The MMT Observatory (MMTO), a joint venture of the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Arizona, is seeking a Scientist or Engineer with working knowledge of astronomical adaptive optics to join the MMT team. The MMTO operates a 6.5-meter telescope at the summit of Mt. Hopkins (elevation 8550 feet), some 40 miles south of Tucson in southern Arizona. Additional details regarding the telescope and associated instrumentation may be found via the web site: http://www.mmto.org.

The position will be based at the MMTO offices in the Steward Observatory building on the campus of the University of Arizona. Significant work at the telescope site on Mt. Hopkins will be required. System integration, checkout, and performance analysis will require some nighttime work.

The selected candidate will support and/or coordinate the Operations team in the maintenance and troubleshooting of the adaptive optics hardware including the f/15 secondary and its associated electronics, the natural guide star top box, and the adaptive optics test stand. The candidate will work with the electrical, mechanical, and software groups at the MMT and the Center for Astronomical Adaptive Optics to further optimize the performance of the system to ensure smooth and robust operation. This optimization may require the design, fabrication, testing, and implementation of new equipment. The candidate should also have significant software development experience in the areas of hardware control and data analysis. The candidate will also need to interface with and coordinate observers, prospective observers, and instrument PI’s.

The Observatory uses state of the art computer control electronics in an industrial setting. We are seeking a motivated hands-on person with both practical skills and knowledge of cutting-edge technologies. A strong background in astronomical instrumentation is required and preference will be given to an applicant with experience in astronomical adaptive optics. Strong documentation and communication skills are a plus.

Further details can be found here.

From observations made using the MMT, Dr. E. Mamajek of the University of Rochester has discovered that the first known binary star is actually a sextuplet system.   To read the article published by Science Daily, press here.

Percentage of time scheduled for observing             93.4
Percentage of time scheduled for engineering            6.6
Percentage of time scheduled for sec/instr change    0.0
Percentage of time lost to weather                          22.3
Percentage of time lost to instrument                        0.4
Percentage of time lost to telescope                         2.8
Percentage of time lost to general facility                  0.0
Percentage of time lost to environment (non-weather) 0.0
Percentage of time lost                                          25.5
—————
Breakdown of hours lost to telescope:
7.0 Hexapod
1.0 WFS
1.0 Guider issues
0.5 M1 panic
0.3 Unable to flatten f/15

Percentage of time scheduled for observing           100.0
Percentage of time scheduled for engineering           0.0
Percentage of time scheduled for sec/instr change    0.0
Percentage of time lost to weather                         37.5
Percentage of time lost to instrument                       7.3
Percentage of time lost to telescope                        2.6
Percentage of time lost to general facility                  0.0
Percentage of time lost to environment (non-weather) 0.0
Percentage of time lost                                          47.3
—————
Breakdown of hours lost to telescope:

3.9   f/15 loop
1.5   Elephant hose replaced
1.0   Hexapod
2.25 WFS

The installation and testing of a new detector for Red Channel has been completed by the UofA’s Imaging Technology Laboratory (ITL). The new device has 15-micron pixels and a format of 520 x 1032 pixels (spatial x dispersion). The read noise of the detector is 3.5 electrons. The measure QE for the detector is provided below. ITL’s web page ( http://uao.itl.arizona.edu) provides additional details and information.

The new Red Channel detector QE.

Percentage of time scheduled for observing             96.7
Percentage of time scheduled for engineering            3.3
Percentage of time scheduled for sec/instr change     0.0
Percentage of time lost to weather                          26.3
Percentage of time lost to instrument                        0.1
Percentage of time lost to telescope                         3.7
Percentage of time lost to general facility                   0.0
Percentage of time lost to environment (non-weather)  0.0
Percentage of time lost                                           30.0
—————
Breakdown of hours lost to telescope:
3.5  WFS 
5.05 f/15 issues 
2.3  SO guider camera

LCROSS successfully impacted the moon at 4.31am (MST)!! NASA will be having a news conference at 7.00am (PDT) on NASA TV.

We collected data with multiple instruments throughout the impact and for an hour after it. We now have a multitude of data which needs careful reduction over the coming weeks until we will have the opportunity to make any statements on what we saw.

We could not have asked for a better night – the weather was near perfect, the telescope worked beautifully tracking on the moon and all the instruments behaved impeccably.

Many thanks to everyone who was involved in bringing tonight together, to everyone who was onsite at the telescope to make it such a successful nights observing, to NASA for extremely clear communication through the night and to everyone who has been following us on the blog & the webcams.

Now its time for one last sip of champagne then off to bed before the sun truly rises!

The last blog before impact (and probably for a while after the impact as I’ll be busy reducing the data we observe!)

Everything here is good – sky is clear with 0.5″ seeing! Could not have asked for a better night. We have moved back to the moon and setting up for the final time before impact.

A quick list of people you might have been watching on the webcam!

Faith Vilas (MMT Director)
Shawn Callahan
Mike Algeria
Phil Hinz
John DiMiceli
Tom Trebisky
Vidhya Vaitheeswaran
Dallan Porter
Vanessa Bailey
Duane Gibson
Bryan Cardwell
Morag Hastie

At 1.31am (MST) NASA will count down to T-3 hours mark for the centaur impact. We are busily working away making sure we have all our cameras aligned (we are using 4 different camera’s for different purposes tonight!), we are collecting calibration data that is vital for our science results, making sure our data reduction software works and staying in communication with NASA and all the other telescopes that are observing the event.

On the LCROSS viewer we have a bunch of camera images for you to look at – starting at the top of the right hand column we have:

- The All Sky Camera, which is located outside the telescope and shows us the full sky. The red + sign shows exactly where the telescope is pointing.

- The next one is the view form a wide angle telescope which is bolted on to the side of our main large telescope. Here you should be able to see a more zoomed out image of the moon.

- The third is the image from a small field of view acquisition camera which looks through the main 6.5 meter telescope. It shows a very zoomed in image of the moon so might not look as you expect.

Along the bottom we show 4 webcams that are placed around the observatory; firstly the front of the chamber (dome) (you can see the shutters open with so much illumination from the moon), two cameras at the back of chamber and one in the control room. The control room webcam has the most activity! We have a large crew up here tonight to make sure we get the best possible observations we can for this one time opportunity.

After being involved in the LCROSS project and preparation for the ground based observations from the MMT over the last 18 months it has all come down to tonight. We have one shot at getting these observations so the nerves are running a little high in the control room!

In the last 10 minutes we have had confirmation from NASA that the centaur and payload (ie. the two halves of the rocket – the centaur will crash into the moon first with the payload carrying the instruments crashing in 4 minutes later) have separated successfully.

The weather has completely cleared up and is beautiful. Now we have around 7 hours to do final checks of the instruments we are using to observe the impact, and take all the calibration data that we need.

Please remember to come look at us work and see what we can see! NASA is also streaming live here.