Magdalena Ridge Observatory
 SINGLE Telescope at Magdalena Ridge | |||||
| Organization | New Mexico Tech | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observatory code | H01 | ||||
| Location | Socorro, New Mexico | ||||
| Coordinates | 33°58′36″N 107°11′05″W / 33.97667°N 107.18472°W | ||||
| Altitude | 3,230 meters (10,600 ft) | ||||
| Established | 1999 | ||||
| Website | Magdalena Ridge Observatory | ||||
| Telescopes | |||||
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  Location of Magdalena Ridge Observatory | |||||
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Magdalena Ridge Observatory (MRO) is an astronomical observatory under construction in Socorro County, New Mexico, about 32 kilometers (20 mi) west of the town of Socorro. The observatory is located in the Magdalena Mountains near the summit of South Baldy Mountain, adjacent to the Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research. When completed, the site will house two main instruments: a ten-element optical interferometer and a single-mirror 2.4-meter fast-tracking optical telescope.[1]
MRO is an international scientific collaboration between New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech - NMT) and the Cavendish Astrophysics Group of University of Cambridge. The project is principally funded by the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), which also supports the Navy Optical Interferometer near Flagstaff, Arizona. NRL is part of the Office of Naval Research.[2] New Mexico State University, New Mexico Highlands University, the University of Puerto Rico, and Los Alamos National Laboratory were originally partners, but have since withdrawn.[3]
Telescopes
2.4-meter SINGLE Telescope
The 2.4 m (94 in) MRO Scientific Instrument for NEO, GEO, and LEO Exploration (SINGLE) Telescope (MROST) is a Nasmyth design on an azimuth-elevation (az-el) mount. The MROST is capable of slew rates of 10 degrees per second, enabling it to observe objects in low Earth orbit. The telescope will also be used for asteroid studies and observations of other solar system objects.[4] The MROST achieved first light on October 31, 2006, and began regular operations on September 1, 2008 after a commissioning phase that included tracking minor planet 2007 WD5 for NASA.[5]
The telescope's primary mirror was commissioned by NASA in the 1980s as one of two backups for the Hubble Space Telescope. Unlike the one in the Hubble, it was ground correctly. It was made by Itek, not Perkin-Elmer, which provided the flawed mirror.[6] The other backup mirror, made by Kodak, is now located at the Smithsonian Institution.[7]
As of October 2008, the facility is under a multi-year contract with NASA to provide tracking of LEO objects, and to support the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope space telescope program.[8][9] On October 9, 2009, New Mexico Tech scientists used instruments on the MROST and at the Etscorn Campus Observatory to watch two controlled impacts of a NASA Centaur rocket at the southern polar region of the moon as a part of the LCROSS Project.[10][11]
Magdalena Ridge Optical Interferometer
The Magdalena Ridge Optical Interferometer (MROI) is an optical and near infrared interferometer under construction at MRO. When the MROI is completed, it will have ten 1.4 m (55 in) telescopes located on three 340 m (1,120 ft) arms. Each arm will have nine stations where the telescopes can be positioned, and one telescope can be positioned at the center. The telescopes and their enclosures will be moved with a customized crane. Light from the telescopes' primary mirrors will be directed along the arms to the Beam Combining Facility (BCF). These pipes will be evacuated of all air in order to reduce distortions. Inside the BCF, the light will first travel through extensions of the pipes in the Delay Line Area, which will bring the light beams into phase. Then light will exit the vacuum pipes in the Beam Combining Area (BCA), where the light will be directed into one of three permanent sensors, or to a temporary instrument on a fourth table. The light will strike a total of eleven mirrors before entering a sensor.
The MROI was designed with three research areas in mind: star and planet formation, stellar accretion and mass loss, and active galactic nuclei.[12] An interferometer was selected because such devices can be built with higher resolving power than single-mirror telescopes, enabling them to image distant objects in greater detail. However, they do not provide more light-gathering capacity, as the total area of the mirrors is usually small.
MROI Construction Status
The basic design of MROI was completed in 2006. Construction of the facility began in August 2006 with the BCF building, which was completed 2008. In July 2007, the contract for the design of the ten 1.4 telescopes was awarded to Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems S.A. (AMOS) of Belgium. In 2009 the design of the infrastructure of interferometer arms was completed, as was the design for the telescope enclosures. In 2010 construction of the arms began. Also in 2010 the first delay line was installed in the BCF.[13]
NMT anticipates that the first light from the telescopes will be combined in the 2013.[14]
See also
- List of astronomical interferometers at visible and infrared wavelengths
- List of astronomical observatories
References
- ^ "MRO Projects". New Mexico Tech. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ "MRO Partner Organizations". New Mexico Tech. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ "MRO Participants". Archived from the original on 20070611. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|archivedate=(help) - ^ "2.4 Meter Telescope". Magdalena Ridge Observatory. Retrieved 2006-08-28.
- ^ Don Yeomans, Paul Chodas and Steve Chesley (January 2, 2008). "New Observations Slightly Decrease Mars Impact Probability". NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office. Retrieved 2008-01-02.
- ^ "2.4m Observatory Technical Note". New Mexico Tech. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ "Backup Mirror, Hubble Space Telescope - Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ "Magdalena Ridge Observatory Growing Its Customers Base". New Mexico Tech. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ "Cycle1Approved.pdf" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ Guegerich, Thom. "Magdalena Ridge Observatory Records Lunar Impacts for NASA". Retrieved 2009-11-10.
- ^ "Tech Observatory Wins NASA Contract to Monitor Lunar Impact". New Mexico Tech. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ "Magdalena Ridge Observatory Key Science Program". New Mexico Tech. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ "Magdalena Ridge Observatory". New Mexico Tech. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ "NMT Physics - Astrophysics Research". New Mexico Tech. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
External links
- Department of Physics at New Mexico Tech
- Description of the interferometer from Cambridge University website
- Magdalena Ridge Observatory Clear Sky Clock Forecasts of observing conditions.