Kitt Peak National Observatory

A partial eclipse of the heartttt… 🖤🌝

Witness a partial (96%) lunar eclipse on 27 August from the summit of NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory!

During this time, the Moon will pass mostly into the Earth's shadow, with the maximum eclipse occurring at approximately 9:30 pm MST.

For more details and tickets, visit our website 🔗 https://bit.ly/4x0pq3B

Trading summer break for a week of big-data astronomy! 🍎✨

Sixteen middle, high school, and college educators from across the US, Canada, and the UK joined us in Tucson, Arizona, for the 3rd annual "Summer Stars" educator workshop.

Participants dove headfirst into the NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory Education Program and its interactive, classroom-ready activities.

The week also featured behind-the-scenes tours of Kitt Peak National Observatory, the University of Arizona Mirror Lab, and Rubin's secondary control room.

We can't wait to see how they bring Rubin's dynamic view of the Universe into classrooms around the world! 🌌🔭

📸 NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. Brandt

Meet the newest staff members of NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory! 🐱

These bobcat kittens aren’t very good at operating telescopes, and they are easily distracted by rabbits, birds, and lizards. Still, they’re pretty darn cute.

Bobcats are most commonly seen in rugged, brushy environments, such as the Sonoran Desert scrub surrounding Kitt Peak. Litters are usually born from March to June and consist of an average of two to three kittens.

📷 KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

If you’ve been wanting to visit NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory, August is the BEST time to do it.

10-14 Aug: Watch the Perseids Meteor Shower under pristine dark skies
27 Aug: Witness a partial (96%) lunar eclipse through our powerful Visitor Center telescopes
AND throughout the month, kids can visit KPNO for FREE!

For more details and tickets, visit our website 🔗 https://bit.ly/4x0pq3B

📸KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Sparks

The Mayall in its early years ⏳

The NSF Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope was the second-largest telescope by aperture at the time of its first light in 1973. Carey Portnoy, a former Technical Assistant at NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory, captured these images of the iconic telescope in the late 1970s.

The first pic shows a stunning sunset over the horizon, captured from the Mayall's catwalk. The second shows a fisheye view of the telescope from the inside.

These images are part of NSF NOIRLab’s historical archives. Have any images of your own to share? Send them to [email protected].

📷KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/C. Portnoy

Meteor shower incoming! 🌌 The Perseids Meteor Shower is almost here — one of the best meteor showers to observe, producing up to 60+ meteors per hour at its peak! The best part? This year there will be a new moon during the shower’s peak on 12 August. There will be no moonlight to overpower the sky as you scout meteors.

You can watch this cosmic show under the pristine skies of NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory! The Kitt Peak Visitor Center will be running FIVE nights of meteor shower special programming from 10-14 August. We’ll see YOU there! 🔗https://bit.ly/4x0pq3B

📷 KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Sparks

Saturn, Neptune, Venus, and Mercury were spotted marching through the sky in this 2 March 2026 planetary parade! 🥁

Even under the pristine skies of NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory, a Program of NOIRLab, the individual planets are just barely visible.

Astrophotographers looking to capture a similar planetary parade can prepare for October 2028, but those wanting to see a closer cluster of five planets will have to plan for September 2040.

📸 KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Horálek (Institute of Physics in Opava)

Happy National Space Exploration Day!

On this day in 1969, the Apollo 11 Astronauts landed on the Moon. 🧑‍🚀

In the 1960s, Apollo astronauts like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin trained to be the first people to land on the Moon inside the NSF McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory.

Explore this iconic telescope this summer AND see its transformation into the Taṣogida Ki: Center for Astronomy Outreach, our new mountain-top science center! 💫 PLUS, there's FREE admission to daytime AND nighttime for anyone 17-and-under through September 30th! This excludes Overnight Telescope Observing Programs and meals. Youths must be accompanied by a paying adult. 🌵https://bit.ly/4ywosNY

📷 KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

Arizona’s summer skies >>

Monsoon season is here in Arizona! ⛈️In the southwest United States, the summer months bring a major increase in rain and thunderstorms, bringing out desert blooms and refilling essential stores of groundwater.

Tucson photographer Sean Parker (Sean Parker Photography) captured these dramatic images from NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory in June 2026, showing a storm in the distant Sonoran Desert.

Parker said about the experience, “My night at Kitt Peak was one for the books. We were treated to a spectacular sunset, incredible views of the Milky Way, and even a distant monsoon lightning show dancing across the horizon. Arizona never fails to remind me why it’s one of the best places in the world to experience the night sky.”

📷 Sean Parker Photography

The irregular dwarf galaxy Sextans B ✨

Irregular dwarf galaxies are irregularly shaped and smaller than our galaxy, the Milky Way. Sextans B is ~4.5 million light-years from Earth, located in the constellation Sextans in the southern sky.

Captured with the NSF Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope, this image of Sextans B features red-colored star-forming regions near the galaxy’s center.

📷: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Data obtained and processed by: P. Massey, G. Jacoby, K. Olsen, & C. Smith
Image processing: T.A. Rector, M. Zamani & D. de Martin