Magdalena Ridge Observatory (MRO) is an astronomical observatory under construction in Socorro County, New Mexico, about 32 kilometers (20 mi) west of the town of Socorro. The observatory is located in the Magdalena Mountains near the summit of South Baldy Mountain, adjacent to the Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research. When completed, the site will house two main instruments: a ten-element optical interferometer and a single-mirror 2.4-meter fast-tracking optical telescope.
MRO is an international scientific collaboration between New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech – NMT) and the Cavendish Astrophysics Group of University of Cambridge. The project is principally funded by the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), which also supports the Navy Optical Interferometer near Flagstaff, Arizona. NRL is part of the Office of Naval Research. New Mexico State University, New Mexico Highlands University, the University of Puerto Rico, and Los Alamos National Laboratory were originally partners, but have since withdrawn.
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“Where there is an observatory and a telescope, we expect that any eyes will see new worlds at once.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)