve three solar telescopes (called heliostats) and a control room from the McMath-Pierce observatory, to give visitors the experience of being at a telescope and participating in research carried out at NSF facilities.