Mt. Graham and the LBT from Kitt Peak

Tucson is known as the Astronomy Capital of the World because it has attracted so many observatories to its dry climate with more than 200 clear nights a year.  I happen to observe mostly on Kitt Peak, though I have also spent nights at nearly all the major observatories, including Mt. Bigelow in the Catalinas just north of town, Mt. Hopkins south of town, and Mt. Graham east of Tucson near Safford.  Mt. Graham houses the largest telescope in Arizona in the Large Binocular Telescope which combines the light of two 8-meter mirrors.  The LBT as it is called is huge and its building dwarfs most other buildings.  I have posted pictures on this blog in years past of the LBT as it is seen from the VATT (Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope) that is a short hike away from the LBT on Mt. Graham and is a great place to take pictures of the giant LBT.  It so happens that you can see the LBT from Kitt Peak which is a mere 112 miles away.  You can see it pretty easily when it is backlit in the morning sunrise with a pair of binoculars.

 This first image was taken this morning just after sunrise with my 75-300mm telephoto at 300mm with an exposure of 1/350 seconds at f/8, ISO 800.  You can see the LBT building on the distant Mt. Graham a bit left of center.  The mountains in front of Mt. Graham are the eastern end of the Santa Catalina's and in the middle foreground are the Tucson Mountains with the most prominent at the right edge being Cat Mountain.

In the mid-day sun, you can see lots of mountains, but you won't see the LBT very easily.  In the foreground are the Coyote Mountains that are part of the Quinlan mountain range that Kitt Peak is part of.  In the distance is Tucson surrounded by the Tucson Mountains to the west, the Santa Catalinas to the north and the Rincons to the East (at the right edge of the frame).  In the saddle between the Catalinas and Rincons you can see the distant Pineleno mountains that Mt. Graham is the tallest point of and is where the LBT is located.  This image was taken with my 75-300mm telephoto at 75mm focal length with an exposure of 1/3000 sec at f/16, ISO 800.

Taken around the same time, here is the view of Mt. Graham with my 75-300mm telephoto at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/2000 sec at f/11, ISO 400.

This last image was taken just before sunset with the shadow of Kitt Peak just below the frame.  What is cool is that the LBT is a bright white object that was plainly visible with my unaided eye and is an easy thing to see in this image.  Compare this to the earlier ones to see where the LBT is in those images.  Today was the 2nd time that I've seen the LBT without any visual aid from Kitt Peak and it requires the sun to be just in the right place and I presume the LBT dome has to be rotated so that it reflects light right back to us.  This image was taken at 300mm with an exposure of 1/1000 seconds at f/11, ISO 400.

The LBT on Mount Graham

Last observing run, I took this image of the LBT (Large Binocular Telescope) on Mt. Graham from Kitt Peak. Look carefully near the center of the image and you'll see a square bump which is the humongous building (seen in images I took back in April of this year or September of last year from the VATT, as well as some fine images of it by my friend Dave on his blog). The building is about 113 miles away! You can see almost forever from Kitt Peak. Or at least all the way to Mt. Graham. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/200 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 400.

Snow covered sunrise

There was no observing this night - last Wednesday night. As the morning twilight brightens the eastern sky, snow still covers the top of Mt. Graham with the SMT and LBT visible in this image. The image was taken with my 24mm lens with an exposure of 3.2 seconds at f/4.0, ISO 400.

Mt. Graham at work

Here's a view from Saturday night with both the SMT in the foreground and the LBT in the background at work on a moonlit spring night. The constellation of Bootes lies on its side as it rises behind the two telescopes. The LBT doesn't look as big as it is from this vantage point - but when one stands beside the behemouth, or looks at the telescope itself from inside the building, one gets the right impression of just how big this telescope really is with 2 - 8 meter diameter mirrors working in tandem. The Gregorian secondaries are about the size of the telescopes I am used to using! This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 60 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 400.

Night-time on Mt. Graham

The SMT is busy while the LBT remains closed (though it and its dome moved during my timelapse sequence that this frame is taken from) as the Moon lights up the scene on Mt. Graham looking east from the VATT. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1 minute at f/3.5, ISO 400.

Snowy sunset

The sun came out late in the day as the storm that brought us so much snow moved out. Though it stayed cloudy most of the night, it was clear by the next morning. This image was taken at 24mm focal length with an exposure of 1/320 seconds at f/8, ISO 100.

Winter on Mt. Graham

A bit of a surprise at how much snow fell up here on Mount Graham yesterday. I was expecting at best fluries or maybe an inch, but it was snowy and cold most of the day with about 4-6 inches accumulated. This image shows the SMT in the foreground with the LBT appearing to come out of the misty clouds. The image was taken with my 24mm lens at f/8 with an exposure of 1/250 seconds, ISO 100.

LBT support structure

I had been thinking I'd posted all my favorite pictures from my Mt. Graham observing run, but I went back through them tonight and found one or two of the LBT telescope itself. This is the back of the telescope support structure of the LBT. The round red structure on the left is the mirror cell for one of the two 8.4-meter diameter mirrors and is about 30 feet across! The inside of the dome is probably 60 feet tall and about 80 or 100 feet wide (maybe more!). What a gargantuan structure it is. And it all moves with the precision of a watch. This image was taken with an 8mm fisheye lens with an exposure of 1/30 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 800.

LBT and SMT in twilight

As twilight fades, two of the 3 telescopes on Mount Graham are seen in this photo. The LBT is in the background. The SMT is in the building in the foreground. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/10 seconds at f/5.0, ISO 800.

LBT in twilight

The LBT in twilight. You can see the two 8.4 meter diameter mirrors carried in a red alt-azimuth mount. The top part of this humungous building rotates with the telescope. This image was taken at 55mm focal length with an exposure of 1/13 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 800.

B&W LBT in twiight

The LBT is lit up in twilight in this B&W conversion. This image was taken at 55mm focal length with an exposure of 1/10 second at f/5.6, ISO 800.

Anticrepuscular rays & the LBT

Anticrepuscular rays are visible in the skies over Mount Graham in this image. The rays almost converge on the LBT. The SMT is left of the LBT and the VATT dome is visible on the right edge with the quarter phase moon just to its left. This image was taken with an 8mm fisheye lens with an exposure of 1/40 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 400.

SMT & LBT

Another view from Thursday night shows the SMT building in the foreground with the red light at its base and the LBT in the background. An airplane is also visible just above the SMT building. The Moonlit scene also shows the Milky Way overhead. This image was taken with an 8mm fisheye lens with an exposure of 120 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 400.

MGIO in Moonlight

The Mount Graham International Observatory is seen here, lit by a just larger than quarter phase Moon. The Moon is hidden behind the dome of the VATT (Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope) on the right which is also lit by the red security light. On the far left is the SMT (Sub-Millimeter Telescope) and just right of that is the LBT (Large Binocular Telescope). This view is looking just south and east of the zenith to show the southeastern sky. The Milky Way is visible at the top of the frame as are a number of bright constellations such as Cygnus, Pegasus, Andromeda, Aquila & Cassiopiea. The Andromeda Galaxy can also be seen in this image if you know where to look. This image was taken with an 8mm fisheye lens with an exposure of 120 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 400.

LBT at sunset

This view of the LBT (Large Binocular Telescope) building on Mount Graham was taken from the roof of the VATT telescope building just before sunset. Unfortunately, the blue sky behind the building was not representative of the sky behind me and to the south which had lots of scattered clouds. This image was taken at 55mm focal length with an exposure of 1/320 seconds at f/11, ISO 400.

The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT)

This view of the LBT on Mount Graham was taken from the roof of the VATT (Vatican Observatory Telescope) a little after sunset tonight. The LBT holds a pair of 8.4 meter mirrors and is still being commissioned. This image was taken with my 50mm f/1.8 lens with an exposure of 0.6 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 800.