Kitt Peak National
Observatory, located 84 km (52 mi) southwest of Tucson, Ariz., on top of the 2,100-m (7,000-ft) Kitt Peak, is one of the world's major astronomical
research centers. It was founded in 1958 by the Association of Universities for Research in
Astronomy (AURA), a nonprofit consortium of 17 universities that operates the observatory under contract with the U.S. National Science Foundation.The observatory does research in
solar, planetary, stellar, galactic, and extragalactic astronomy. It has 15 telescopes, among them reflectors with apertures of 158 in (4 m), 84 in (2.1 m), and 51 in (1.3 m), the 60-in (1.5-m) Robert McMath solar
telescope, and a 24-in (61-cm) solar vacuum telescope; the McMath telescope is the world's largest solar telescope. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory also operates a 36-ft-diameter (11-m) radio telescope at Kitt Peak. Using interferometers and
image-enhancement techniques (see image processing), astronomers at Kitt Peak photographed for the first time the surface of a star (Betelgeuse) other than the Sun.