The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is a "research institute" of the Smithsonian Institution, headquartered in Cambridge, MA, where it is joined with the Harvard-College Observatory (HCO) to form the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). More than 300 scientists at the CfA are engaged in a broad program of research in astronomy, astrophysics, earth and space sciences, and science education.

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MMT Instruments

The first 3 f5 facility instruments at the new 6.5 meter MMT have been built and delivered by SAO. They made their first light engineering run at the telescope in the fall of 2003. They run on tcl/tk. Here are some first light images taken by the worlds largest astronomical CCD camera

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