Illustrations

Map of observatory locations

Palomar Observatory

The 200-inch telescope in the moonlight

Palomar 200-inch Hale Telescope with adaptive-optics laser firing

Oschin Telescope with star trails

Palomar 60-inch dome with cirrus clouds

Chuck Steidel, California Institute of Technology

Kitt Peak National Observatory

Exterior of the Mayall Telescope

Panorama of Kitt Peak National Observatory

The 4-meter Mayall Telescope

The 3.5-meter WIYN Telescope

Kitt Peak Visitor Center

Vera Rubin, Carnegie Institution of Washington

Lowell Observatory

Guided tour group at the Lowell Clark Telescope

Clark Dome at Lowell

The 24-inch Clark Telescope

The 13-inch Pluto Discovery Telescope

Steele Visitor Center

Lowell Rotunda Library Museum

Robert Millis, former director, Lowell Observatory

Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory

The converted Multiple Mirror Telescope

Observatory Ridge at Mount Hopkins

Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System

Whipple Observatory scientists at public outreach event

Fred Chaffee, former director, Mount Hopkins Observatory

National Radio Astronomy Observatory Very Large Array

The Very Large Array in 2007

The Very Large Array and the transfer railroad tracks

The Very Large Array in snow

The Very Large Array and visitor center

Rick Perley, National Radio Astronomy Observatory

The Observatories of Sacramento Peak

Aerial view of Sacramento Peak Observatory

Telescope spar in the Evans Solar Facility

Dunn Solar Telescope image of a sunspot

Sloan Digital Sky Survey 2.5-meter telescope

Sloan telescope enclosure building

Sunspot Visitor Center

Steve Keil, director, National Solar Observatory

McDonald Observatory

Aerial view of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory

The large telescope domes of McDonald Observatory

Primary mirror of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope

Frank N. Bash Visitors Center

Anita Cochran, assistant director, McDonald Observatory

Mount Graham International Observatory

Exterior view of the Vatican Observatory Telescope at night

Exterior of the Large Binocular Telescope with shutters open

Interior of the Large Binocular Telescope

Exterior of the Large Binocular Telescope