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MMT Observatory

MMT Observatory
MMT Observatory.jpg
MMT Observatory
Alternative names MMTO
Location(s) Mount Hopkins Edit this on Wikidata, United States of America Edit this on Wikidata
Coordinates 31°41′18″N 110°53′06″W / 31.6883°N 110.885°W / 31.6883; -110.885Coordinates: 31°41′18″N 110°53′06″W / 31.6883°N 110.885°W / 31.6883; -110.885
Altitude 2,616 m (8,583 ft)
Telescope style observatory Edit this on Wikidata
MMT Observatory is located in the US
MMT Observatory
Location of MMT Observatory
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The MMT Observatory (MMTO) is an astronomical observatory on the site of Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (IAU observatory code 696). The Whipple observatory complex is located on Mount Hopkins, Arizona, USA (55 km south of Tucson) in the Santa Rita Mountains. The observatory is run by the University of Arizona and the Smithsonian Institution, and has a visitor center in nearby Amado, Arizona. The MMTO is the home of the MMT (formerly Multiple Mirror Telescope), which currently has a primary mirror 6.5 m in diameter. The name originally comes from the fact that the light gathering for the telescope was done by six smaller mirrors before the current primary mirror was installed. The current mirror has a special lightweight honeycomb design made by the University of Arizona's Steward 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 improve the seeing.

The Multiple Mirror Telescope operated between 1979 and 1998 with six honeycombed borosilicate mirrors by Corning, each with a diameter of 72 inches (1.8 m), which were donated by the NRO after cancellation of the reconnaissance mission KH-10 (codename DORIAN) based on the Manned Orbiting Laboratory. 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 by Aden Meinel, a co-rotating building and an altitude-azimuth mount.


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