Kitt Peak National Observatory

Rank in Arizona: #78of 727 ranked
Overall score: Score 53.0 out of 100medium confidence
Category: Observatory

Kitt Peak National Observatory is an astronomical observatory on Kitt Peak, in the Quinlan Mountains of the Arizona-Sonoran Desert, on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation 88 kilometres west-south-west of Tucson. With more than twenty optical telescopes and two radio telescopes, it is one of the largest gatherings of astronomical instruments in the northern hemisphere. Founded in 1958, it is home to what was the largest solar telescope in the world, along with many of the large American astronomical telescopes of the late twentieth century. The observatory was administered by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory from the early 1980s until 2019, after which it was overseen by NOIRLab. In June 2022 the Contreras Fire led to the evacuation of Kitt Peak; the fire reached the summit at 2 a.m. on 17 June and four non-scientific buildings, including a dormitory, were lost. The observatory reopened to the public in September 2023.

Where it is

Kitt Peak National Observatory is a observatory near Tucson, in Pima County. It is one of the observatories in this database, and appears in the statewide ranking of Arizona attractions.

How this ranking was reached

No official visitor count is published for Kitt Peak National Observatory, so its score rests on public interest and tourism significance, and is capped below the level a measured attraction can reach. That is why the medium confidence above is not higher. The weighting is explained in full on the methodology page, and every axis is broken out under Facts and sources at the foot of this page.

Note on the data: No official visitor count is published for this attraction.

Mentioned in

Arizona protects its night sky in one set of places and uses it in another — Eight Arizona attractions hold International Dark Sky Park status and all eight publish visitor counts; twelve working observatories publish none.

Sources

Public interest: Wikimedia pageviews (en.wikipedia, human traffic), 2024
Coordinates and designations: Wikidata(opens in a new tab)
County: U.S. Census geography via FCC Area API, resolved from coordinates
Official site: https://noirlab.edu/public/programs/kitt-peak-national-observatory/(opens in a new tab)

Record last verified 2026-08-12.

More photographs

Kitt Peak National Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Marenfeld, CC BY 4.0 · licence(opens in a new tab) · source(opens in a new tab)
KPNO/NOIRLab/AURA/NSF, CC BY 4.0 · licence(opens in a new tab) · source(opens in a new tab)

Nearby attractions

0.1 miles away
McMath–Pierce Solar Telescope
A 1.6-metre solar telescope of 1962 at Kitt Peak, once the largest solar telescope and the largest unobstructed-aperture optical telescope in the world.
Observatory
0.4 miles away
Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope
A four-metre reflector at Kitt Peak, second-largest in the world at first light in 1973 and now host to the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument.
Observatory
12 miles away
Baboquivari Peak Wilderness
The smallest designated wilderness in Arizona, 2,065 acres around Baboquivari Peak, a technical summit sacred to the Tohono O'odham.
Natural Landmark
24 miles away
Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge
A 117,107-acre US Fish and Wildlife Service refuge in Pima County, created for the reintroduction of masked bobwhite quail and pronghorn.
Natural Landmark
32 miles away
Hugh Norris Trail
Hugh Norris Trail, in Saguaro National Park, Arizona.
Natural Landmark
32 miles away
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
A 98-acre zoo, aquarium, botanical garden and natural history museum west of Tucson, founded in 1952 to interpret the Sonoran Desert.
Zoo or Aquarium