The Way to the 4-Meter Telescope

Stars shine among the passing clouds over the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Kitt Peak national observatory, Arizona, USA. The Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter telescope, named for the former Director of the Kitt Peak National Observatory, was the second-largest telescope by aperture at the time of its first light in 1973. The eighteen-story telescope, located just below the summit of Kitt Peak, can be seen from over fifty miles away. Today, it is the largest at Kitt Peak National Observatory. The facility is well-known for discovering methane ice on Pluto.