Magdalena Ridge Observatory

The Magdalena Ridge Observatory (MRO) is an astronomical observatory in Socorro County, New Mexico, about 32 kilometers (20 mi) west of the town of Socorro. The observatory is located in the Magdalena Mountains near the summit of South Baldy Mountain, adjacent to the Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research. Currently operational at the site (since 2008) is a 2.4-meter fast-tracking optical telescope,[1] and under construction is a ten-element optical interferometer.

Magdalena Ridge Observatory
2.4-meter Telescope at Magdalena Ridge
Organization
Observatory code H01 Edit this on Wikidata
LocationSocorro County, New Mexico, US
Coordinates33°58′36″N 107°11′06″W
Altitude3,230 m (10,600 ft)
Established1999 Edit this on Wikidata
Websitewww.mro.nmt.edu
Telescopes
  • MRO Optical Interferometer
  • MRO fast-tracking Telescope Edit this on Wikidata
Magdalena Ridge Observatory is located in the United States
Magdalena Ridge Observatory
Location of Magdalena Ridge Observatory
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The MRO Interferometer is an international scientific collaboration between New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech – NMT) and the Cavendish Astrophysics Group of University of Cambridge. The project is principally funded by the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), which also supports the Navy Optical Interferometer near Flagstaff, Arizona. NRL is part of the Office of Naval Research.[2] New Mexico State University, New Mexico Highlands University, the University of Puerto Rico, and Los Alamos National Laboratory were originally partners, but have since withdrawn.[3]

Telescopes

2.4-meter telescope

The MRO 2.4-meter (7.9 ft) telescope is a Nasmyth design on an azimuth-elevation (az-el) mount. The telescope is capable of slew rates of 10 degrees per second, enabling it to observe artificial objects in low Earth orbit. The telescope is also used for asteroid studies and observations of other Solar System objects.[4] The MRO 2.4-meter achieved first light on October 31, 2006, and began regular operations on September 1, 2008, after a commissioning phase that included tracking near-Earth asteroid 2007 WD5 for NASA.[5]

The telescope's primary mirror has a complicated history. It was built by Itek as part of a competition for the contract for the Hubble mirror (although it has a different prescription than the one used to construct the Hubble). When Perkin-Elmer was chosen instead as the Hubble contractor, the mirror was passed to a classified Air Force project. When this project was in turn discontinued, the mirror was transferred to the Magdalena Ridge Observatory, along with a blank for the secondary.[6][7]

As of May 2008, the facility is under a multi-year contract with NASA to provide follow-up astrometry and characterization data on near-Earth asteroids and comets as part of Spaceguard, and also collaborates with the Air Force to track and characterize satellites in GEO and LEO orbits.[8] On October 9, 2009, New Mexico Tech scientists used instruments on the MRO 2.4-meter and at the Etscorn Campus Observatory to observe controlled impacts of two NASA Centaur rockets at the southern polar region of the moon as part of the LCROSS Project.[9][10]

On October 23, 2015, it was announced that the MRO telescope will receive funding from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in early 2016 to monitor the launch and re-entry of commercial space vehicles from Spaceport America.[11]

Magdalena Ridge Optical Interferometer
Artist's conception of the MROI array

The Magdalena Ridge Optical Interferometer (MROI) is an optical and near infrared interferometer under construction at MRO. When the MROI is completed, it will have ten 1.4 m (55 in) telescopes located on three 340 m (1,120 ft) arms. Each arm will have nine stations where the telescopes can be positioned, and one telescope can be positioned at the center. The telescopes and their enclosures will be moved with a customized crane. Light from the telescopes' primary mirrors will be directed along the arms to the Beam Combining Facility (BCF). These pipes will be evacuated of all air in order to reduce distortions. Inside the BCF, the light will first travel through extensions of the pipes in the Delay Line Area, which will bring the light beams into phase. Then light will exit the vacuum pipes in the Beam Combining Area (BCA), where the light will be directed into one of three permanent sensors, or to a temporary instrument on a fourth table. The light will strike a total of eleven mirrors before entering a sensor.

The MROI was designed with three research areas in mind: star and planet formation, stellar accretion and mass loss, and active galactic nuclei.[12] An interferometer was selected because such devices can be built with higher resolving power than single-mirror telescopes, enabling them to image distant objects in greater detail. However, they do not provide more light-gathering capacity, as the total area of the mirrors is usually small.

MROI construction status

The basic design of MROI was completed in 2006. Construction of the facility began in August 2006 with the BCF building, which was completed in 2008. In July 2007, the contract for the design of the ten 1.4 m telescopes was awarded to Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems S.A. (AMOS) of Belgium. In 2009 the design of the infrastructure of interferometer arms was completed, as was the design for the telescope enclosures. In 2010 construction of the arms began. Also in 2010 the first delay line was installed in the BCF.[13]

In October 2015, New Mexico Tech signed a five-year, $25 million cooperative agreement with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to support continued development of the interferometer at the observatory. Dr. Van Romero, Vice President of Research at Tech, said the new funding will allow the completion of three telescopes, mounts and enclosures on the mountaintop facility.[14] The first telescope was installed in 2016, but construction was paused in 2019 when the AFRL funding was withdrawn by US Congress.[15]

New Mexico Exoplanet Spectroscopic Survey Instrument
Main article: New Mexico Exoplanet Spectroscopic Survey Instrument

The New Mexico Exoplanet Spectroscopic Survey Instrument (NESSI) is a ground-based instrument specifically designed to study the atmospheres of exoplanets.[16][17] The $3.5 million instrument is the first purpose-built device for the analysis of exoplanet atmospheres,[18] and is expected to have a powerful impact on the field of exoplanet characterization.[19]

The Principal Investigator is Michele Creech-Eakman at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, working with seven co-investigators.[19] The NESSI instrument was mounted on the observatory's 2.4 meter telescope. The instrument's first exoplanet observations began in April 2014.

See also

References
  1. "MRO Projects". New Mexico Tech. Archived from the original on 21 January 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  2. "MRO Partner Organizations". New Mexico Tech. Archived from the original on 3 February 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  3. "MRO Participants". Archived from the original on 11 June 2007. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  4. "2.4 Meter Telescope". Magdalena Ridge Observatory. Archived from the original on 27 August 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2006.
  5. Don Yeomans, Paul Chodas & Steve Chesley (2 January 2008). "New Observations Slightly Decrease Mars Impact Probability". NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office. Archived from the original on 5 January 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2008.
  6. Gordon J. Pentland; Kerry Gonzales; Kevin Harris; Eileen V. Ryan; Elwood C. Downey (May 2006). "The Magdalena Ridge Observatory 2.4 m Telescope". Proc. SPIE 6267, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes. doi:10.1117/12.669795. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  7. Bakker, E.J. and Westpfahl, D. and Loos, G. (2008). "Magdalena Ridge Observatory: the start-up of a new observatory" (PDF). Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation: Synergies Between Ground and Space. International Society for Optics and Photonics. p. 701615.{{cite conference}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. "Magdalena Ridge Observatory Growing Its Customers Base". New Mexico Tech. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  9. Guegerich, Thom. "Magdalena Ridge Observatory Records Lunar Impacts for NASA". Archived from the original on 11 March 2010. Retrieved 10 November 2009.
  10. "Tech Observatory Wins NASA Contract to Monitor Lunar Impact". New Mexico Tech. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  11. Grant from FAA in 2016 for 2.4-Meter. Magdalena Ridge Observatory, October 23, 2015.
  12. "Magdalena Ridge Observatory Key Science Program". New Mexico Tech. Archived from the original on 21 January 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  13. "Magdalena Ridge Observatory". New Mexico Tech. Archived from the original on 30 January 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  14. "Air Force Supporting Observatory With $25 Million". www.nmt.edu. Archived from the original on 23 October 2015.
  15. Creech-Eakman, Michelle J.; Romero, V. D.; Haniff, Christopher A.; et al. (13 December 2020). Setting the stage for first fringes with the Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer. Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging VII. Proceedings of the SPIE. Vol. 11446. p. 1144609. Bibcode:2020SPIE11446E..09C. doi:10.1117/12.2563173.
  16. Whitney, Clavin (17 April 2014). "Exoplanets Soon to Gleam in the Eye of NESSI". NASA. California: Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  17. "NESSI - New Mexico Exoplanet Spectroscopic Survey Instrument". New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. April 2014. Archived from the original on 21 April 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  18. Martin, Bob (4 April 2014). "NM Tech Exoplanet Search: Is Earth Alone?". QRKE. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  19. NESSI - Proposed Research (PDF). New Mexico Space Grant. 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 April 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
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