You might have to watch the sunrise by yourself at Kitt Peak Observatory. At night, astronomers and technicians conduct research and lead tours for the public. But as the sun starts to peek over the Quinlan Mountains, everyone is still asleep. Dean Regas chats with Vannessa Gressieux, the docent and guide coordinator at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, to learn more.
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Additional resources referenced in this episode:
- Nighttime Programs at Kitt Peak
- Go Astronomy Resources
- Astronomical League Resources
- Friends of Historic Observatories Facebook Group
Episode Transcript:
Looking Up is transcribed using a combination of AI speech recognition and human editors. It may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.
Dean Regas: I woke up before sunrise because I didn't want to miss it. I stayed overnight at Kitt Peak, the home of dozens of large telescopes, also known as our National Observatory. Now, I am definitely a night owl, but I needed to see how the day began on top of the world. Or at least from a pretty high mountain above the Arizona desert.
And I timed it really, really well. As I walked up to the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope, it's a huge white paneled structure. It looks more like the number seven on its side. And there it was, the sun just peeking over the distant mountains, shining on my face under the elbow of the observatory building.
And as I looked around, it occurred to me. No one else is seeing this because all the astronomers are asleep!
From the studios of Cincinnati Public Radio, I'm your host, Dean Regas. And this is Looking Up. The show that takes you deep into the cosmos, or just to the telescope in your backyard to learn more about what makes this amazing universe of ours so great. My guest today is Vannessa Gressieux, docent and guide coordinator at the Kitt Peak National Observatory.
Yeah, it was really incredible staying up at Kitt Peak. And they actually do have a section of the mountain, this housing section, where there's a sign outside that says, “Shh… Astronomers are sleeping!” Because, yeah, I mean, they got to be up at nighttime, right?
Well, I found out it's not exactly as romantic as maybe we remember it. You know, like the astronomers staying up all night to all hours and everything like that. Because the astronomers are kind of in two places at once. There's a whole team of them that are down in the valley that don't actually have to be at the telescope. I got to hang out with a lot of the technicians that were up there that actually do stay up all night and make sure everything works, and the cameras work and the domes work and the telescopes work, and that the data is collected. And then they send all the data back down the hill. And the astronomers who book time on the telescopes then, like, go through all the data and make sure they got what they want, make these great discoveries, share pictures and all that kind of stuff.
Now, the really cool part is that anybody can do this, as in, anybody can be the people down the valley getting time on the telescope. And it's not only at the National Observatory, but others around the world and even space telescopes. Anyone can write a proposal to use a telescope. Yes. You too. If you write up an out of this world observing proposal, you can get time on the Hubble or James Webb telescope. Of course, you better have something really, really, really good you want to see, study or discover.
And I gotta admit, I've never applied for time on a big scope. Maybe I should, and maybe my guest today can help and put in a good word for me at Kitt Peak.
Vannessa Gressieux: My name is Vannessa, and I am the guide and docent coordinator at Kitt Peak National Observatory at the visitor center.
Dean Regas: Thanks for doing this.
Vannessa Gressieux: Yeah, I'm glad to be here. Thanks for asking.
Dean Regas: So, Vannessa, for first time visitors, tell us what it's like driving up to Kitt Peak. And then what do we find when we get at the very top?
Vannessa Gressieux: Oh, that's a great question. When you're traveling through the sacred and ancestral lands of the Tohono O'odham people, it is very humbling. I like to imagine the landscape unfolding as if I were one of the first travelers through that area. And when you start rising away from the desert floor and seeing the subtle change over elevation, it's incredible.
And once you arrive, you're surrounded by slightly different plants and acorn.Woodpeckers and the squirrels even look a little different. And as you round after mile marker ten or so, you're confronted by over twenty telescopes all neatly tucked into the mountainside up there at Kitt Peak. So it feels dreamy, and you find yourself in a different place in many ways, especially mentally. It's cool.
Dean Regas: It's like this island above the desert, but still a desert, but slightly different desert. And then you got telescopes around there too. So, what can the general public do when they get up there by daytime and nighttime?
Vannessa Gressieux: During the day we have three different docent led tours. You can visit the McMath-Pierce telescope, which is an enormous facility, a state-of-the-art, first of its kind solar telescope that is being currently refurbished into what will be our windows on the Universe Science Center. That's hopefully coming in the late fall of this year. You can also visit the 2.1-meter telescope at hosted Kitt Peak, which is a Caltech project. And you can also visit the 4-meter telescope, the Mayall telescope. And then we have a number of different hands-on activities in our existing visitor center and tour the facilities that we have. We have a common thing that we say is come and beat the heat at Kitt Peak, right? We love our alliteration.
Dean Regas: Yeah, because, I mean, what's the elevation up there?
Vannessa Gressieux: Uh, yeah, it's just shy of 7000 feet, so it's notably cooler than Tucson. So, it's on average, about twenty degrees cooler on Kitt Peak than in the Valley of Tucson.
Dean Regas: Well, I was lucky enough to stay up there for three nights, and it was truly magical. I mean, the night sky was so dark that, you know, I could pick out not only the Milky Way, but several deep space objects just with my naked eye. What are the reactions that you've gotten from visitors that are coming up and maybe seeing a dark sky for the first time?
Vannessa Gressieux: Well, we get the we get the wow a lot. And there are many people that for the first time, they're looking through a telescope at all, let alone being able to see the Milky Way. I think being able to see unobscured skies is extremely inspiring for our folks. So, a lot of are true and absolute defined are for our guests.
Dean Regas: All right. This is going to be a tough one because I know there's so many telescopes up there. But you know which one my favorite is, I love the McMath-Pierce telescope. It's the solar telescope. And it's like the number seven on its side. That's the best way I can think of is sunlight comes in and they can just look at the sun in this really cool way. When I was there in February, you were telling me about how it's going to be maybe a changed a little bit. Tell me more about that. What's coming up for that?
Vannessa Gressieux: So, the new center is going to be our center of outreach on the mountain, because it is such a historical site. And it would be a shame to lose something so magnificent. It's one of the first things that you see as you're approaching the property, even from the valley of Tucson. It's very iconic, has a long history as well.
So, there will one day be the ability to stand around the same table that the Apollo astronauts were able to view the moon and help plan for their upcoming missions as well. So, we're working on getting those heliostats back in good working order so that everyone can enjoy this beautiful and stunning view of not just the moon, but the sun as well.
The heliostats are mirrors that are movable, so the telescope itself doesn't move, but the mirrors do, and they help track the moon or the sun as it goes through the sky. So, it's very exciting. When I visited Kitt Peak when I first moved to Tucson about eighteen years ago, I didn't have the chance to see it. So, I'm really eager to be able to see and stand where those Apollo astronauts once did.
Dean Regas: Well, every morning I got up and I had a sunrise with the McMath-Pierce telescope, so be sure to say hi to it next time you're up there. And you work for NOIRLab, which to me is like the managing body that, like, herds all the cats. Astronomers up there. The cat-like astronomers. Tell me more about the role that NOIRLab does at Kitt Peak and beyond.
Vannessa Gressieux: Yeah, so we're one site of three. So, we're located in Tucson, Arizona, and then there's a site down in Chile that has other telescopes there too. And then also in Hawaii. So, we are an international organization that helps manage these sites. And so, through that power we're able to better serve all the sites.
Dean Regas: I think one of the most exciting parts about the visitor experience is at the end of the night after they view through the telescopes, and then they have to wait for the research telescopes to give them the go ahead to drive down the mountain in the middle of the night, because they don't want their lights to interfere with the telescopes. That is so fun to be able to, like, coordinate that, which also, I'm sure is completely harrowing for you all. But you're like, okay, the researchers say, “Go, everybody get in their cars, drive down...” What’s that like at the end of the night?
Vannessa Gressieux: Oh, it's a great joy to be able to communicate with the big research telescopes. As you mentioned, if there's scattered white light, it can really interfere with the sensitive data collection. So, we do have to coordinate a time, often a very short window where the guests can turn on their headlights and turn on their cars and get down past that hairpin turn. The team really pulls together the guides, and the operators at the telescopes work very well together. And I am grateful for the amount of understanding between them. So, the relationship is very good. And it's exciting for the guests to be able to hear a little bit of that conversation, as well as we're making those radio calls.
[Radio Call Roleplay Example]: Back to 4-meter, back to 4-meter. Are we a go for departure? And five all systems go.
Vannessa Gressieux: So, yeah, it's a little adrenaline rush, I'm sure, for everyone.
Well, and there's so many active research projects going on, are there some that you're following, some that interest you the most?
Vannessa Gressieux: It really is very exciting to find other planets and help characterize those planets around other, you know, in other solar systems. And so, they're looking for planets that are between two and ten times the Earth's mass. It's just really exciting to be able to get even a glimpse of other worlds. And when is really playing a key role in doing that throughout our entire organization.
Dean Regas: Do you remember your reaction the first time you got to use one of the telescopes up there?
Vannessa Gressieux: Yes, but I think what was really impactful for me was my first reaction of standing next to the 4-meter Mayall telescope, and that was incredible. It is a battleship of a telescope and just knowing the remarkable work that it was doing on creating the most comprehensive 3D map of the observable universe and just understanding the implications of that and the applications of that in the future is staggering.
So my entire experience on Kitt Peak is one of reverence and deep respect for not only the research and the outreach that happens there, but for also the Tohono O'odham for allowing us to be on top of the mountain for all of the stakeholders and the folks that work so hard to make sure that Kitt Peak continues on. It's, uh, I don't know, it's very humbling experience to be working there.
Dean Regas: Well, it's a really interesting kind of like island community up there. You got, like, the researchers, you got the tech people, you got the educators up there. And I always love the signs that are around places like there's dorms where people are sleeping. And it's like, “Shh, be quiet. Astronomers are sleeping during the daytime.”You know, it's kind of fun. The kind of culture up there is really interesting.
Vannessa Gressieux: It is a little village up there, and everything's centered, as you'd imagine, around the people. So, for me, the experience is really so people-centric. We want folks that come up and enjoy the property. We want folks to come in and feel welcome to Kitt Peak as a worker, as an employee there, it is a great honor to be there. And I can't help but feel a deep sense of pride and excitement when I can just casually take my sandwich and go have lunch with the McMath-Pierce telescope in the background, and then just look out across the valley to the sacred peak of the Tohono O'odham of the Baboquivari. And just think about how many other people in history have sat in that exact same spot, looking at this same exact thing over the last 65 years. It really is extremely inspiring to be on Kitt Peak, and I hope that every person can come and enjoy that. It's a tremendous honor to represent the mountain and to help carry our future forward.
Dean Regas: Well, Vanessa, thanks so much for taking us all up there to Kitt Peak and for chatting with us today.
Vannessa Gressieux: Well, thank you so much for having me. It's been a great opportunity. And as always, it's good to talk to you, Dean.
Dean Regas: Yeah. I would highly recommend planning a visit to Kitt Peak and the observatories up there, but I also want to encourage you to visit your local observatory. Wait, you don't have one? Yeah, I bet you do. The website go-astronomy.com has a list of observatories, astronomy clubs, planetariums and more. Check that out and tell me if the proper term is planetariums or planetaria. Anyway, I worked at a planetarium and even I don't know the difference. So, write in, let me know.
And another group to connect with is the Astronomical League. They really love connecting the public with astronomy events, and you could get started at astronomy clubs. We'll have all these on our website, including a little group I joined on Facebook called Friends of Historic Observatories. And thanks to these lists, I recently completed a tour of Midwestern observatories between Ohio and South Dakota, and I ended up visiting nine observatories in total. It was a Friends of Historic Observatories. They put me on to some of them.
And so, wait, how am I getting to visit all these observatories? Easy. I found their websites and event schedules, sent them a cold email, and voila! Tour scheduled. Tour. Done. I'm telling you; astronomers are the friendliest folks in the galaxy.
Looking up with Dean Regas is a production of Cincinnati Public Radio. Kevin Reynolds and I created the podcast in 2017. Ella Rowen and Carlos Lopez Cornu produce and edit our show and are morning and nighttime people. Hmm. I don't know how they do it. Oh, I'm being told. Coffee? Okay.
Jenell Walton is our vice president of content, and Ronny Salerno is our digital platforms manager. Our theme song is, “Possible Light” by Ziv Moran. Our social media coordinator is Hannah McFarland, and our cover art is by Nicole Tiffany. I'm Dean Regas. Keep looking up.
