Kitt Peak National Observatory

Kitt Peak was selected in 1958 as the site for a national observatory under contract with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and was administered by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy[?], the land being leased from the Tohono O'odham under a perpetual agreement. In 1982 the National Optical Astronomy Observatories was formed to consolidate the management of three optical observatories - Kitt Peak National Observatory, the National Solar Observatory[?] facilities at Kitt Peak and Sacramento Peak, New Mexico, and the Cerro Tololo Observatory[?] in Chile.

The principal instruments at the KPNO are the Mayall 4 metre telescope; the WIYN 3.5 metre telescope and further 2.1 m, 1.3 m, 0.9 m, and 0.4 m reflecting telescopes.