The MDM Observatory (''Michigan-Dartmouth-MIT Observatory''; obs. code:

697 __NOTOC__ Year 697 ( DCXCVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 697 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europ ...

) is an

optical Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultravio ...

astronomical

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

located adjacent to

Kitt Peak National Observatory The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States astronomy, astronomical observatory located on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation, west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona. With ...

Kitt Peak Kitt Peak () is a mountain in the U.S. state of Arizona, and at is the highest point in the Quinlan Mountains. It is the location of the Kitt Peak National Observatory. The radio telescope at the observatory is one of ten dishes comprising the ...

, west of

Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

, Arizona, in the United States. It is owned and operated by the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, and

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

. The

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT) was also part of the operating consortium in the past. It has two

reflecting telescope A reflecting telescope (also called a reflector) is a telescope that uses a single or a combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. The reflecting telescope was invented in the 17th century by Isaac Newton as an alternati ...

s, the 2.4-meter (95 inches aperture

Hiltner Telescope The MDM Observatory (''Michigan-Dartmouth-MIT Observatory''; List of observatory codes, obs. code: IAU code#697, 697) is an optical astronomical observatory located adjacent to Kitt Peak National Observatory on Kitt Peak, west of Tucson, ...

(since 1986), used for galactic surveys, and the 1.3-meter (50 inch diameter aperture) McGraw–Hill Telescope (since 1975), which was originally located near

Ann Arbor Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

, Michigan.

Hiltner Telescope

The mirror of the 2.4-meter Hiltner Telescope is aluminum-coated

Cer-Vit Cer-vit is a family of glass-ceramic materials that were invented by Owens Illinois in the mid-1960s. Its principle ingredients are the oxides of lithium, aluminum and silicon. It is melted to form a glass which is then heat treated to nucleate and ...

, and usable foci include f/7.5 and f/13.5 Cassegrain foci. The telescope was built in 1986 and the mirrors were re-polished in 1991. It was named after astronomer W. Albert Hiltner (1914-1991). The Hiltner was one of the telescopes that observed the "turn on" transient of a galactic nucleus, along with the Swift space telescope (aka Neil Gehrels ''Swift'' Observatory since 2018) and the

Gemini observatory The Gemini Observatory comprises two 8.1-metre (26.6 ft) telescopes, Gemini North and Gemini South, situated in Hawaii and Chile, respectively. These twin telescopes offer extensive coverage of the northern and southern skies and rank among ...

(8 meter ground observatory). The transient event was called PS1-13cbe and was located in the Galaxy SDSS J222153.87+003054.2.

McGraw–Hill Telescope

The 1.3-meter McGraw-Hill Telescope, with a 1.27-meter clear aperture, is an aluminum-coated Cer-Vit (low thermal expansion glass) telescope. Its usable foci include f/7.5 and f/13.5. The telescope was originally installed at Stinchfield Woods, Michigan in 1969, and moved in 1975 to MDM.

Asteroid 4432 McGraw-Hill

The asteroid 4432 McGraw-Hill is named after this telescope. It was discovered on March 2, 1981 by Schelte J. Bus at

Siding Spring Siding Spring may refer to: * Siding Spring Observatory, an astronomical observatory in Australia ** Siding Spring 2.3 m Telescope, the telescope at Siding Spring Observatory ** Siding Spring Survey The Siding Spring Survey (SSS) was a near-Ea ...

in the course of the UK Schmidt-Caltech Asteroid Survey. On February 18, 1992, the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

officially assigned the name "McGraw-Hill" to the asteroid. The text of the citation, as officially published by IAU Commission 20 (), is as follows:

Gallery

Image:MDM Hiltner from Point.jpg, View from the Point Image:MDM View Down the Mountain.jpg, View down Kitt Peak from MDM Image:MDM View Up the Mountain.jpg, View up Kitt Peak from MDM Image:MDM Hiltner Dome Opening.jpg, Opening the Dome Image:MDM Hiltner Instruments 1.jpg, Instruments Image:MDM Hiltner Instruments 2.jpg, Instruments

References

External links