Observing Overview

Observing at the MMT is primarily available to astronomers from the home institution communities, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) & Steward Observatory (SO), University of Arizona.  In the past, a number of nights have been available to the larger community through Public Access allocation by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). However, no new time has been offered since 2013 for Public Access time.

Each institution has their own Time Allocation Committee (TAC) which reviews proposals from its astronomy community and assigns telescope time based on scientific merit. The MMTO scheduling committee then schedules the telescope to accommodate all approved proposals from the TACs.

Use these pages to prepare your proposals and plan for your observing run at the MMT.  For further inquiries, please contact any MMT staff scientist.