Composite view showing the Northern 2MASS Telescope being lifted into its dome on Mt. Hopkins (upper left); three-color image of the planetary nebula M57, the Ring Nebula, taken on the first night of 2MASS operations (upper right); and the Northern Telescope ready for operation at sunset on Mt. Hopkins (bottom).

The Northern 2MASS Telescope being lifted into its dome on Mt Hopkins, AZ on January 21, 1997. The telescope was constructed by M3 Engineering (Tucson, AZ) under the direction of 2MASS Project Manager Rae Stiening of the Univ. of Massachussetts. The classical cassegrain design utilizes a 1.3 meter primary mirror that was figured by Rayleigh Optical (Tucson, AZ).

Operational Northern 2MASS Telescope on Mt. Hopkins, AZ. The gold cylinder attached to the bottom of the telescope is the 2MASS Survey Camera. The Survey Camera contains three array detectors that image the sky simultaneously in three wavelengths of infrared light. The camera was designed and constructed by Telic Optics under the direction of 2MASS Principal Investigator, Dr. Michael Skrutskie of the Univ. of Massachussetts.

The building for the Operational Southern 2MASS Telescope at Cerro Tololo (CTIO) in Chile. The facility is just below the summit of Cerro Tololo, down the hill from the 4-m telescope. The southern telescope is identical to the one at Mt. Hopkins and is equipped with an identical camera.

The Northern 2MASS Telescope on Mt Hopkins at sunset.

For more information about the telescopes, cameras, and sites, visit 2MASS at UMass.

Specifically, to see photos of the facility construction and operation, see the 2MASS Observing Facility Photo Gallery page.

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