Ever wonder what goes on beyond the gates that block the final stretch of road at the top of Mount Lemmon?
Saturday, May 27, is your only chance this year to find out without enrolling in a program and paying for admission.
The Mount Lemmon Sky Center, which focuses on astronomy, and the UA Science: Sky School, which interprets the ecology of the mountain, will host an open house from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
It’s a chance to peek into the telescope domes, observe the sun and learn the natural history of the rock cliffs and forests surrounding the highest point in Pima County.
It’ll be cool, literally and figuratively, with temperatures about 20 degrees lower than in Tucson and plenty of experts available to tell you about the programs offered there.
Alan Strauss, director of the Catalina Sky Center and UA Science: Sky School, said the goal of the open house is to “open the site up to the general public.”
Many who stop at the top of the winding road above Ski Valley, or who hike the Meadow Trail along the observatory’s perimeter, are curious about the fenced, gated compound, he said.
The top of the mountain is a working observatory, run by the UA’s Steward Observatory.
Among the telescopes are two — a 24-inch and 32-inch — run by the Sky Center for its public programs, which offer night-viewing and courses in astrophotography for a fee.
Those telescopes will be open for public viewing. Even in the daytime, bright Venus should be visible. A solar telescope will be set up for sun observations.
The mountaintop also has dorm rooms and classrooms for youth programs in astronomy and natural sciences run by the university.
The public program will offer a number of interpretive displays and “hands-on science activities that relate to the ecology, soils, flora and fauna of the mountain,” Strauss said.
The near-Earth asteroid hunters from the Catalina Sky Survey will also be on-hand to talk about that program, Strauss said.
Meteorites, dark-sky preservation and Arabic cultural astronomy will also be featured in displays, Strauss said.
The gate will still be closed, but visitors can walk up to the observatories from the parking lot at the end of the road.
