A $4.5 million National Science Foundation grant will be used to develop a state-of-the-art public visitor program for Kitt Peak National Observatory. The foundation awarded the grant to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy to develop the program, called Windows on the Universe Center for Astronomy Outreach, within the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope facility on the mountain about 50 miles southwest of Tucson. “This effort will give second life to an architectural and scientific icon. It will be an epicenter for astronomy education and outreach,” for both Kitt Peak as well as NSF telescopes scattered around the globe, said Bill Buckingham, Kitt Peak Visitor Center manager, who envisioned the telescope’s new fate.
