Performance Of The Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) I. MMT-The First Of The Advanced Technology Telescopes

J. M. Beckers; B. L. Ulich; J. T. Williams

doi:10.1117/12.933497

4 November 1982 Performance Of The Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) I. MMT-The First Of The Advanced Technology Telescopes

J. M. Beckers, B. L. Ulich, J. T. Williams

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 0332, Advanced Technology Optical Telescopes I; (1982) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.933497
Event: 1982 Astronomy Conferences, 1982, Tucson, United States

Abstract

The Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) incorporates many new technological features because its designers wanted to construct as large and as good as possible a telescope at as low as possible an expense. They did succeed at this and as a result the MMT may be viewed as the first of the new generation of Advanced Technology Telescopes. A substantial effort is given by the MMT Observatory staff and by the staff of the two sponsoring institutions (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and University of Arizona Observatories) to optimize the performance of the lurr especially in those areas where it serves as a test bed or prototype of the telescopes of the future. Notable features in this respect are (i) the MMT altitude-over-azimuth. mount, (ii) the corotating MMT building, (iii) the light weight. honeycomb primary mirrors, (iv) the multiple mirror optics configuration, (v) the coalignment system for these mirrors, (vi) the seeing associated with the unconventional telescope and building and (vii) the capability to do interferometry using two or more of the MMT telescopes. This introductory paper will summarize the properties and performance of the MMT in these and other respects. It will set the stage for the in-depth description by the other papers in this sequence.

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J. M. Beckers, B. L. Ulich, and J. T. Williams "Performance Of The Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) I. MMT-The First Of The Advanced Technology Telescopes", Proc. SPIE 0332, Advanced Technology Optical Telescopes I, (4 November 1982); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.933497

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