1.3 Meter Telescope
The three Ridge telescopes at the CfA's Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory. The 1.3 Meter Telescope used for the 2MASS project is at the right; the 1.5-Meter Tillinghast and 1.2-Meter Telescopes are at left and center, respectively.
The Telescope and the Science
Astronomy works in two basic modes: targeting individual objects, and surveys cataloging whole patches of the sky. The 2MASS project was in the second category, working to create an infrared map of the entire sky. During the survey’s run from 1997 and 2001, 2MASS cataloged over 300 million astronomical objects, including a number of galaxies that are hidden in visible by the Milky Way.
To perform such a wide-scale survey, astronomers used two telescopes dedicated entirely for the purpose: the 1.3 Meter Telescope at FLWO for the northern sky, and its twin instrument located in Chile for the southern hemisphere. Both telescopes were equipped with mirrors 1.3 meters (4.3 feet) in diameter, and cameras capable of imaging the sky in three different wavelengths of infrared light.
2MASS was a joint project of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Caltech, and the National Science Foundation (NSF). The 1.3 Meter Telescope at FLWO began 2MASS observations in June 1997, and finished on February 14, 2001. Subsequently, the telescope was given to CfA. In 2004 it was renamed the PAIRITEL 1.3 Meter Telescope, and was converted to automatic computer control for use in support of NASA’s Swift Gamma Ray Observatory.