Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope

Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope
Alternative names Mayall 4-meter Telescope
Observatory Kitt Peak National Observatory
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Location(s) Kitt Peak, Arizona, US
Coordinates 31°57′48″N 111°36′00″W / 31.9634°N 111.6°W / 31.9634; -111.6Coordinates: 31°57′48″N 111°36′00″W / 31.9634°N 111.6°W / 31.9634; -111.6
Organization National Optical Astronomy Observatory
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Altitude 2,120 m (6,960 ft)
Built 1968–1970 (1968–1970)[1]
Telescope style Reflecting telescope
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Diameter 4 m (13 ft 1 in)[1]
Collecting area 11.4 m2 (123 sq ft)
Website www.noao.edu/outreach/kptour/mayall.html
Location of Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope
Kitt Peak—Mayall is the tall one

The Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope, also known as the Mayall 4-meter Telescope, is a four-meter reflector telescope located at the Kitt Peak National Observatory and named after Nicholas U. Mayall. It saw first light on February 27, 1973.[2] Initial observers included: D. Crawford, Nicholas Mayall, and Arthur Hoag.[2] It was dedicated on June 20, 1973 after Mayall's retirement as director.[2] The mirror has an f/2.7 hyperboloidal shape. It is made from a two-foot (61 cm (24 in)) thick fused quartz disk that is supported in an advanced-design mirror cell. The prime focus has a field of view six times larger than that of the Hale reflector. An identical reflector was later built at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, in Chile.[3] It is host to the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument.

Contemporaries on commissioning

The Mayall (4 m) debuted neatly between the Hale (5 m) and Shane (3 m) in the early 1970s.

Largest telescopes 1973:

# Name /
Observatory		 Image Aperture Altitude First
Light 		Special advocate
1 Hale Telescope
Palomar Obs.		 200 inch
508 cm		 1713 m
(5620 ft)		 1949 George Ellery Hale
2 Mayall Telescope
Kitt Peak National Obs.		 158 inch
401 cm 		2120 m
(6955 ft) 		1973 Nicholas Mayall
3 Shane Telescope
Lick Observatory		 120 inch
305 cm		 1283 m
(4209 ft)		 1959 Nicholas Mayall
C. Donald Shane
4 Harlan J. Smith Telescope
McDonald Observatory		 107 in
270 cm		 2070 m
(6791 ft)		 1968 Harlan J. Smith
A man in his 60s looking into the eyepiece of a large telescope.
Mayall on March 2, 1973 viewing through the telescope to be named in his honor.
Looking out at Kitt Peak from Mayall

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "The Mayall 4-Meter Telescope". Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 Lindsley, Dave; Edmondson, Frank; Kiani, Shiva (2008), Celebrating 50 years; Kitt Peak National Observatory; Milestones at Kitt Peak (PDF)
  3. ↑ Robert D. Chapman; William M. Sinton. "Telescope". AccessScience@McGraw-Hill. doi:10.1036/1097-8542.681600.


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