LARGE BINOCULAR TELESCOPE OBSERVATORY

The Great Binocular Telescope is located on Mount Graham, a great place for American astronomy, since other famous telescopes and/or known as the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (yes… managed by the Vatican Observatory!) and Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope Observatory (managed, for its part, much more classically by: the Arizona radio observatory). This binocular telescope is very little known to the general public, but passionate amateurs know it because of its unstandards-based optical features: This is actually a "giant pair pair", built from two mirrors of 8.4 m in diameter, nothing but that! Inaugurated in 2004, this new genre telescope is very impressive to discover! As recent as he is, his history is already well-filled in controversies and challenging and surprising challenges… Controversies first when choosing the site for its construction, due to the sacred appearance of the place for some tribes apaches. Challenges then due to its alleged impact on the local ecosystem (risk of extinction of some endemic rodents). And to add a little more to the ramdam generated, forest fires almost cut off all infrastructure! Today, Mont Graham visits are organized by the Eastern Arizona College (specific authorizations are needed to mount it). The altitude is high (3,200 m), so it is important to cover warmly and take with yourself some essential accessories, sunglasses and hat in particular. The strength of the proposed guided tour is that it is very complete, incorporating that of the LBT, but also the Vatican and submillimetric telescopes. Better still, it allows to discover Mount Graham itself, its geology, its history and its biodiversity (Indian and Green complaints have obviously been heard). The hours spent up there are quite incredible, among the wooded summits of all beauty, majestic fir trees, contrasting excellently with the desert surrounding Tucson city, located 120 km west.