Tour the Mount Graham International Observatory

One of the world's great observatories, open to the public a few Saturdays a year

The Mount Graham International Observatory sits atop the Pinaleño Mountains near Safford, Arizona, at about 10,700 feet. Eastern Arizona College's Discovery Park runs guided public tours on Saturdays from May 17 to October 25, 2026. Tickets are $75 ($60 for seniors 65+, youth under 18, and veterans). The all-day tour includes van transport up the mountain, lunch, and up-close access to three research telescopes. You must be at least 12, and each tour holds only 18 people — so book early.

This is the rarest kind of visit in astronomy: not a planetarium or a public viewing night, but a working research summit where scientists from around the world study the universe. On tour day you'll leave the desert floor and climb through five distinct life zones — the ecological equivalent of driving from Mexico to Canada in ninety minutes — before arriving among the domes.

A quick expectation-setter, because it trips up a lot of first-timers: this is a daytime tour of the telescopes, not a nighttime stargazing session. You're here to see the instruments and the science up close. If you want to look through an eyepiece at the night sky, that happens separately at Discovery Park's Gov Aker Observatory back in Safford.

Three telescopes, three different windows on the universe

Each instrument on the summit was built to capture something the others can't — visible light, deep infrared, and radio waves from the coldest, most distant objects in space.