Resonant Constellation

I am writing this entry from the control room of the University of Arizona’s 6.5 meter MMT (used to stand for Multiple Mirror Telescope, now stands for Monolithic Mirror Telescope). Of course, the fact that I’m writing this means that we’re not observing (there’s a big thunderstorm outside and there seems to be a puzzling problem with the adaptive secondary mirror), but in all honesty, I don’t mind. This place is so incredibly awesome, I don’t care what’s going on-just the fact that I’m up here is enough.

I began my journey at Steward Observatory on campus where I met Dr. Morag Hastie, one of the instrumentation specialists for the MMT facility. Since she needed a ride up, I had offered, and we set off at 2 PM heading South on I-19. We made the turn-off and drove up to the base camp of the Fred Whipple Observatory where we retrieved a radio to let other cars know we were coming up. This facility is amazing in and of itself-there are four 12-meter reflector telescopes used for gamma-ray astronomy (the VERITAS telescopes) right on the grounds in the open. These are incredibly big and very impressive to see.

We began up the mountain after this, radioing up to any cars coming down (since the road is rather narrow). While everybody I had spoken with maintained that this dirt road was horrible, I was pleasantly surpprised. In fact, I found it to be the best mountain road I have ever been on, which is saying quite a lot as I’ve driven on many mountain roads. The view on the way up was breathtaking, though there were worrying clouds all around.

We arrived at the dormitory, where I deposited my supplies and checked out the facility. I was instantly impressed by how much nicer this facility is than the Kuiper 61″ that I’m used to. The kitchen and dining area is enormous with an operating TV that even gets cable. The dormitory is basically a nice hotel. Every room has its own bathroom and shower. Compare this with the Kuiper telescope, which has one common bathroom for the entire dorm.

The telescope is clearly visible on almost the entire drive up, a giant metal box perched on the very top of Mt. Hopkins (which is an incredibly pointy mountain). It is a very short drive from the dorms to the telescope, though it involves what seems like a 45 degree uphill slope. With all of the clouds and rain shadows in the background, this scene is very picturesque.

We got up to the telescope just after 4 PM and my research advisor, Matt Kenworthy, showed me around the facility. I’d seen pictures of the telescope before and I’d even seen larger mirrors (at the mirror lab back on campus), but I was still blown away by how unbelievably enormous the MMT is. After a quick tour, we checked out the weather and decided to head down to the dorms to get some dinner.

This part of the night really surprised me. We talked, and I realized that these people, one of whom I’ve worked with for over a year, are actually a lot more like me than I ever thought. We considered the tragedy of the lack of beer at the telescope, we watched the Matrix on the TV (some cable channel was showing it), and we talked and exchanged anecdotes.

About halfway through the Matrix (right after Neo meets the Oracle), it started to rain. It literally went from totally calm to torrential rain in about three seconds. We then drove back up to the telescope to assess the weather situation and try to get some pictures of lightning (if we weren’t going to get science images, why not get some other images?). Unfortunately, I was unable to locate my camera charger and as such, my battery was horribly low. I was only able to get six pictures total on this trip, which was rather disappointing. I hope I can come back up some time, so that I can actually get some good pictures of the facility.

At this point, the real scientists are discussing some engineering problems which will determine if we will stay up on the mountain tonight, or go back down. In either case, I’m satisfied with my trip. I only hope I can come back to really see the telescope in action!