SOCORRO, N.M. – Two groups of New Mexico Tech students and alumni were treated to behind-the-scenes tours Oct. 13, 2022, at Magdalena Ridge Observatory (MRO), home to the MRO Interferometer and the 2.4-meter Telescope. Included in the annual four-day 49ers Celebration, the tours were aimed at giving students and alumni visiting the Socorro campus a chance to learn more about key research facilities affiliated with the university.

Dr. Van Romero, physics professor and director of Tech’s Space Science Program, described for the tour participants how the telescopes at the MRO use mirrors and their special shapes to collect light to make dim things bright and small things large. The larger the telescope’s diameter, the better its resolution. Dr. Romero said that another telescope will be added to the MRO in December 2022, with more to come in each of the next eight years, depending on Congressional funding. 

The MRO Interferometer collects light at four different stations using delay lines that run inside and outside the facility’s walls. It is primarily used to detect motion in distant galaxies, including movement of the stars and planet formation. Eventually, these telescopes will make movies of the universe according to Dr. Romero because the universe is expanding and picking up speed.

The 2.4-Meter Telescope is primarily used for collecting data and making dim things bright and for tracking near-Earth objects, such as satellites, spacecraft, and asteroids. MRO scientists categorize asteroids and determine what they are made of. They also play a key role in keeping an eye on asteroids, especially those that might someday be headed toward the Earth. 

The tour groups received an update on how researchers and technicians at the MRO are making significant contributions to a current planetary defense mission. NASA intentionally crashed a spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos on Sept. 26, 2022. The 2.4-Meter Telescope continues to capture images of the asteroid’s light trail for NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission. 

The direct impact from the NASA spacecraft  knocked the asteroid off its orbit and shortened it by about 32 minutes according to Paul Loskamp, maintenance technician for the 2.4-meter Telescope. 

“We actually did change the orbit of the asteroid,” he said. “It was successful.”

While the telescopes are involved in state-of-the-art scientific research, Dr. Romero said they are also available for students to make astronomical observations and discoveries,  including astronomical objects we’re not even aware of today.

The Magdalena Ridge Observatory is situated on 1,000 acres in the Magdalena Mountains at an elevation of 10,600 feet, the fourth-highest observatory under some of the darkest skies in the world. The flat mountain ridge, remote location, and quiet seismic activity of the area make it an ideal location for scientific contributions, Dr. Romero said.

New Mexico Tech student Estefan Ortega said he learned a lot from the tour of the two telescopes’ buildings. It was his first trip to the observatory high above the New Mexico Tech campus.

“It was really cool,” he said. “It’s really interesting all the stuff Dr. Romero had to say.”