• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI)

  • / science /
    • science overview
    • cosmology and dark energy
    • redshifts and distance
    • mapping the universe
    • the DESI science mission
    • the DESI survey
    • imaging surveys
  • / instrument /
    • instrument overview
    • telescope
      • tohono o’odham
    • corrector
    • focal plane system
    • fiber system
    • spectrograph
    • instrument control system
    • data systems
    • bringing DESI to life
      • commissioning Instrument
      • protoDESI
  • / collaboration /
    • DESI team
    • DESI builders
    • collaborating institutions
    • sponsors
    • code of conduct
    • vendors
    • collaboration policies
  • / press /
    • announcements
    • in the news
    • press releases
    • tweets by desisurvey
    • blog
    • acknowledgments
  • / galleries /
    • videos
    • image gallery
  • / for scientists /
    • data releases
    • instrument design
    • imaging data
    • target selection and survey validation
    • theory and simulations
    • other DESI science
    • key publications
    • all DESI papers
    • team login
    • request a DESI speaker
    • internal
  • / education & outreach /
    • meet a DESI member
    • blog
    • planetarium show
    • DESI high
    • interactive visualizations
    • DESI Merch

BaoBan Greets Spectators at 2025 Tohono O’odham Rodeo Parade

February 20, 2025 by

Caption: BaoBan appeared high atop the KPNO float at the 2025 Tohono O’odham Nation Rodeo Parade. Credit: M. Edwards
Joan Najita (NOIRLab)

20 February 2025

BaoBan, DESI’s ambassador for Education and Public Outreach, recently dropped in on this year’s Tohono O’odham Nation Rodeo Parade, greeting parade spectators from high atop the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) parade float. The DESI project is being carried out at KPNO, which is located atop I’oligam Du’ag, in the homeland of the Tohono O’odham Nation. A coyote from the wilds of Arizona, BaoBan also took a star turn at last year’s Rodeo Parade.

At this year’s parade, held on 1 February 2025 in Sells, Arizona, BaoBan appeared on the KPNO parade float alongside images of Tohono O’odham employees and those who have supported the Observatory over the past 60 years. Decorated with colorful images of stars and planets, the float joined in on the parade theme “Celebrating Our O’odham Superheroes” with BaoBan sporting his own superhero cape. NOIRLab volunteers also walked alongside the float clad in vibrant capes and masks.

Caption: NOIRLab volunteers pose with their parade entry at the 2025 Tohono O’odham Nation Rodeo and Fair. The theme was “Celebrating Our O’odham Superheroes”. From left: Jessica Harris, Carolina Vargas, Sarah Logsdon, Alice Jacques, Lori Allen, Michelle Edwards, and Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan. Credit: T. Schleicher

Now in its 86th year, the Tohono O’odham Nation Rodeo and Fair is an important tradition that celebrates Tohono O’odham culture and history. In addition to the all-Indian rodeo, the event featured live music, fairground rides, exhibitions and food booths. At the NOIRLab information booth, volunteers, including DESI astronomers, invited fair attendees to view the Sun through telescopes and to visit Kitt Peak to learn more about projects such as DESI. A special thanks to BaoBan and all volunteers for their help making this event a “super” success!

Caption: At the NOIRLab booth, DESI astronomer Arjun Dey helps a young visitor check out the Sun. Credit: J. Najita

Filed Under: blog, feature on homepage

Primary Sidebar

  • DESI High, the School of the Dark Universe, is Back!
  • DESI’s Evolving Dark Energy Lights up the News
  • At the Big Reveal: DESI’s December 2024 Unblinding Results
  • DESI DR2 Results: March 19 Guide
  • Closing Our Eyes to Truly See — “Blinding” in DESI’s Analysis of Its Cosmological Measurements
  • Charting the Dark Cosmic Web: Where DESI and Imaging Surveys Intersect
  • BaoBan Greets Spectators at 2025 Tohono O’odham Rodeo Parade
  • DESI Finds Black Holes are Common in Small Galaxies Too
  • Brushing Away the Dust to Uncover Cosmology: Examining the Sigma-8 Tension with DESI Galaxies
  • DESI’s 50M Milestone and a “Biggest Breakthrough” Honor
  • DESI 2024 Results: November 19 Guide
  • All is Not Lost: Tiny Groups of Galaxies Remember Their Origins
  • “5000 Eyes” Premieres in Mexico City
  • DESI 2024 Supporting Papers: June 11 Guide
  • DESI Joins in Hosting Kitt Peak Open Night for Tohono O’odham Nation; BaoBan Makes Guest Appearances
  • DESI 2024 in the News: Science Communicators Discuss the Cosmology Results from DESI’s Inaugural Year
  • DESI 2024 in the News: Is Dark Energy Weakening? New Uncertainty Invites Optimism About the Fate of the Universe
  • DESI 2024 Supporting Papers: April 11 Guide
  • DESI 2024 Results: April 4 Guide
  • A Record-Breaking Night
  • BaoBan Spotted at the Tohono O’odham Rodeo
  • A very nearby Type II Supernova in the Galaxy Messier 101
  • The DESI Early Data Release is now available
  • The new DESI ambassador: BaoBan
  • 5000 Eyes: creating the DESI planetarium film
  • Dusty views of the southwestern sky
  • Sneaking around with DESI data
  • Lightning and a lunar eclipse over Kitt Peak
  • Untangling the cosmic web
  • Recovery effort update two months after the Contreras Fire
  • First batch of Year 1 Key Project 1 papers
  • Contreras Fire threatens DESI and Kitt Peak National Observatory
  • One year and 12.8 million galaxy redshifts
  • DESI on a T-shirt (and stickers of course!)
  • Selecting targets for the DESI survey
  • The old is new again: social distancing while mapping the universe
  • Congratulations to Frank Valdes
  • The DESI peculiar velocity survey
  • DESI breaking records
  • A DIY guide for upgrading your $100 million world-class astronomical instrument
  • An upgraded DESI returns to the sky
  • Cosmic cartography
  • Diversity of DESI SV quasars
  • The beginnings of the 3-dimensional map
  • What do DESI’s 5000 eyes see?
  • Plugging away
  • DESI begins search for elusive dark energy
  • DESI begins its “One-Percent Survey”
  • DESI embarks on Survey Validation
  • An undergrad perspective on DESI
  • Women in DESI on International Women’s Day
  • Hunting the oxygen doublet in distant galaxies
  • Congratulations to David Weinberg
  • DESI imaging leaves a legacy at infrared wavelengths
  • DESI target selection
  • DESI successfully completes commissioning phase

Footer

TEAM LOGIN

twitter   instagram   facebook

Copyright © 2018 Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument [DESI]

Copyright © 2025 · Parallax Pro DESI on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in