Continuing my odyssey of observing at any telescope that will have me, I spent 3 days last week at the MMT Observatory. The MMT (Magnum Mirror Telescope) was a test-bed for the use of multiple mirrors in a single telescope (hence the original name of the “Multiple Mirror Telescope”). In the late 1990s, the individual mirrors were replaced with a single 6.5m diameter mirror.
I have been fortunate enough to observe on a variety of different telescopes, but this is the largest I have used so far. The large collecting area enables observations of fainter objects, important for the galaxies I was observing on this run. For comparison, the last telescope I used (the VATT) would take approximately 13 times as long to collect the same amount of light from an astronomical object! Clearly having the bigger mirror is a time-saver when looking at faint objects.
More pictures of the MMT are in MMT Observing on flickr.
