Applying For Time

There are three avenues available to apply for observing time at the MMTO. If you or your collaborator work for one of our parent institutions, Steward Observatory or the Center for Astrophysics, you must apply through your own Telescope Allocation Committee. The National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) accepts Public Access proposals for non-affiliated astronomers. Please follow the links below.

• Apply through Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
• Apply through University of Arizona Observatories
• Apply through NOAO (Public Access) Public Access Time is divided into two semesters.  1st February - 31st July; 1st August - 31st January

If you wish propose to use a PI instrument you must contact the Principal Investigator to obtain a letter of approval, consent and support which should be submitted with your proposal. This applies for both members of the parent institutes and the public access community. Many PI instruments are used in collaboration with the PI and the PI will support you with your observing run. The facility spectrographs Hectospec, Hectochelle, Red & Blue Channel are not considered PI instruments for proposal purposes. 

Each year is split into trimesters which are applied for at least two months before the start of each trimester. The dates of the MMT trimesters are roughly (these dates can change slightly year to year):

• 1st January - 30th April
• 1st May - 31st July
• 1st August - 31st August: Summer shutdown
• 1st September - 31st December (Closed 24th December)

A significant amount of observing time at the MMT Observatory has been made available to the astronomical community through the NOAO proposal process. This Public Access time is distributed over the phases of the moon and the seasons of the year in the same proportion as the scientific observations scheduled for the staffs of the MMT Observatory's parent institutions, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and Steward Observatory.

Visiting observers may apply for time through the NOAO proposal process. Proposals will be reviewed by the NOAO TAC, and those approved will be forwarded to the MMT for scheduling.

Note that while the NOAO TAC will meet on a semester basis, the MMT is scheduled trimesterly (January through April, May through August, and September through December). All proposals submitted for a given semester will be reviewed at the same time, but the scheduling of those projects approved for observing time will not all happen shortly thereafter. Note also that the month of August is traditionally reserved for major telescope maintenance projects. For further information, please see here.