Alternative names | Mayall 4-meter Telescope |
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Observatory | Kitt Peak National Observatory |
Location(s) | Kitt Peak, Arizona, US |
Coordinates | 31°57′48″N 111°36′00″W / 31.9634°N 111.6°WCoordinates: 31°57′48″N 111°36′00″W / 31.9634°N 111.6°W |
Organization | National Optical Astronomy Observatory |
Altitude | 2,120 m (6,960 ft) |
Built | 1968–1970 |
Telescope style | reflecting telescope |
Diameter | 4 m (13 ft 1 in) |
Collecting area | 11.4 m2 (123 sq ft) |
Website | www |
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The Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope, also known as the Mayall 4-meter Telescope, is a four-meter reflector telescope located at the Kitt Peak National Observatory and named after Nicholas U. Mayall. It saw first light on February 27, 1973. Initial observers included: D. Crawford, Nicholas Mayall, and Arthur Hoag. It was dedicated on June 20, 1973 after Mayall's retirement as director. The mirror has an f/2.7 hyperboloidal shape. It is made from a two-foot (61 cm (24 in)) thick fused quartz disk that is supported in an advanced-design mirror cell. The prime focus has a field of view six times larger than that of the Hale reflector. An identical reflector was later built at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, in Chile. It is host to the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument.
The Mayall (4 m) debuted neatly between the Hale (5 m) and Shane (3 m) in the early 1970s.
Largest telescopes 1973: