Calculation of Time on MMT & Magellan
Computation of the Cost of a Night of MMT or Magellan Telescope Observing
There are several ways to calculate the value of telescope time; in any case the value will fluctuate over time. We have chosen to calculate the value by using the current annual rate of investment in operations and instruments, and adding to this the amortized (over 20 years) capital costs of the facilities.
Value of Magellan Telescope Time
| Operation annual budget shared by partners | $2,650,014 |
| Additional annual Carnegie operation costs | $850,226 |
| Capital investment for two telescopes (amortized 20 yrs) | $3,665,250 |
| Annual instrumentation costs for two telescopes | $3,272,149 |
| Total annual costs | $10,437,639 |
| Number of nights available to partners on two telescopes | 590 |
| Cost to partners per night | $17,691 |
Value of MMT Telescope Time
| Operation annual budget shared by partners | $1,891,749 |
| Additional annual SAO operation costs | $133,000 |
| Capital investment of conversion to 6.5 meter (amortized 20 yrs) | $1,443,423 |
| Annual instrumentation costs (f/5 plus AO) | $4,370,000 |
| Total annual costs | $7,838,172 |
| Number of nights available to partners | 274 |
| Cost to partners per night | $28,606 |
The calculated values of the MMT and Magellan nights are different mainly because the current investment in instruments is very different at the two observatories: Magellan is currently investing less per year for two telescopes than the MMT is investing for one. Exclusive of instruments, the value of Magellan time is $12,145 per night and the value of MMT time is $12,658 per night. The investment in instruments will fluctuate over time. Since we propose to offer half of the TSIP time at each observatory, we effectively average the MMT and Magellan costs to arrive at a value of $23,149 per night.
Last updated or reviewed February 22, 2011.
NOAO is the national center for ground-based nighttime astronomy in the United States and is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA). under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. If you would like information about solar astronomy, visit the National Solar Observatory. If you would like information about radio astronomy, visit the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.