MMT Observatory

02/27/2026

A snapshot of progress on the construction of the new “bowl” dorm near the summit of Mount Hopkins. After the crews left for the day, a Coatimundi searches for lunch scraps in the dumpster!

02/20/2026

The MMT Observatory will host an MMT Science Symposium on the campus of the University of Arizona on April 7-9, 2026. The symposium will also include a retrospective of science with the Hectospec and Hectochelle instruments on the occasion of their retirement in spring 2026. A special session will be scheduled to acknowledge and celebrate the numerous contributions that JT Williams made to the Observatory. The Symposium website is: https://symposium.mmto.org/

11/06/2025

Today, we "contact" washed the MMT's 6.5-m primary mirror. We do this twice a year to keep the aluminum coating clean and highly reflective.

08/29/2025

MMT Binospec observations of the location of the brightest fast radio burst (FRB) by our colleagues at Northwestern University are highlighted at CNN https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/26/science/brightest-fast-radio-burst and Sky & Telescope https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/fast-radio-bursts-neighborhood-revealed/.

The brightest fast radio burst ever detected could help reveal what celestial source causes the mysterious signals and if they repeat like cosmic heartbeats.

08/06/2025

The Walker Fire as seen from the summit of Mount Hopkins. It's just beyond Josephine Peak in Walker Canyon. It started on Tuesday, August 5, 2025. Hopefully, monsoon activity tomorrow will help extinguish it.

08/06/2025

Using a laser tracker to determine the mounting repeatability of the MMT's f/15 secondary.

08/06/2025

Summer shutdown provides a good opportunity to contact wash the MMT's f/5 and f/9 secondary mirrors.

07/24/2025

The three week long “summer shutdown” at the MMT began this week. We spend the time working on annual preventive maintenance and engineering activities that can’t be done during normal operations. This year, that includes listening to the natural vibrations of the telescope (so we can suppress them).

07/24/2025

Congratulations to Buddy Martin and the entire staff at the Caris Mirror Lab!

No other university has an optics manufacturing facility like the U of A, where the world's largest and most lightweight telescope mirrors are made.

07/18/2025

We see a lot of wildlife on Mount Hopkins, including snakes. But they're not usually hanging out on the door handles. This is a harmless mountain kingsnake.

05/21/2025

On Sunday, May 18th, the sun set directly behind Kitt Peak as seen from the summit of Mount Hopkins. Photo credit: Dallan Porter.

04/18/2025

The MMT's 6.5-m primary mirror got a much-needed contact wash yesterday. This process is done twice a year, and it helps maintain the reflectivity of the aluminum coating.