2006

RC grant to University of Arizona’s Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter.

The Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter is a science learning facility located at a “sky island” observing site at the 9,157-foot summit of Mt. Lemmon, north of Tucson, Arizona. The Center, which operates as part of University of Arizona’s public outreach efforts, offers educational adventures to the public, including SkyNights observation opportunities with the Center’s 32-inch Schulman telescope, science programs, camps and workshops for children and adults.

During the Cold War, the facilities that now house the SkyCenter were built by the U.S. Air Force, one of about 200 sites along U.S. borders, to search for incoming enemy missiles and planes. When the base eventually was closed, the facility became the property of the U.S. Forest Service’s Coronado National Forest. Today it is leased from the Forest Service by University of Arizona.

In 2006, Research Corporation awarded the SkyCenter $300,000 “for transformation of the Mt. Lemmon observatory into a fully utilized internationally renowned science- and nature-oriented destination.”