MOUNT HOPKINS, Ariz. — Months of preparation paid off in less than 60
seconds as University of Arizona and Smithsonian scientists successfully
aluminized the mirror of the largest single-mirror telescope in North
America.

Technicians at the MMT Observatory on Mount Hopkins bolted a vacuum chamber
directly over the 6.5-meter (21.5 – foot) mirror’s surface and vaporized
aluminum to create an incredibly thin reflective coating on the mirror.

“The coating is thinner than a human hair,” said MMT Director Craig B.
Foltz. “In fact, the amount of aluminum now on the face of this 20 square
meter mirror would fit into the volume of an eraser on an ordinary pencil.”

While aluminum is a common coating for telescope mirrors, the MMT staff
faced a special challenge. Telescope mirrors are usually removed from the
telescope for coating, but the cramped telescope site on the 8,550-foot
mountain summit does not allow room for a separate coating chamber.

“Instead of taking the mirror to the vacuum chamber, we had to bring the
vacuum chamber to the mirror,” said operations manager J.T. Williams. The
36,000-pound vacuum chamber — which observatory staff early noted resembles
Mr. Bill of SNL fame — has to be lifted by crane from its storage location
to the telescope. A crane is also needed to remove a portion of the
telescope structure to allow the chamber to be bolted to the mirror cell.

“Our two previous coating attempts were only partially successful,” Williams
said. “Our concept was correct, but we had component failures.

“This time, we got as perfect a coating as you could get. It’s just
beautiful. It’s so flawlessly shiny that when you look at it you have a
depth perception problem: it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s
reflection,” Williams said.

The MMT staff worked through the summer and early fall to devise a method
that would overcome the previous problems. They rewired the interior of the
vacuum chamber. They redesigned and extensively tested the power control
circuitry.

“This time, it was as close to a perfect shot as one can come, ” Foltz said.
“Those who have inspected the mirror call it ‘awesome.'”

***EDITORS: Media are welcome to photograph the newly coated mirror on the
mountain at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 18. Those who’d rather not drive
themselves up the 4,300 vertical-foot, 13-mile narrow unpaved mountain road
can catch a ride leaving 10 a.m. from Whipple Observatory base camp, contact
Dan Brocious, 520-670-5706, brocious@base.sao.arizona.edu

Directions to the Whipple Observatory Administrative Complex are on the web
at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/flwo/flwodir.html.

For footage and photos of the newly coated mirror contact Dan Brocious or
Lori Stiles, UA News Services, 520-621-1877, lstiles@u.arizona.edu

Photos already online are available at the websites:
http://sculptor.as.arizona.edu/foltz/www/mmt.html (night shot)

http://sculptor.as.arizona.edu/foltz/vacutest/a21.jpg (‘Mr. Bill’)

http://sculptor.as.arizona.edu/foltz/vacutest/a23.jpg (‘Mr. Bill’)

http://sculptor.as.arizona.edu/foltz/vacutest/index.html

**** MMTO BACKGROUND***

The telescope of the MMT Observatory, a joint facility of the Smithsonian
Institution and the University of Arizona, has been a pioneering large
telescope throughout its career.

First dedicated in May 1979, the original telescope featured three
ground-breaking departures from conventional telescope building.

MMT stood for Multiple Mirror Telescope because six individual, identical,
1.8-meter telescopes in a common mount were used as one. The combined
light-collecting power was equal to that of a single 4.5-meter mirror,
making the MMT the third largest optical telescope in the world at the time.
The six telescopes were supported on the first computer-controlled telescope
mount. Computer control was needed because of the simpler, compact, naval
gun type of altitude-azimuth mount used.

The compact mount allowed the MMT to fit into a four and one-half story
building which was much smaller than those housing conventional telescopes
of similar size. The entire 550-ton building turns with the enclosed
telescope mount so as the telescope tracks the sky, the building stays out
of the way.

The computer-controlled multiple optics, computer-controlled telescope
mount, and co-rotating building are now standard features of most large
optical telescopes.

By the mid-1990s, however, the 4.5-meter MMT was becoming a medium-sized
telescope. The UA and Smithsonian decided to convert the telescope by
installing a large single mirror which would double the light collecting
power of the telescope.

On March 2, 1998, the 4.5-meter Multiple Mirror Telescope closed its chamber
doors onto the night sky for the last time. The disassembly of the telescope
began later that day.

The new 6.5-meter Telescope of the MMT Observatory uses a 6.5-meter diameter
spin-cast borosilicate primary mirror, cast and polished in the Steward
Observatory Mirror Lab.

The building was modified in 1995. The mirror cell was put in place on Aug.
6, 1998 and the primary mirror was successfully installed on March 25, 1999.
The first secondary mirror was installed in the telescope in early May 2000.
The “first light” was focused by the telescope on May 17, 2000. The image
quality exceeded staff expectations. The telescope was dedicated on May 20,
2000.