HET Mirror with VIRUS Saddlebags

HET with saddlebags

The two black structures to the left and right of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope's main mirror are nicknamed 'saddlebags.' They hold the dozens of spectrographs that make up the VIRUS instrument designed to undertake HETDEX, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment. Credit: Ethan Tweedie Photography