 MMT Observatory | |
| Alternative names | MMTO |
|---|---|
| Location(s) | Arizona |
| Coordinates | 31°41′18″N110°53′06″W / 31.6883°N 110.885°W /31.6883; -110.885 |
| Altitude | 2,616 m (8,583 ft) |
| Diameter | 6.5 m (21 ft 4 in) |
| Website | www |
  Location of MMT Observatory | |
 Related media on Commons | |
TheMMT Observatory (MMTO) is anastronomical observatory on the site ofFred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (IAU observatory code 696). The Whipple observatory complex is located onMount Hopkins, Arizona, US (55 km south ofTucson) in theSanta Rita Mountains. The observatory is operated by theUniversity of Arizona and theSmithsonian Institution, and has a visitor center in nearbyAmado, Arizona.The MMTO is the home of the MMT (formerly Multiple Mirror Telescope), which has aprimary mirror 6.5 m indiameter. The name comes from the six smaller mirrors originally used before the single primary mirror was installed in 1998. The primary mirror has a special lightweight honeycomb design made by theUniversity of Arizona'sSteward Observatory Mirror Laboratory.The MMT is housed in a building which allows the walls and roof around the telescope to be completely rolled back, allowing it to cool down very quickly in order to improveobservation.
The Multiple Mirror Telescope operated between 1979 and 1998 with six honeycombed borosilicate mirrors byCorning, each with a diameter of 72 inches (1.8 m), which were donated by theNRO after cancellation of the reconnaissance missionKH-10 (codename DORIAN) based on theManned Orbiting Laboratory.[1] These mirrors were providing the equivalent gathering area of a 4.5-meter telescope, making it the third largest optical telescope in the world at the time of its dedication. It featured ambitious design innovations including its unusual optical design proposed byAden Meinel, a co-rotating building and analtitude-azimuth mount.
With the exception of theLarge Altazimuth Telescope and William Herschel's40-foot telescope, major optical telescopes prior to the MMT usedequatorial mounts. The MMT heralded a change in telescope design; all major optical telescopes since the MMT have been built with altitude-azimuth mounts. Several technologies pioneered at the MMT contributed to the success of the subsequent generation of large telescopes. These included: high dynamic-range servos for thealtitude-azimuth mount; highly accurate pointing that eliminated the need for sky charts; co-alignment and co-phasing of multiple telescopes; improvements to optical performance by attention to thethermal environment of the facility; contributions to vacuum coatings deposition, optics cleaning, and maintenance; and early experiments in co-phased adaptive optics.
One of the reasons for its original multiple mirror design was the difficulty of casting large mirrors. One solution to this problem was found byRoger Angel ofSteward Observatory, of theUniversity of Arizona, whichcasts mirrors having a honeycomb structure, in the interior of arotating oven. This made it possible to replace the six mirrors with a single 6.5-meter mirror. The original building and part of the structure were reused. The new mirror was the first of its size to be cast and polished in the Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory. The updated MMT, its name no longer an acronym,[2] was rededicated on 20 May 2000.[3]
In late 2002, a noveldeformablesecondary mirror was added to the telescope.[4] While otheradaptive optics designs do their corrections with additional mirrors, minimizing the number of warm surfaces in the light path produces better results ininfrared wavelengths. The MMT AO system contributed to the design of theLarge Binocular Telescope, which achieved record breakingStrehl ratios with its AO system in 2010.
From 2004 to 2010, approximately 8% of MMT observing time was made accessible to the entire astronomical community via the USNational Science Foundation's Telescope System Instrumentation Program (TSIP), administered by theNational Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO).[5][6]
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