Leave a Comment We are getting closer to resuming nighttime operations at the MMT. We have completed all of the University of Arizona requirements to “Restart Research” and are awaiting just one final approval. Whipple Observatory has also submitted a request to the Smithsonian Institution (SI) to resume operations. The Telescope Operators and Queue Observers are standing by, so once we get final approval they will be ready to head to the mountain. On Wednesday, June 3rd a team of MMT staff were on-site to remove Binospec from the telescope and mount the fiber positioner that’s used for Hectospec and Hectochelle. There will be an instrument check out on Friday, June 5th after which the telescope and instrument will be ready for nighttime observations. We are hopeful that we will get the final SI approval sometime during the week of June 8th. After nearly 12 weeks of being closed, we look forward to data flowing out of the MMT again soon! We will provide another update when we open the dome.
