Latest News
Observing Schedule
Jul 27, 2016
The September-December MMT observing schedule and program titles can be found here.
SHELS
Jul 22, 2016
The SHELS (Smithsonian Hectospec Lensing Survey) is a complete galaxy redshift survey covering two fields. The first field, available here, was recently published by astrophysicist Margaret Geller (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics). It includes over 9000 new galaxy redshifts obtained with the …
Summer Shutdown
Jul 21, 2016
The MMTO is in summer shutdown. Work has started on prepping the mirror for stripping, scheduled to take place on July 26. Check back here for pictures! Realuminization will follow in a few weeks. We will reopen for scheduled …
MACT Survey
Jul 05, 2016
Astronomers have recently concluded the Metal Abundances across Cosmic Time (MACT) Survey, led by UofA alum Dr. Chun Ly, using data from the MMTO and Hectospec. These new observations are crucial for characterizing the physical conditions and properties of …
Successful Coating Tests
May 31, 2016
In early May, the MMTO staff completed two full scale coating system tests. Utilizing the bell jar assembly at base camp, the coating system provided a 1050 Å thick coating (recorded at the two center deposition monitors that correspond to the …
Hypervelocity Stars in the Milky Way
May 30, 2016
Appearing in the June issue of Physics Today is an article by Warren Brown (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) describing his research on hypervelocity stars conducted in part at the MMT Observatory.
Summit Road is open
May 10, 2016
The summit road is open. Any updates will be posted here as we receive them.
Spectroscopic Survey Follow-Up
Apr 20, 2016
Astronomers from Flagstaff, AZ have released a spectacular follow-up paper to the landmark Local Group Galaxy Survey (LGGS), publishing MMT Hectospec data of over 1800 stars in the nearby galaxies M31 and M33. Many of these stars are classified …
Opening for Principal Engineer, Electrical – Closed
Mar 09, 2016
The MMTO has an opening for a Principal Engineer, Electrical (posting #A20612). Details and an online application can be found here.
CfA Optical/Infrared Science Archive
Mar 08, 2016
The CfA Optical/Infrared Telescope Data Center is pleased to announce a new public archive of processed spectra obtained from CfA’s ground-based telescopes. The initial release contains 200,000 spectra from the optical Hectospec spectrograph on the 6.5-m MMT; more spectra …