Visitor Center 0.5-meter Telescope: An Astronomer's Natural Habitat

What is a night in the life of an astronomer like? This timelapse of the Visitor Center 0.5-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) gives you an insider view into their work night. Every once in a while, the astronomer and telescope operator go into the dome to check on the progress of the observations. Meanwhile, the telescope itself is busy obtaining those observations. To get an even deeper insight into the life of an astronomer, you can sign up to use this telescope through KPNO's Overnight Telescope Observing Program. Through this program, you can be the 'astronomer' yourself for a full night; you can capture images of deep-sky objects or look directly through the telescope's eyepiece.