We first visited the 3.5 meter telescope control room. We were briefed on the operations of the telescope by the WIYN staff. The official schedule showed our visit to WIYN.

The WIYN 3.5 meter telescope was ready for our group's observing. From inside the observatory the night sky was beautiful, as seen in these handheld iPhone 15 Pro Max photographs taken during the night. The Double Cluster star cluster is near the center of the top photo. The next to last photo shows stars reflected in the telescope mirror. The last photo shows the eastern sky with the Pleiades (M45) near the center.

At the telescope we viewed several objects. First up was the planet Saturn. It's edge-on Ring was clearly visible. We then viewed the following objects. Our last object was a final look at the planet Saturn. I took these handheld afocal images at the eyepiece using an iPhone 15 Pro Max (most images in Night Mode, 10 seconds exposures). We also viewed M74 (galaxy) but I was not able to image it with the iPhone. The photos pretty accurately show what the eye was able to see.

Blue Snowball Nebula (NGC7662, planetary nebula)


Globular Cluster (M15)


Ring Nebula (M57, planetary nebula)


Stephan's Quintet (galaxies)


Wild Duck Cluster (M11, open star cluster)


Saturn

The group left the mountain at 11 PM after a successful night at Kitt Peak.

Many thanks to the Indiana University College of Arts & Sciences, the IU Astronomy Department, and the WIYN staff who made possible this exhilarating night viewing opportunity.

You can see past reports of visits to Kitt Peak National Observatory (and other observatories) on my Visits to Other Observatories page.

Go back to WIYN Observing Night report.

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