# Cinder Peak Observatory — First Light for the New 1.2-Metre Telescope

**For immediate release · Cinder Peak Observatory**

Cinder Peak Observatory announced that its new 1.2-metre reflecting telescope achieved
**first light on 1 May 2026**, capturing its first test images of the night sky. The instrument
replaces the observatory's original 0.6-metre telescope, which had been in service since the
observatory opened.

The new telescope roughly quadruples the observatory's light-gathering area and is fitted with a
modern wide-field camera. Staff astronomers say it will be used mainly for monitoring variable
stars and for the observatory's long-running atmospheric-seeing survey — the same survey whose 2025
monthly medians were published in Cinderpeak Observatory's seeing brief earlier this year.

"First light is always the moment a telescope stops being a construction project and starts being
an instrument," said the observatory's director. Regular science observations are expected to begin
after a commissioning period over the summer.

Public viewing nights, currently suspended while the dome is resurfaced, will resume on their
published schedule once the observatory reopens to visitors. Details appear in the *Meridian
Gazette*.

*Media note: this release is issued for immediate publication. The Meridian Gazette is the
observatory's newspaper of record; reproduction elsewhere requires no further permission. A
high-resolution first-light image is available to accredited outlets on request. This paragraph
carries no observatory facts and is included only as standard press boilerplate.*
