- Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) opened in 1958 - KPNO is a program of the National Science Foundation's Optical Infrared Laboratory - Located on the Tohono O'odham Nation grounds, 54 miles west of Tucson ==> Home to the world's largest collection of optical telescopes and some of the best skies in the world for astronomical observations - KPNO hosts the facilities of consortia that, between them, operate more than a dozen optical telescopes and two radio telescopes - KPNO operates the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope on behalf of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey (a project led by the US Department of Energy Office of Science) and the WIYN 3.5-meter Telescope (a partnership between Indiana University, the University of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Missouri-Columbia, Purdue University, the NSF and NASA) kpno.noirlab.edu Map