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MRO
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Tech officials, dignitaries to attend Magdalena Ridge Observatory
dedication
George Zamora - New Mexico Tech
Officials from an international university research
consortium will soon convene on top of a 10,700-foot mountain range in
south-central New Mexico to participate in an unveiling ceremony for
the
Magdalena Ridge Observatory (MRO).
The mountaintop ceremony, which will include a keynote
address by U.S. Senator Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), a news media
question-and-answer session, and the unveiling of a tabletop model of
the MRO, will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 20, at the MRO site
atop the Magdalena Mountains.
New Mexico Tech, top-ranking officers of the U.S. Naval
Research Laboratory, and a delegation of U.S. senators,
representatives, and local dignitaries are scheduled to attend.
The MRO is slated to be a premier, state-of-the-art
astronomical research facility that will employ an array of
optical/infrared telescopes to produce extremely detailed images of the
far reaches of the universe, beginning in 2007.
Once completed, the optical and infrared telescope
will sit along the main ridge of the Magdalena Mountains at an
elevation
of almost 10,700 feet, making it the fourth highest observatory site in
the world.
By using optical interferometry, the MRO facility will
electronically link its open arrangement of up to 10 large telescopes
to simulate the potential magnifying and resolving power of a single
400-meter telescope, much in the same way the nearby Very Large Array
(VLA) radio telescope operates.
One design being considered for MRO's array of telescopes
is based on the VLA's Y-shaped arrangement of moveable telescopes, and
spreads out the optical telescopes over an area larger than a football
stadium.
Images of faraway planets, stars, and galaxies will be
obtained by each of MRO's telescopes and processed in computers to form
larger, more detailed single images of the celestial objects being
observed.
In addition, computers will drive optical components at
the MRO facility to constantly compensate and correct for optical
disturbances caused by atmospheric turbulence -- a cutting-edge
technology
known as adaptive optics.
"Magdalena Ridge Observatory is certain to become a
tremendous resource, not only for scientists and researchers, but for
students as well -- from kindergarten to post-docs," said Van Romero,
New
Mexico Tech's vice president for research.
Federal funding for the research facility, which will
eventually cost more than $45 million, has been secured through the
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, the lead government agency for the
project; while the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has supplied
adaptive optics expertise and hardware for MRO.
The design, development, and operation of the observatory
is under the auspices of a university research consortium, with New
Mexico Tech as the lead institute.
Additional members of the consortium include New Mexico
State University, New Mexico Highlands University, and the University
of Puerto Rico, as well as research partner Los Alamos National
Laboratory.
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